Summertime Necklace

For Artbeads.com's latest "Summertime" blogger partner theme, I decided to sample a completely different jewelry component than I usually work with. Out of the vast selection of pendants available at Artbeads.com, I chose this large floral pendant that reminds me of a great big bunch of sunflowers. I also picked out some smooth and faceted glass roundelles from Artbeads' glass beads category to match the colors in the pendant. I then paired the set with some of my own handmade beaded beads, some fire-polished round glass beads from my own stash, and a sterling silver clasp.

At nearly 5 cm long, this pendant is much bigger than the other kinds of focals that I usually work with.



When I color-match beaded beads to focal beads or lampwork beads, I sometimes make a prototype beaded bead with different colors on each face. For this design, I experimented with a variety of combinations of brown and white on each eye:

I even went so far as to make this beaded bead in yellow, red, and cream:

..But I eventually decided to go with the yellow, red, and brown color palette, to better-mimic the look of a sunflower. I'm still not sure if I'm happy with my decision... Clearly, working with yellow isn't my strong suit!

To compensate for the lack of brown on the pendant, I wove the bail out of brown seed beads using peyote stitch. Normally I would try to make the bail out of wire, but in this case peyote does the job just fine.

Full disclosure: The stoneware pendant and glass roundelles used in this necklace were received as a gift from Artbeads.com. No payment was made for the review of these products.