New Pattern: Sakura Charm

Just in time to celebrate the arrival of May flowers, my Sakura Charm pattern is complete and now available at beAd Infinitum. 

The idea for this charm came out of the Bead Mavens Vernal Visions Challenge, where I created this necklace to mimic the cherry blossom trees that bloom at the start of spring. I was humbled to receive an honorable mention for this entry! Each Sakura blossom was woven individually into a self-supporting charm measuring about 10 mm in diameter, and then I assembled over 30 of them to make the necklace using a combination of three different stringing methods. These charms are easily incorporated into other types of jewelry. I created two of them to make this pair of earrings to match the original necklace. 

But why stop with cherry blossoms? This design also works for several kinds of 5-petal flowers. I used three shades of blue lentils to make these cascading forget-me-not earrings:

As with the Circle Starburst design, the Sakura Charm also works well with Swarovski crystal circle "rivoli" pendants in place of the glass lentils. Here's another take on forget-me-not earrings using these sparkly crystals:

Finally, I made a forget-me-not necklace using charms made with sapphire AB lentils, and strung with bugle beads for festive simplicity. 

The Sakura Charm pattern illustrates in detail how to weave the basic Sakura Charm, and then describes how to make all the jewelry that you see here. It also includes over a dozen photos of completed pieces for inspiration, as well as a couple of variations by both Gwen Fisher and myself. I'd love to see what you'll create with this design!


How are you celebrating Spring so far?