Forget Me Not Bouquet Necklace

I wove a new colorway of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace, this time in Forget-Me-Not blue.

Blue Sakura Charms

I had previously woven Sakura Charms with this color, back when I first came up with this design a few years ago. I made a necklace with several of these charms, strung simply with bugle beads and Japanese seed beads.

I had wanted to work with this colorway when I first taught the Sakura Bouquet Necklace last November, however the rose petal-shaped beads were not available in blue at the time. Fortunately, they're now available in a few shades of blue, and I chose one of the shades with the "halo" finish for this necklace.

Arranging the Sakura Bouquet Necklace

For the purple colorway of this necklace, I experimented with arranging the charms in several different ways to show the versatility of this design. You can read more about these different arrangements here. Ultimately, I didn't connect the charms in the purple colorway together for a completed necklace; rather, I use these charms in class as demonstration aids, and students can play with this completed charm set to come up with their own arrangements. One of my favorite arrangements is the version below, which uses all 40 charms that comprise the class kit.

I followed this arrangement when I wove together the blue version, making a few minor adjustments along the way.

With this version, I've now made five different colorways of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace! Check out this post for the other four colorways of this necklace.

I'm teaching this project at three upcoming events: at the Bead & Button Show (twice!) in the first week of June, for the San Diego Bead Society on July 13, and at Bead Fest Philly on August 23. Please visit the respective websites of these organizations for more information on how to register for this class. I'd love to see you there!

A Trio of Rizo Triangles Necklaces

I'm in full preparation mode for the 2014 Bead and Button Show! The Rizo Triangles Necklace is one of the six classes that I'm teaching at this year's show, and I've finished three different colorways of this very fancy necklace.

For the gold colorway, I used a combination of neutral and purple hues, with accents of gold-plated seed beads, and golden shadow Swarovski crystals.

This colorway uses several shades of bronze with hints of purple and copper accents, all paired with crystal copper Swarovski crystals.

Finally, the original colorway combines purples, greens, and several accents of silver. I love all three colorways, but this one remains my favorite :)

I'll be teaching this advanced project on Tuesday, June 3, starting at 9 AM. More information about Bead & Button class registration, as well as general show information can be found here. I'd love to see you there!

Which colorway is your favorite?