Cup of Bead Soup with Miss Molly's Designs -- #2

This is my second design with the bevy of beads from Miss Molly's Designs.  This time, I chose to work with the pale blue and brown set, with beads that ranged from the chunky to the more sedate.

Enameled beads by nature are lightweight, and I wanted to make a "half-and-half" necklace, meaning, half the necklace would be predominantly enameled beads, and the other half would be something else.  What that Something Else would be remained to be seen.

The challenge was three-fold -- one, find beads that matched the size of the large enameled beads, two, find complimentary colors for the unique blue shade, and three, find beads that were of equal weight to the enamel beads.

After much poking around, I found a solution.  Large fluted bleached wood rounds, natural wood triangles, and these awesome Czech glass beads that couldn't have had a more perfect coloration if I'd designed them myself.

My other challenge was to NOT use metal spacers between any of the beads as I'm used to doing.  I just automatically go for them every. single. time.  I was determined this time to just leave it alone, choosing to finish the necklace with an antiqued vermeil clasp.  

Question is, what do you think?  Do you think I SHOULD have used small gold spacers between some of the beads?  Is the bleached wood too pale?  I know I got the size right, but tell me what you REALLY think.

You can find more of Miss Molly's work at the following:

Molly Alexander

Shop:  Click here

Blog:  Click here

 

 

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

 

 

 

Cup of Bead Soup -- Fleur de Lis necklace, and a vintage book

Today I'm showing you a necklace I made with some of Miss Molly's Designs enameled beads.  I chose the red and blue beads with the fleur de lis pendant because another friend's gift in the mail reminded me of a piece of random metal I had from Metalliferous.  I had originally thought of using a vintage key, but I this bit of bronze made me think of old 1700's gates leading into elegant gardens.

So, here we go!

I wanted to use an asymmetric pattern but not go too wild, as my mind has been dwelling on a historical fiction book I'm reading, "Now Face to Face".   There are so many intrigues and assignations behind elegant closed doors and decorative garden gates, and while the jewelry of that time period is glittery and glamorous, I didn't make this necklace with jewelry in mind, but architecture.

I had a large vintage bead that worked well with the enameled beads, and the oxidized copper chain blended well, I thought, with the mix of metals (I put a tiny bit of brass on the vintage bead, see?).

Overall, I'm pleased with how this turned out.  And a note on the book the necklace is photographed on -- in keeping with the vintage theme, I used a recent acquisition "Young America" by Aldine Book & Publishing Co.  In my search to learn more, I found out that this book, which I paid $15 for, was published in 1887 and is available through three sellers here from $350-$400.  Woah.  

But I couldn't possibly sell this book.  I believe in rescuing history, and holding this treasure in my hands, and opening it on the rare occasion (the pages are SO fragile, I have to be so very careful), brings me joy.

 cover

Advertisements on the inside covers, and several pages in the back, almost like this was a bit of a hardcover magazine.  I have to research this more.

And a sample of the inside -- lots of stories and illustrations, and I've even found some scraps of paper inside with notes from whomever used to own this about their favorite passages and their own bits of poetry.

I hope you've enjoyed this Cup of Bead Soup!  

You can visit Miss Molly's Designs here:

Shop:  Click here

Blog:  Click here

 

 

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.