Michael's Bead Challenge

I really enjoyed participating in my first challenge.  I have seen  challenges on different blogs before but I have always just watched to see what everyone else made.  I refuse to sit it out anymore :)  I am honored to be posting one of my creations alongside such fabulous bead designers.

When I saw the post I went to Michael's to pick up the beads right away.  The only beads I had a little trouble finding were the white quartzite nuggets.  Eventually, I found a single strand hiding behind something else.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the bead selection because it was very different from beads I would have picked out.  I puzzled for a while over whether I thought I could make the colors work together but then I was ready to get started.

When I finally began designing, I really wanted to work with the natural feel of the beads.  I haven't worked much with leather, but I had a couple of leather cords that I thought would complement the beads.  After a short while, I abandoned this attempt and decided to tackle the project again the next day.  Here is a picture of the failed attempt:

The next day I found some white shell circles and deep blue fresh water pearls that I wanted to incorporate. I really thought the shell and pearls helped to bring my design together.  This is the piece that I ended up making:

I love how you can suspend another bead in the center of the white shells, it makes a really nice element for the necklace and the little brown shell discs added a lovely texture.

I ended up using the owl button as the focal and I hammered a clasp out of brass to finish off the necklace.

Overall, I was pleased with how my necklace turned out and I had a lot of fun participating.  I still think there could be potential in my abandoned design but that is for another day.  I am so looking forward to admiring all of the other fantastic creations!  You can check the others out too on Lorelei's awesome blog: http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

-Sarah O