In September, I received some "bead soup" as part of the celebration for Lori Anderson's Bead Soup book. You can see larger photos of the beads I received in the earlier blog post. The assignment was to make a necklace with the materials, plus anything we wanted to add from our own stash.
The Pendant Makeover
The pendant and matching clasp were a brassy gold color. Nothing wrong with them, but I wanted something a little more understated and elegant. Since the challenge rules stated that "anything goes," I decided this included painting the pendant. I used Gilder's Paste in German Silver, which gave the pendant a much softer metallic tone. (By the way, if you love the original color of the pendant, but just want it to be shinier/sparklier, I found that African Bronze works well.) I sealed the pendant with the new Vintaj glaze.
Check out the before and after photos of the pendant:
The Necklace Design & Fall Inspiration
After seeing an absolutely gorgeous fall tree with the mix of orange and
peridot green leaves and a dark brown tree trunk, I knew I wanted that as my color palette for the necklace. (Note to self: Next time you see a pretty fall scene,
photograph it immediately, since it will probably be covered in snow the
next time you remember!)
I decided to make a multistrand piece to balance the size of the large pendant. I strung the pendant on Vintaj chain and then wove brown satin ribbon through the links. For the beaded strand, I used some of the brown shells, brass heishi spacers, and the orange rondelles from the bead soup kit. I add a few
peridot freshwater pearls, peridot Swarovski crystals, and dark brown
wooden beads from my own stash to finish the strand.