New Beaded Beads Necklace

I decided to design something new with sharp triangle beads. At first, I was trying to make a flat design (without much success), but somehow it evolved into these textured, self-supporting beaded beads...

I made one version of the beads with Swarovski crystals and combined them in this bold plum necklace. The other version, is a longer bead embellished with smaller triangles and used as a focal in the blue/pink necklace.

Strung and Beadwoven Necklace

Making this necklace reminded me of my first jewelry pieces that I used to make.
Before I started to learn to bead weave and got hooked on it, I used to play and string different kinds of beads to make necklaces and bracelets. I also remember that I used to make a lot of earrings, combined with wire working, but now I don't make them anymore. Bead weaving is much more fun for me! It is like painting or sculpting, two things that I also like to do, but with beads. So, in this necklace I combined my old and currant passions – stringing and bead weaving.
I used Tiger Eye round beads, gold resin beads and a beautiful Volcano cherry quartz (manmade) focal bead – all strung between 2 Herringbone ropes, made with Miyuki triangle beads.
I also used beautiful natural stones, that I am not quite sure of their kind. I immediately fell in love with those beads when I saw them in the store in the Gemstones section, and decided to buy them even though no one at the store could tell me what they are.
I asked one of my beadweaving students who used to work in the jewelry industry to try and identify the stones, and she said they are Amethyst. I think she is right, because in one of the photos, where the light goes through the beads, you can see the purple Amethyst color. If you have a guess of what they are, I would love to know what you think.
But no matter what they are, don't you love the rough cut, the little cracks and the deep color they have?

New Work with Triangle Beads

I like to work with Japanese triangle beads. They give the bead woven piece a nice and interesting texture. This is my last item I made using some to surround a nice glass bead to make a pendant.

I am now in the very beginning of my first embroidered work, and I can tell you that it is fun, although a bit difficult to me. I do a lot of unpicking while working, because I am not used to work with the backing material, and often bring my needle up in the wrong place… It's a bit annoying (but of course there is no other way to practice on this…) so I decided to take a breake and write a new post.. :)