This month's components were dished up by Karen Totten in the form of these delicious Pithivier style beads. Gorgeously crimped and puffed, it was very hard to pick just one but in the end I chose the lovely verdigris one top centre.
sAs soon as I got my hands on it I new I wanted to team it up with a bronze piece I'd been working on and create a double focal pendant for a necklace. My piece has a very organic feel to it and not only does it pick up the brown tones of the bead, there is also an echo of the leaf motif in the structure of the bronze element too.
I had some heavily veined turquoise nuggets that I thought might be a good match and indeed they were. I love the contrast of these two colours and decided to stick to this limited palette. I'm having a bit of an affair with wooden beads at the moment and picked out some of my favourite tiger ebony twisted facet and rounds to add some contrast.
My initial thoughts had been for a long necklace with chain but I ended up stringing the beads on linen cord with some tiny bronze cube spacers. The design is fairly simple as I didn't want to detract from the focal and asymmetrical patterns seemed to do just that. A simple hand forged bronze hook clasp completes the piece.
I played around with the length for a while and eventually settled on quite a short piece by my standards with the pendant sitting just below the collar bone where it has maximum impact. I really like this necklace - it's so wearable and I love the colours and yes... I'm keeping it for myself! Thank you Karen!
To see what the rest of the AJE team and our guest designers have created just use the links below.
Happy hopping.
Lesley
Oh this is beautiful , love the colours it looks very sophisticated!
ReplyDeleteThis is simply stunning! I am loving your new shell line!
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful Lesley!! The new Shell designs you're making have a leaf quality to them as well, looks stunning with Karen's Focal.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, this is really too beautiful for words.
ReplyDeleteI really like that - like you said simple but what a statement it makes.
ReplyDeleteThe veins in the leaves and the skeleton of the shell - a brilliant pairing visually !!! Love it!!!!
ReplyDeleteSimply lovely and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I love it's simplicity and elegance!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd certainly keep that!
ReplyDeleteLesley this is so elegant - the palette and textures are perfect - you have really captured the "feel" of this bead in your necklace! Oh, and thank you for the new term "Pithivier"! ha!
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteIt's gorgeous, Lesley, as usual! I love the colors you used, they are perfect for that focal! I would keep it too!
ReplyDeleteLove it! I would have taken a similar route - making it part of a pendant like that. Very beautiful necklace :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I LOVE this! Gorgeous pairing of focals and colors!
ReplyDeleteThat is so soothing and restful. I love the veins in your bronze piece that echo the leaf in the bead. Great design! Enjoy the day. Erin
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Lesley! Elegant with a touch of the rustic. The shell and Karen's bead do both look a bit leafy, and your colors are perfect! Love it!
ReplyDeleteLesley, OMG! I love this! That bronze focal is stunning, and a perfect partner for Karen's pie bead. And I love the palette you chose for this - just wonderful. Yum!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Love how you created the focal - but your accent beads look like they were made to go with Karen's bead!
ReplyDeleteLove what you have done with the "pie" bead. Stunning necklace and your bronze focal is amazing.
ReplyDeleteSo pretty. Love the focal and the accent beads are fantastic. They match SO well!
ReplyDeleteOoh, Lesley..what a gorgeously yummy necklace! The colors are perfect and your bronze pendant really adds so much depth the piece!
ReplyDeleteDang that is perfect! Beautiful piece, I would totally wear that!
ReplyDelete