My mom came back from the Outer Banks, North Carolina last year with a hand full of shells and one request - for me to make a necklace for her. I really agonized over it for a while: Do I try to drill through the shells? Do I back & embroider them? Do I use bails and make some funky charm necklace type piece? In the end, I decided to make right angle weave bezels for them... all 18 of them. There are 16 shells on the necklace and two that I used for a pair of earrings.The center shell posed a different problem with its shape. Mom had originally requested that I try to drill it, but I was terrified that I'd break the shell. Instead, I used a minimal amount of silver wire to wrap it.
The shells are an off-white and lilac to medium purple mix and I used gray Czech seed beads for the bezels. The shells are interspersed with stick mother of pearl beads. I'm really happy with the results, as is she!
In other news, I submitted my project to Bead & Button. I should know by September if they've accepted the project. First time for submitting a project!
I'm still waiting on news from the Use the Muse project and the FMG results.
edited by Jean Campbell. I've had more fun making the confetti beads and variations of my own beads that I often forgot that my wrists were hurting! It wasn't until I started making a pom pom bead that I had to breakdown and buy some painkillers. But, I'm really happy with the results. So, after I hit "Post" here, I'm off to fill out the online application and get her in.
