Twilight

Finally, new work! A while ago, I was invited by the good folks at Artbeads.com to sample some of their extensive collection of Swarovski crystal beads. While I was highly tempted to try one of the gorgeous Swarovski crystal pendants (I am a big fan of the coral-shaped pendants), I decided it was time to dust off an idea I had jotted down in my book a couple years ago - a necklace made from the vibrant colors of a sunset.

Artbeads.com has such a beautiful assortment of colors to choose from - it made putting this part of the design together quite easy. For this choker, I used Hyacinth, Light Siam, Siam, Cobalt Blue, Dark Sapphire, Dark Indigo and Purple Velvet 4mm bicones.

I originally envisioned a simple double-stranded necklace of graduated sunset colored crystal combined with simple onyx beads - no swag, no ornamentation, just very, very plain. However, once I finished wire-wrapping these beads and put them together with the onyx, the whole effect was just too dark. I tried garnet next, but the dark red shade of my beads didn't make the crystal pop very effectively. I was a little surprised to discover that these copper rose potato pearls worked quite well (in my opinion, at least) with the range of orange, red, blue and purple crystal beads. I created a simple swag out of my crystal chain, added two mocca round Swarovski crystals to "cap" the pearls, and then I did finish my choker with faceted onyx and one of Robert Jennick's simple sterling clasps.


It's certainly satisfying to get an idea that has been languishing in my notebook into the real world. I think this color combination is very versatile and could make, for example, beautiful waterfall-style earrings or a very pretty cocktail ring. I am extremely happy with the way this necklace turned out and highly recommend checking out Artbeads.com selection of Swarovski crystal.

Thanks for visiting!