I’ve spent a lot of time in the past working with small beads and weaving or sewing them into jewelry, but that was back before I did any blogging so I don’t have photos. While that kind of stinks, all of that information has been banging around in my head ever since. So when I was recently asked to create a one of a kind piece of jewelry for the Emmy Awards I knew pretty quick what I wanted to make. I’d NEVER attempted said project before but I was pretty sure it could be done. Having never done anything before has never stopped me from trying. 🙂

The color of the dress was to be navy with a copper lining. Haley, the client, also mentioned that she would be wearing some kind of headpiece, headband or such thing that had some moss in it. Yeah, literally… moss.  So I wanted to add a hint of moss green to the necklace to tie it all together.  (Can I just take a second to tell you how excited I was to be designing for someone who was cool/artsy enough to wear moss to The Emmy’s?)

The big, swirl decorated, object in the photo above is a button from Buttons Galore and More. It is what I planned to use as a closure on the necklace and the large oval copper/bronze beads I ended up not using because they had too much red in them. (If they don’t show red on your monitor you’ll have to trust me on that). 😉

Here is a close up of just the seed and “E” beads used. Once the separate piles of beads are mixed (see first photo) the over all color is navy with highlights of green and lowlights of copper.

This photo includes some of the larger beads I used. I spent a lot of time “auditioning” beads and colors, making piles, looking at them side by side, separating and re-mixing until I got the over all color I wanted.

Keep in mind that a lot of those little bright green beads will change the finished look so just a few were added to the mix. Not only is the right mix about WHICH colors are chosen but also HOW MUCH of a certain color.

I had lots of strands of larger beads that MIGHT work and the best way for me to see if the color worked was to lay the strand across the seed bead pile, cover portions of the strand with beads and look at the overall effect. I ended up adding 5-7 of the beads from this strand because the green with blue and blue green highlights worked perfectly.

Haley called me a “color genius” in a Facebook conversation we had. I’m not sure I’d go THAT far but I think I have a talent for color. If you aren’t so comfortable with color there are books like Color Choices: Making Sense Out of Color by Stephen Quiller that can help. Don’t forget the color wheel. If you don’t have one, even if you feel pretty comfortable with color, you’ll want to get one.

I have to say that creating what I call “bead soups” is a favorite way for me to play with color and get inspired to create new projects. Are you a lover of color? How do you “try on” new color combinations?

Post info:

See my post on Darice Easy Eye Beading Needles to learn about my favorite beading needle

Disclosure: the link to the color theory book is an affiliate link.

Disclosure: though I do work for a couple of bead manufacturers all of the above beads were purchased by me.