I almost forgot to post this! This is my entry for the Bead Soup design contest at the Adornments Retreat earlier this month. Everyone was asked to bring a 16" strand of beads, matching some aspect of a provided color palette. I assumed we were mixing all the beads that everyone brought, so I provided a 16" strand of the same beads. But in actuality, we were in smaller groups, where we mixed beads with the few other people at our individual tables. Some tables were full with 8 people, and others, like mine, were smaller. We had just 4 people. To get us started, Swarovski Crystal who was one of the sponsors, placed a few strands of their beads in each bowl. The crystal rings, and the deep blue pearls both came from that. The other beads were from my various table-mates.
Since the other sponsor was Vintaj, and they provided clasps for the designs, I went with a very Vintaj-heavy feel for my design, incorporating some of their brass filigree components and bead caps, along with some antiqued gold chain, and some chain tassels. The result is a simple piece, that I could wear comfortably. (You should have seen some of the more awesome designs! There was some crazy beautiful stuff in the mix.)
