Pretty in Purple Necklace

A few months ago I went to a craft fair.  One gal was selling handmade beads.  She had buckets of each color.  I picked through the container and found 13 purple and black beads with the intention of making a necklace and a pair of coordinating earrings.

That was last Fall.  They just sat in my studio, I couldn't decide on a design until the other day I printed out a sheet of inchies and saw the corset design.  I thought it would be perfect for a focal point on this necklace.

Then I went through my stash of beads and found a few crystals, some chain, some Czech glass beads, and some metallic type square seed beads.  Below you can see the layout for my design.

These beads are so pretty and vary in size.  I love the colors, too.

And here are the beads I set aside for the earrings.

The metallic square seed beads.  Depending on how the light hits them you can see purple in the gold finish.

Focal point bead assemblage. 

Purple corset from the inch designs coated with Glossy accents and a crystal for a little bling on an antiqued brass setting, also from my stash of bead making supplies.

This was the first thing I printed on our new laser printer.  The detail is amazing compared to an inkjet printer.  And this was on just plain piece of copy paper.

Here I have the main part of the necklace strung on beading wire.  I planned to add a jump ring to each end to attach to a long piece of the chain.

Focal piece added and chain.

 Earrings completed.

The completed set.  I really love the square beads with the larger purple round beads.

Happy Crafting!

Purple Earrings

I woke up this morning and decided I needed a new pair of purple earrings, so into the studio I went.

I rummaged through my beads and findings and came up with a few beads that were just the thing.

Here are the components I used for each earring.

For the filigree component at the top I flattened out 1 bead cap for each earring.  Then wired a purple crystal to the center of each.

On the backside I made 2 tiny loops and flattened them against the filigree piece.

For the bottom teardrop I used a  Swarovski crystal teardrop in deep purple with a small bead cap at the bottom.

I love the color purple.  I even have a front yard full of lavender that is in full bloom right now.

And here is the finished earrings.

Happy Crafting!

Lavender Earrings

I love the patina of antiqued brass that I used for these earrings.  And again I dream of Spring.

So to get ready for that wonderful season I chose a series of different colored lavender beads to use in this pair of earrings.

For the center pieces I used 2 square filigree metal pieces, one for each earring, that I curled the points forward, with pliers, leaving enough space to glue on the Lucite lavender roses.  This gives the    pieces some dimension.

At the top I added a Czech fire-polished glass bead and a couple of brass spacers.

And from the bottom I hung a glass Czech bead in the shape of a flower in a very dark purple with 2 small bead caps and 2 purple bicone  purple crystals.  

These turned out so pretty and will go with so many of my clothes since purple is one of my favorite colors.  I always love using the Czech beads.  The colors and finishes have such interesting color variations and textures.

Happy Crafting!