The Challenge
Lorelei Eurto challenged the readers of her blog, Lorelei’s Blog Inside The Studio, to create a necklace using materials that she had selected from Michael’s for us. The idea was that even though we all used mostly the same materials, everyone would have their own creative take on what to design with those materials. It’s going to be a blast to see what everyone came up with. In addition to the required beads, we were allowed to add two of our own types of beads, as well as our own pendant (optional) and our own clasp. Just to sweeten the challenge, Lorelei included some white chain and pearls in the required bead collection, pointing out that many jewelry designers use very little white.
White Chain – Now What?
I wasn’t sure how to tie in the white chain with all the other elements, so I started looking through my (large and unwieldy) pendant collection. Bingo! I found this pendant by local ceramic artist, Marion Pollmann. The brown and white of the pendant just pulled everything else together, plus the rustic style of her pendant was a perfect match with the carved wood and cinnabar.
Brown and white pendant-perfect!
I wired 36 of the small green pearls to a short section of the chain and added 12 of my own small, brick-red cube beads. I then used some dark sage-green seed beads from my stash, to suspend the pendant from the center of the chain. I found this awesome button in my collection – check out how closely it echos the flower in Marion’s pendant! I set it to the side, so it would show when worn and created a loop of seed beads to clasp around the button.
Wired pearls on chain, floral button clasp
I used the rest of the beads from Michael’s to complete the necklace. I really enjoyed this challenge and I hope you’ll enjoy visiting some of the other challenge participants to see what they have created. Their blogs are listed at the end of this post. Have fun blog hopping!
- The finished necklace!
Challenge Participants
Mary Harding
Hilary of Fryestyle
For My Sweet Daughter
My Life Under the Bus
Kristie of DreamSomeDesigns
Linda’s Bead Blog & Meanderings You Are Here!
Copper Diem
Andrew Thornton
TyneBodenNecklaces
Erin of Treasuresfound
Molly of BeautifullyBrokenMe
Beading by Malin de Koning
AuntieAnnie
Gr8Findings
Deborah M Purdy
Spirited Earth
Erin Siegel Jewelry
beads by breul
Beads for Busy Gals
Cynths Blog
Nayas Organized Chaos
Crafty Hope
Rosebud For the Love of Beads
Jamberry Song
Peacock Fairy
Elysian Studio Art
Designs by Debi
sweet girl design
Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings 
Oh, it came out beautifully! Such a fun, playful design; it really makes me miss summer and long days out on the lawn listening to live music and having a fresh picnic lunch. Very lovely!
Thank you so much “JamBerrySong”! Your description of long summer days made me start missing them already! It’s below freezing at night here. Br-r-r-r! I’ll be off to visit your blog soon! Can’t wait!
Mmmmmm, very very like I do! the rusy brown-red pearls. the conversion between the pendant and the clasp. Thanks for sharing!
All my best,
Malin
This is really cute. I love the “caterpillar section” and how the clasp and the pendant look like they were made from the same mold. Very pretty creation.
Yes the white chain threw me for a loop as well !!! It’s a beautiful necklace!!! – I will be fascinated how everyone deals with it : ) Happy Sunday!
This is beautiful! Love that pendant! Everything is pulled together so nicely and I love how you incorporated that tricky white chain!!!
Yes, the tricky white chain—everyone was challenged by this! I’m glad you liked my solution. Wasn’t it fun to see how everyone dealt with it?
Linda! FABULOUS!!! I love the pendant and will definitely be checking out that artist! I love how you dangled beads off the white chain- it takes a bit of the starkness away from the white color- great idea!
It turned out beautifully! Thank you so much for participating!
Lorelei- Thanks for setting up this challenge. I haven’t had so much fun in a long time! I loved seeing what everyone created. Marion Pollmann doesn’t usually create pendants or beads, but she had a few of these pendants for sale at Christmas last year and I grabbed 2 of them. I’m glad you liked the pendant and chain dangles. Thanks for being such an inspiration to me!
Oh I love it! Seems like the white chain was tricky for a lot of people (makes me feel better), and I’m so impressed with the way you added layers of color around it with those small beads. I think this challenge also pointed out to me the need to enrich my focal bead selection!
Thanks Gr8Findings! Yah, the chain was tricky–I read that over and over again in everyone’s blogs. It was cool to see how each person dealt with it!
I like how you overcame the challenge of the chain and your focal and button are lovely.
Thanks Shannon. Once I found the focal, everything else just seemed to fall in place.
Wow, such a great idea for covering that white chain!!! I had a hard time with it too . . Great work!
It sure was a challenge to use, wasn’t it! But it was a good challenge. Really made me get in a problem solving mode.
Absolutely wonderful design, love that pendant and how you put it all together!!
Thanks, Kristi. I appreciate it!
Love it! You did a wonderful job! Simply gorgeous 🙂
Thanks for your kind comments, Debi!
Perfect focal for your design! It looks lovely!
Thanks, Deborah!
Just fantastic! The white chain would have stumped me but your pendant choice was perfect 🙂
Mellisa, that white chain stumped me for quite a long while, too. I thought of weaving beads in and out of it, or doing the same with ribbon. I thought of pairing it with another color of chain, but I finally settled on the wire wrapped beads and it was easy once I found the pendant in my stash. Glad you liked it!
This is so different from the others I have looked at so far – and I love it! The focal you have used is indeed perfect and I really like the pearl dangles you have surrounded it with. Gorgeous!
Rebecca- You have me doing a happy dance! Saying my necklace is different from the others is music to my ears. We all strive to have our own artistic vision that is a unique expression of our soul. Thank you for your kind words!
I love the colors that you added! They look amazing with the beads that Lorelei chose. Great job!
Marcie- Rich colors ways are so important to me. I’m glad you liked my selection. Thank you for visiting my blog!
That is a stunning pendant. I actually had some of these beads already (or something decidedly similar) so I didn’t have to get much. Love what you did with that chain. It becomes the foundation for something even more wonderful, all those little dangles. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy the day!
Erin
Erin- Thanks for visiting my blog! I had fun wiring all those dangles. I’m glad you liked them!
That is a really unique and beautiful design! Great job!
Thanks, Amy! I appreciate your kind comment!
How clever of you to incorporate the white chain by bedecking it with lots of dangles. Lovely! Your piece has a nice, earthy warmth to it. Good job!
Thank you, Andrew! I enjoy reading your blog and appreciate your kind comments!
Great piece. I am so impressed with your use of the white chain.
Thank you Mary. I thought long and hard about how to use that white chain in a way that it wouldn’t be so glaringly, well..white!
What a fantastic job!!! I should have given that challenge a try – would have been good for me. Let me know if you run across any other similar ones!
Thanks, Jordana! You should follow Lorlei Eurto’s blog. For one thing, its a great bead blog. For another, she has said that she will do another of these challenges and then you could play along! It was really fun!
Aww this is so Beautiful!!
Thank you so much, Janet! And thank you for visiting my blog!
Love the piece. I like how you handled the white chain. It seemed to stump most of us. Your focal is great also!
Thank you, Courtney! I was happy with how the focal pulled in the white from the chain.
Hi Linda –
I am loving the way you put your necklace together! The white chain with the little beads wired to it looks fantastic and really sets off both your focal and your button clasp. Just beautiful!
Thank you, Molly! Wasn’t it fun seeing what everyone did? I was smilingall day long!
Linda, I adore the addition of the brick red — it’s truly inspired! And your pendant is magical with the beads Lorelei chose. I just wish the artist had a website where I could order similar pendants *sigh*. I guess we can’t have everything we want! What a great idea to place the button clasp so it’s visible from the front. It blends so beautifully with your design. Your necklace is FABulous!!!
Thank you so much, Lisa! Don’t tell anybody but I grabbed that pendant for just $1.00!!! Isn’t it wonderful?
Wow- this came our GORGEOUS Linda. LOVE IT! :):):) Fantastic pictures too by the way♥
Thanks, Jenelle! I had a ton of fun doing this and pushing my creative brain a bit!
I just love the way your necklace came together. The focal with the white chain with the dangles is wonderful, great job!
Thank you, Raida!
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