2-hole beads and filigree

I don't use 2-hole beads or slider beads very often. Probably as I think just making multistrand stringed pieces aren't fun -- I didn't use to have that many other ideas involving these beads.

That is, until I found a bunch of purple 2-hole beads with flower motifs. Very pretty with kind of a vintage style. For months they were just hidden away until I bought half a dozen silverplated filigree connectors from the US. I soon got the idea to link the connectors with the beads and that is how Victorian Amethyst was born (below).

I was afraid of bending the stiff filigrees -- thought I might damage the plating -- so it feels a bit "angular", but still nice enough to wear as a choker, using a ribbon as closure. As you can see, I ran out of filigrees and and to finish the choker using "3-to-1" necklace ends attached to drops in the same style as the filigrees.

I liked the style, but felt the choker had a few minor design flaws so later I made my "Victorian Amethyst v 2.0", or Herrgårdshöst as I named it. It had an English title too, which was longer, as it was my entry to one of the monthly challenges at Vintaj blog, Golden Harvest in November 2008. This time I used brass filigree that I felt more comfortable bending and some new beads as the once I used in my first version was no longer to be found in the shop anymore. Instead, after much research I found similar matte beads in the US (of cause, now this shop no longer carries any floral 1-hole beads...).

I will probably make more jewellery in this style, if only I could find shops selling the right beads. The other 2-hole beads I own are eiter the wrong shape or have holes too close to one another to fit the connectors. Or, in rarer occasions, the beads are vintage or vintage-style, meaning the prices are too high for me...