Vernal visions challenge entry

This is my humble entry for the latest Bead Mavens challenge. The theme was Vernal Visions, celebrating the spring equinox. I didn't think I'd be able to finish it in time as I first injured myself about a week ago and the neck/shoulder pains made it somewhat unpleasant to bead and then -- when I'd finally come up with a design I was ok with for the chain -- I ran out of beads. To top it off, my camera batteries gave up while I tried to get a pic of the finished necklace. But I made it in time anyway. Not a masterpiece compared to some of the other entries, but I like it.



For me, the vernal equinox is all about the return of light and the world -- nature -- once again beginning to turn green. I wanted to capture that sunshine and verdure in a design with beads that would give it a somewhat subtle sparkle, like drops of spring rain on leaves. Using a mix of fire-polished, crystal and glossy seed beads provided a fresh, shiny finish.



The colour palette was determined by the crystal verde rivoli, which is the centre of the design. And which you can't really get a good look at in these pics. It's a green and apricot finish on clear crystal. Very nice and, well, vernal. I wanted to keep my colours restricted to those two so I bezelled the stone using gold lustered green tea seed beads and crystal smoked topaz poudré fire-polished beads. The chain is made using the same beads plus copper-lined olivine fp and 15/0 sparkling honey-lined crystal seed beads.



I blame the neck and shoulder ache for making the necklace too long. About 10 cm too long for me, who like princess length necklaces. But I wouldn't necessarily have to rip up some of the stitches in order to wear it as I can fasten the s-clasp in the open spaces created by the double diamond stitch and thus alter the length. Didn't plan on being able to do that, but I'm glad I thought of it once I realised it was way too long.


PS! You can see all the Vernal Visions challenge entries here.