Well, here it is at last – my Summer Lace Necklace – and my first entry for the Bead Along with Off the Beaded Path. Only 4 days after the deadline! It was due on 15th April, but I just didn’t finish it in time. Reminds me of my old school reports, which stated things like “Work is sometimes slow but usually gets done in the end.” I guess this is still true of me to this day!
I do have a few reasons as to why this necklace took so long though. First of all, I had to wait for the fab book Metallic Seed Bead Splendor by Nancy Zellors to arrive so I started a week late.
Then we had a major power cut on one of the nights I wanted to bead. The power was out for hours. I had to get the emergency candles out so I still did some beading but not much as it was rather difficult to see those tiny beads!
And the last reason is that this necklace is 4ft long! It’s the longest necklace I’ve ever made. At one point, I did wonder if I was ever going to finish this seed bead project. Then I read this quote:
“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” Greg Anderson.
So true. Then I relaxed and got into the flow of it!
This Summer Lace Necklace was made using a right angle weave stitch to form a daisy chain. The pendant was attached using a ladder stitch technique and I used the following materials:
- 4g of size 6 turquoise lined crystal seed beads
- 12g of size 11 frosted gold lined crystal seed beads
- 6mm turquoise glass pearl
- 4mm turquoise glass pearl
- Nymo beading thread – ivory
- Size 10 beading needle
The next Bead Along project is due on 29th April, I’ve got my materials ready so hopefully I should meet the deadline this time around!
If you fancy having a go at the Bead Along, it’s not too late to join in – there’s another 5 projects to go. It doesn’t cost anything, other than your materials and the book if you don’t already have it. It’s all about learning new stitches. So head over to Off the Beaded Path blog if you’re interested.
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I love the colors of you necklace. It turned out beautifully!!!! I used a light purple 11/0 with white 6/0…it turned out to be very nice. I turned in my next project so I am a little ahead….have fun with Crystal Lattice…it is a fun project!!!!
This is beautiful! I was wondering if you had picture or some kind of visual tutorial for this. I am getting married in a few weeks and would love to make this for it! I lookd at the right angle stitch video but I don’t understand how you have the bead in the middle or two strands with it. I will admit I have never done bead weaving before. Would this be too difficult??
thanks so much!!
Hi Ivy! Thanks for stopping by and congratulations on your wedding! I’m really glad that you liked the necklace. I can’t share that tutorial with you for copyright reasons but I will try to explain how I got the bead in the middle if that helps!
I picked up 11 seed beads to form a circle by going back through the first one I picked up. Then I picked up a larger bead and went through the seed bead OPPOSITE the first seed bead in the circle. When you go though the opposite seed bead (I think it’s 5 seed beads along the circle), you sew through that one seed bead in the opposite direction to the seed bead just exited. Doing it like this aligns the larger bead perfectly in the middle.
Does that make any sense? If not, I will do a photo visual of this one step and aim to publish it next week sometime!
Oh I wish it did make sense! Hahaha, I think its the mixture of me never doing bead weaving before and being a visual learner. I will try to do what you said by hand to see if it make more sense when I try it and see, then let you know. I would so love to be able to have it for my dress (in black and purple, my wedding dress will be white with black lace). Wish me luck lol!
I have figured it out! I called a lovely lady who does some weaving and she ws able to understand what you were saying and showed me!! Let me just say, I definitely admire all of the work you put into your items! This is very time consuming! lol. My jewelry takes a lot of time, but nothing like this!! =P Thank you so much for your help.
That’s great! I was thinking that I might do a tutorial on some beadweaving stitches in the future as this could be quite helpful for others. I hope you have a lovely wedding and do send me a pic of the finished necklace!
Please let me know if you do! I would love to learn more! I definitely will send you pics.
Hello! The necklace turned out great!! I have some pictures on my Facebook page! Facebook.com/artfulparadox. Thank you so much!
Ivy
Beautiful Ivy! Your hard work really paid off! P.S. LOVE your dress in your wedding pic!
Thank you!! The girl that made it did such a great job! I didn’t want to take it off! Haha.