Humblebeads...humble beading

I've been a huge fan of Heather Powers since I was first introduced to her work in the early days of BeadStyle. I love her beads, I love her style, and she's a super-nice person. When I was writing The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry, I knew the bead glossary was a very important part of the book. I wanted to show as many kinds of beads as I could and help newcomers to the hobby understand all the choices they had. Heather generously gave me some polymer clay beads for this "visual dictionary" of beads.

Now that the book is finished, I wanted to make something special with the beads. I thought of all the things I admire in Heather's work: beautiful beads, natural elements, asymmetrical design, rich, earthy colors ... I must say it was a little humbling to approach this project. I wanted to showcase the beads, of course, but I also wanted them to be fully integrated in the work. Heather's beads are gems to be waiting to be discovered, not dominant focals shouting "look at me!"

So here's my little bracelet. Please visit Humblebeads to see more of Heather's work, or visit her Etsy shop for even more inspiration.

What I learned from making this necklace

I fell in love with these lava beads at the Rings & Things trunk show I attended last fall, and had to have them in several sizes. I tend to mull ideas over in my head for a few days before I sit down to make anything, and after a few dog walks I knew that the lava beads just had to go with my newly acquired red and black Humblebeads. I thought I could find some large size 8 matte seed beads to balance the necklace, but no luck. I’m picky about my reds, and I after three bead stores, I still couldn’t match the perfect red of these beads. Finally, I found some Czech glass crystals. The color was right, but they didn’t have the organic feel I was going for. I bought the crystals anyway, thinking the color match was more important and I’d have to compromise. My other objective was to make an asymmetrical necklace, to really set apart the red beads. Here is my first result:

It looked great on the bead board and the necklace form. It looked great everywhere except around my neck. I tried to wear the necklace several times, but it just didn’t work. I made the silver-and-polymer-clay-bead section too large, compared to my neck size and where the necklace should lie. For a true asymmetric look, the beaded portion needs to be large enough to be noticed but small enough to fit roughly in the area between the front of your shoulder and the bottom of your collar bone. Here’s my second version. It’s a much better fit on me, and the design is still interesting enough.


So, what did I learn? Set your heart on perfection, but understand you may have to compromise on a few of your materials, so be flexible. Plan your necklace, measure, and then measure again when you’re done. Measure flat, but also measure against the curve of your neck. And go ahead and keep it simple. Just because you can make a double spiral, maybe you shouldn't. Don’t add too much stuff to your necklace and lose the dimension or balance that are so important to the functionality and success of the piece. Oh, and if you're going to photograph your jewelry, use a lint roller on the necklace form before you zoom in!