The Green Monster Tamed

I started studying color and bead soups in 2011. I want to make more dramatic jewelry. I am sure that color is one of the most important aspects of making a dramatic piece. And I wanted to do more with all the beads I see every day. I really like the idea of bead soups, a mixture of many small beads to create your "own" color or tone. I even tried to make my own bead soup. Boy, is that hard. My two bead soups, a brownish-reddish tone and a greenish tone were not great, if you ask me. And the cost is, well, don't ask me about it!

Here is a link to the bracelet made with the brownish-reddish toned bead soup in 2011.

My Great Failure - My First Try

I used the GREEN BEAD SOUP to make a necklace. If you just look at it in parts, it looks okay, maybe even kind of nice, but if you look at the almost finished piece you will understand why I ripped it apart and started over. But, first, here it is, the GREEN MONSTER!

I think this green bead soup works better than my brown toned one. I was aiming at concepts like NATURE, FORESTS, SUMMER, LIGHTNESS.

If you just look at it in parts, it is not so bad. I started work on this in 2011 and early 2012.

But just take a look and this Monster in the making....

But why,  oh why did I make it in this horrible shape?? And why, oh why, did I add all these clunky stones?? And why, oh why did I make this heavy looking, drab,.... thing?  Well, to be fair to me, it was my first attempt at a large piece using this FREE FORM METHOD of beading. I was having fun picking up all the different types of beads and sewing them in.

There are layers and layers of beads on top of each other. Goodness, what was I thinking?

 That is when I tore it apart and started over. I was not going to let this get me down!

The Much Prettier Green Bead Soup Necklace

I started work on this in August and September 2012 and finished about December 2012. I am much happier with this. I would even wear it, whereas the first one, I would not be seen dead in it! This re-worked piece reminds me of a meadow in summer with lots of flowers blooming. There is coral and semi precious stones mixed in with all the different seed beads and Indian glass beads. I guess all the practise that I had with the first, monster piece, made it much easier for me to head in the right direction.

Check out the next post where I will show photos of the Making of this Green Meadow Necklace from start to finish!