Blue Rivoli Pendant

After creating my entry for the USE THE MUSE II contest, I still had quite a few beads left over. With a great starting palette of deep blues to work with, I’ve been looking for ways to put the beads to good use.

The Inspiration:

I wanted to do something with Swarovskis, but since I had used up most of the crystals in the kit, I had to start from scratch. The pointed back rivoli rhinestone has made quite a few appearances in beading magazines recently, so I thought it would be fun to try them out and see what I could create.

The Beads:

I started with four different rivolis in shades like sapphire, Montana blue, and jet. I absolutely adore the elegant sparkle of the crystals. To match the rivolis, I chose 15/o’s in transparent gray and navy iris, and 11/o’s in Dichroic-lined blue and denim blue.

The Beadwork:

I started by creating a peyote stitch bezel around each rivoli, then connected them together at different angles with seed beads and Swarovski faceted round beads. Once the body of the pendant was complete, I created a bail using square stitch.

I just happened to have a matching seed bead chain left over from another project, which was easily added with a simple lark’s head knot. I’m so pleased with the way this beading experiment turned out, that I’ve decided to keep it for myself. Next on my to do list is finding a fun way to use up my leftover silk ribbon.

Copyright 2009 Inspirational Beading