Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Morse Code Necklace

A summer Beading Daily blog post on Cellini Spiral describes a finicky sort of beader who buys beads and components for projects in the exact quantities needed - down to the exact number of seed beads and all. Not only does this sound frustrating to a bead collector like me - all those counts and calculations! - but it doesn't sound like much fun either. One of my greatest sources for inspiration is my collection of beads. Each time I pull out my carefully organized trays, I discover a new combination of colors and shapes to use.

Blue Shell Rectangle Beads

The Inspiration:

These pretty blue rectangle shells have been calling to me for some time now, waiting for the right bead partners or color palette to set off my creativity. I have been having so much fun with shell coins and ovals lately that I was determined to finally put them to good use.

As I was mentally sketching different patterns and ideas, it occurred to me that by pairing them with round shells, I could create the dots and dashes patterns used in Morse code.

Nautical Seed Beads

The Beads:

I considered many different palettes to use with the rectangles, and finally decided on a nautical combination of yellow, white and navy blue. I also added some teal colored 11/o seed beads to tie everything together. For the Morse code dots, I used yellow shell coins, which are roughly the same size as the blue rectangle "dashes".

The Beadwork:

The most obvious pattern choice for a Morse code design is, of course, S.O.S. I strung the circles and rectangles between seed beads, alternating between bright sunny yellow and a combination of white and navy. To make the beadwork strong, and keep it metal free, I tied off the threads in two peyote stitch circles - they bear a convenient resemblance to the portholes on a ship!

SOS Necklace

Copyright 2009 Inspirational Beading



5 comments:

  1. Nice to read your blog and the information is very impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I hope you've been inspired today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This "Morse Code Necklace" is just too much fun Mortira! I love the colors and clever design.

    Thanks for sharing this!

    Duchess
    From Artbeads.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Duchess! I keep picturing it against a nice black bathing suit and sarong ensemble. I guess I'm missing summer already!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is an interesting idea to send a message via a necklace. But I think "SOS" is not the best option for this. It could be something more romantic.

    ReplyDelete

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