Retro Shell Necklace

One of my favorite things about the destash challenge so far is the moments where I don’t bother to look before I leap. Whether I’m combining unusual elements, using up an intimidating bead, throwing in large quantities of favorites to make a project work, or just going with a crazy idea, I’m loving all of the risks!

This week I put the finishing touches on a necklace that I never would have created it if weren’t for this challenge. Although I used a new favorite technique, the combination of beads was very unusual. In my destash tray I had a handful of shell beads leftover from a strand frenzy I went on a few years back, plus some white cat eye cubes and rectangles from the same era. I’ve used all of these beads many times, and there weren’t really enough of them left - let alone inspiration or ideas - to use any of them individually. So, I decided to put them all together in once piece.

Because the beads are all different sizes and shapes, I thought a multi-strand approach would be best. All I had to do was build a seed bead palette to coordinate the variety of colors. I had a little ceylon pearl and some aqua blue, but not enough to build a whole necklace. I only winced for a moment when I grabbed a few packets of transparent cobalt seed beads to use as the main color. After all, why buy the beads if I’m not going to use them?

After counting out the accent beads and separating them into equal portions for each strand, I got to work stringing a striped pattern, alternating between aqua, white, and pearl. I was so excited about how the necklace would turn out, that I forgot to save a few accents for the anchor chains. Luckily, I had some crystal AB druks and shocking orange 8/o seed beads to stand in.

Even though I went with a striped pattern to fit with my current style, I think the necklace turned out delightfully 1980’s. I can picture it with acid washed jeans, wrist bands, and orange plastic earrings. Radical!

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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