Inspirational Beading: Orange Sunrise Collar

Today’s destash challenge design was a long time in the making. I’ve been pondering possible uses for two strands of translucent white pinch bicones for months now. In the back of my mind, I knew that sooner or later I would make a collar with them, but I was waiting for some other inspiration to strike. With the really ‘usable’ beads that need to be destashed winding down to a minimum, I decided it was time to just cut these strands and make something great.

Princess Nofret

Right around the same time that I pushed the pinch bicones to the front of the queue, I had another light bulb moment. Why has it been so long since I’ve made any Egyptian replicas? It felt like the right time to remake some favorite Egyptian jewelry, and I went with the collar of Princess Nofret as inspiration. The pinch bicones could stand in for the silver paddle fringe.

Unfortunately, when I went to my bead stash to choose colors, I was stumped. I had the red, but no pale green, and no dark gray. I tried dark green and pale gray, but to do that, I would have to combine multiple finishes - transparent, matte, colorlined. I didn’t like the way it looked at all, so I decided to stretch the palette a little and combine colors that were similar, but looked fantastic together.

Sunrise Bead Palette

The final palette includes ceylon cream, transparent rootbeer, aqua lined jonquil, and red lined topaz. The colors all have a lovely warmth. The red lined topaz is especially beautiful - a perfect sunset orange. I’m still planning to do a more accurate recreation of Nofret’s collar, once I have a chance to find just the right combination of colors. I may have to cheat a little though, and assume that the green has faded over time, just to add a little more color.