River God Lariat

Sometimes, no matter how much time we spend working on an idea, projects can completely get away from us, with unexpected results. When the finished piece is a disaster, we can at least chalk it all up to experience, but it’s always a relief when a design turns out well.

My latest Egyptian Gods design went through many transformations. At first, I wanted to do something collar-shaped, but I couldn’t come up with a design that would incorporate all of the leafy elements and beaded flower beads I wanted for the god of flooding and fertility. Then I mixed up some 8/o seed beads in blue, green, black and brown to use in a spiral rope, and it turned out hideous. Finally, I decided on St. Petersburg chain and got to work.

When it came time to make the fringe, I struggled again with execution. It would have been easy to incorporate all of the beaded flowers I had made into looped tassels, but I wanted more leaves and lots of texture. What I ended up with - simple chains with leafy fringe - didn’t exactly live up to my expectations, but it did work well with the rest of the design.

In the end, I can’t say that I’m totally thrilled with how Hapi’s necklace came out, but I’m not disappointed, either. The necklace does look great, especially when I step back and try to forget some of my original ideas.

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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