One Zebra Necklace

It’s only been a week, but it feels like I‘ve been away from Inspirational Beading forever. It’s good to be back! The first thing I have to show you this week is something you may have already seen a peek of on Facebook. This necklace has many inspirations: an asymmetrical necklace I spotted on Pinterest, tribal colors and patterns, and some very ordinary wooden macramé beads.

I wanted to make something with a very simple, asymmetrical construction, so when I looked again at the beads in my destash selection and spotted some plain macramé beads, a little light went on. I also grabbed some gunmetal E beads, and got to work on a palette that would suit me.

I have quite a few seed bead colors that are dwindling, and I paired up several opaque and transparent colors that would make good coverings for the macramé beads. I started with two brown palettes, hoping for a leopard print look, and added green for a nice contrast. To add the final element, I made one beaded bead with solid black and white stripes.

Because I would be stringing with Fireline, I wanted to add strength and stability to the necklace, so I also included some tortoiseshell druks to weave loops around. I split the beaded beads into three sections, and made a separate chain for each, leaving plenty of room to weave in lots of thread.

I had so much fun making this piece that I’m thrilled to have lots of macramé beads left over. Hopefully I can come up with another interesting palette soon!

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