Hello, friends!

Remember me mentioning in my last post that I had a special new piece to show you?

Oculus Pendant Design by Sam Wescott – Yellow Rose Painting by Brenda Meyer

My Oculus Pendant bezel (pattern available here) is specifically made to accommodate 24mm Lunasoft cabs. My beading buddy, Brenda Meyer, paints cabs, so I asked her if she would do a custom flower in the center of a Luna cab, small enough to not be covered by the bezel. I requested a little yellow rose could not be happier with the finished piece!

I added the leaves right away and loved how they complimented Brenda’s piece. After that, though, I was stumped on how to finish the rest of the necklace. I knew I wanted to do more bead weaving, so at first I tried to do a big right angle weave piece with leaves and coordinating pearls.

I am really in love with these Czech glass leaves.

While I really like this sample (and I will probably go ahead and make a second necklace out of it), it’s way too wide and chunky for such a delicate bezel. The seed bead stitching in the focal piece gets completely overwhelmed by the big pearls and leaves.

I ended up making a delicate seed bead chain that used the 4mm, Delicas, and tiny 15/0’s that I used in the original bezel. I love the Czech crystals and think they incorporate the green in the leaves nicely.

All in all, I am very pleased with the overall terracotta/cottage/garden look of this dainty necklace and am proud to own a Brenda Meyer original. She loves doing custom work and will gladly work with you, if you want a painted stone or cabochon of your own!

Brenda sells her pieces through Beaded Bliss in Harrison, OH. If you want to see her premade pieces, visit the shop. If you want to order a custom piece, you can visit the shop and ask the owner or email the shop at beadedbliss104@aol.com.

Check back in the next week or so, to see how I tweaked a free herringbone pattern with superduos!