The creative process where does it begin?
For me it begins with a messy beadroom. I can't seem to work if everything is packed away nice and neat in its own box or container. I need to see it in order to bead it. Two years ago at the show in Tucson I found this cab. The name of the stone is Bronzite. It has been hiding in the cab box waiting for me to pull it out. I did and it spoke to me.
"Make me into something that looks Victorian".
I glued the cab to a piece of e'tal paper that was sitting on my bead table right next to a hank of 1-cut bronze iris seed beads. How lucky was that! Next I pulled out my box of pearls to discover tucked away in a tic tac box a stand of pearls.
How many years ago did I buy these? I remember, it was one of the first stands of pearls I bought when I started adding them to the bead collection. They were just right for the embellishments around the cab.
My daughter and shared our thoughts on finishing touches.
She suggested a tassel at the end. Thanks Heather good idea!
The top of the tassel is a beaded bead.
I made a smaller version of the bead for the necklace part.
I hope to have the finishing touches commpleted sometime tomarrow.
Information about Bronzite.
The energy of bronzite promotes certainty and control, encouraging us to take control of our own actions and be more certain about what we want in our lives. The colour brings with it an air of grounding, reflecting the need to step back and re-adjust.
Life seems to get in the way and what should take just a short period of time to finish turns into a week. 
After making 10 beaded beads for the strap completing the necklace was easy. The part that I enjoyed about creating this piece was the surface embellishments on top of the bead embroidery. I put a second layer of seed beads around the pearls. It gives the beadwork depth which is hard to show using a scanner to take the picture. The beaded beads were made with a ladder stitch. I used size 4 mm fire polish crystals and size 8 seed beads.
If you are looking to explore this technique in bead weaving visit Robin Adkin's website. She has two books on bead embroidery and another on Finger Knotting. Her site will entice you to give bead embroidery a try.
