Hollow Glass Bead Necklace

My little sister got engaged 2 years ago, after being with her partner 20 years!
Because she had some very particular ideas of what she wanted for the wedding it was this autumn before she finally said ‘I do’ in the Santorini sunshine.

So 2 years to prepare.  At first I had no idea where the wedding would take place, but I expected it to be pretty special.

I bought a dress that could do summer heat, or cooler weather.  And I started playing with ideas of what jewellery I could make to wear with it.

First was a long glass sliding necklace, which is lovely and worked with the neckline of the dress.

But I couldn’t help thinking about a necklaces I saw someone wearing on TV years ago and if I could replicate something like it.  So I started trying to make hollow glass beads in teal, to match the dress.

I made many beads.  Practice makes perfect right?

But then at the beginning of this year, finally knowing the destination for the wedding – the Greek island of Santorini, I changed my mind about the dress.  Now we were looking at white linen trousers and a pink top.  The new neckline wouldn’t work with the sliding necklace and the teal wouldn’t work with the pink.

But I still really liked the hollow bead idea so I switched from teal to rose.

I also wanted some spacer beads.  As I was taking pottery classes at this time, I ended up making some tiny ceramic beads which Jack kindly fired in his kiln for me.

With a week to go before the wedding, as I started to put the necklace together I realised that one of the beads was a different colour from the rest!  I’m sure no one else would have noticed, but I would know, so I went back into the studio and made 5 more beads in the hope one would be the right size and shape.

Luckly one was and I was able to put the necklace together, along with a clasp I made from silver wire, just in time to pack and jet off.

Can you tell which one doesn't match?

At the same time I also made myself some beady earrings.  I was very happy with the first pair I made, however, I then worried I’d used the wrong colour again (it's very hard to tell colours apart when I wear my safety glasses as they have a pink tint) so I made another set of beads.

I was expecting the earrings to be exactly the same, but when I put them together, rather than the biggest bead being at the bottom as in the first pair, I had it at the top!  Oops.

 

Having decided that they were all the right colour, I now had the issue of deciding which I liked best!  I ended up with the pair with the biggest bead being at the top.

With glass wrapped up very carefully we made our way to Greece, where we got off the plane to 31c!  But the wind soon came back and cooled things down a bit, and so the wedding itself wasn’t too bad at all.

The glass survived the travel and the wearing and I was very happy with the finished item.
I still need to practice my hollow beads.  They are not an easy thing to make.  But I’ve got a beautiful necklace that I’m looking forward to wearing again in the future.