Flower Power!

A little while back, Christy, our general manager, made a necklace that immediately floored me.  This fabulous statement piece featured 10 beaded flowers of various sizes mounted on a chain base. 

It was love at first sight.

I loved the colors.

I loved the textures.

But mostly, I loved the sheer SIZE of the thing.  It was bright and cheerful and in every way a wearable work of art.

I needed to have one for my very own.

This necklace appeared to me for the first time when we were shooting the newsletter photos for the ‘Blossoms Workshop’ to be held in Spring semester of 2011.  By the time we created the Minneapolis Blossoms display, I was poring over it to find exactly the right beads.

At first I was stalled by all the color options-  and the variety of sizes available.  How many big blossoms did I want? How many little?  The labradorite is delicious, while this Czech glass lovely, and the Swarovski briolettes made me positively giddy.

Eventually, I got further inspiration from one of the Swarovski Crystal Cocktails that Kathy mixes up, a tube of muted colors that seemed made just for me.

With that in mind, I set about picking my beads.  I basically grabbed everything I could find in the Light Amethyst, Sand Opal, Golden Shadow, Silver Shade and Light Azore family.  I used the Vintage Bronze Artistic Wire that’s my default metal of choice.

I decided that if one necklace is good- two necklaces is better- so I designed a couple of pieces that were similar to Christy’s statement piece that can be worn together or separately.  I am super excited with the results!

If you are my blossom soul-sister check out the Blossoms Workshop with Katie (we’ve added some in April)… you’ll gain crazy blossom making skills and she’ll go over the techniques to turn your blossoms into hairpins, pendants or a killer statement piece.