Queen Judith

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The story of Queen Judith is as follows. Judith is a character from the TV series the Vikings. Judith is quite a character. She starts off a rather meek and mild wife of the prince. She has an affair with a monk that the Vikings had captured, she has a child by the monk Alhelstan. King Ecbert cuts off Judith’s right ear and then proceeds to have an affair with the King. When King Ecbert dies, her husband becomes King. His reign is quite short as he mysteriously dies, then Judith’s son becomes King, the son by Alhelstan. He mysteriously dies, and his brother, the true king in the line of succession become King. And guess what, he also dies a questionable death. And now we have Queen Judith! This necklace is designed after a piece that Judith wears on the Vikings. I just love this necklace, it is hinged and fits well, and if you don’t want the 5 focal pieces you can make an edited version with component. 

You must be proficient in the peyote stitch, stepping up and increasing.

This piece was a challenge for me, it started with a picture of an antique necklace. And then the search for the perfect set of components. I couldn’t believe it took me over a year! The component was either too large, too heave or too expensive. Then I found these wonderful paper mache’ beads. I combined the bead with Czech pearls of three sizes, and then the Toho Demi’s beads came out. The perfect combo! The pendant is a combination of several components stitched together with the finishing touch of the necklace chain. The chain easily comes off of the pendant so you are able to wear it with your other creations.

• You must be proficient in the circular peyote stitch, stepping up, and with the herringbone stitch. 

The idea for The Crown came about after I saw an adorable crown key fob and I thought it would a really cute piece of beadwork to be simply an object to look at or strung on a purchased chain, beaded chain or a ribbon through a spoke and then it could then be worn as a pendant.

• You must be proficient in Cubic Right Angle Weave                    

Stitches used: CRAW (Cubic Right Angle Weave) along with stitching in the ditch and embellishments. This works up  surprisingly fast as a part of the piece is component based, attach the spokes together and the work a band finishing the beadwork. You will embellish as you go.

A little sparkle, a little flash and you have a flame! It’s time to Play with Fire! Create a substantial focal pendant with one of my favorite things, a large Swarovski crystal! First work a beaded bezel to set your crystal, embellish the bezel and set the crystal bezel inside of an embellished frame of CRAW. Suspend your pendant from an equally elaborate smaller crystal. Hang your pendant treasure from a circle bail and toggle system and suspend from an embellished necklace strap. You have the option on the length of the necklace strap, leave it short or make it long.

• You must be proficient in circular peyote with step ups and with Cubic Right Angle Weave. 
• You will also be embellishing the peyote and CRAW with additional beads by stitching in the ditch. 

On of my favorite stitches is Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW) as you can create so many lovely designs. In combining these units with the nautical theme of square knots combined with Herringbone this piece has become one of my favorite pieces. When you combine all of the units and set of units together you have A Jewel of Atlantis. 

• You must be proficient in Cubic Right Angle Weave

I have worked this piece using the wonderful baroque cabs as they come in so many exciting colors. I have stitched them in the centers of dimensional shaped CRAW units, these units are then embellished. To go with our nautical theme I connected the units using square knots turning them into sets of three. To connect these units together it is done with shaped Herringbone. Once you have made the first unit you will pick up speed when stitching the additional units. The closure is in keeping with the CRAW units. This piece is easy to adjust for a personal fit as you do it from the back by adding two additional original units of shaped CRAW or by adding length to the toggle closure length.

Peekaboo I see you! This was one of those pieces that came about by just playing around with beads. I had some of those awesome Miyuki cotton pearls in just about every size. So I just picked a size and went with it. You will capture the cotton pearl with a simple bezel of beads, working into a drop shape. Then the fun really begins with the embellishing! I love to embellish! We will use some Rose Montee’s, Czech crystal pearls, 2 True beads, Miyuki spacer beads, and seed beads for this piece. Suspend this pendant from a bead circle. You will have several options for wearing this piece. You will decide if you want to wear the piece as a pendant from a short necklace strap or worn long. 

You must be proficient in Circular peyote, and Herringbone.