Vintage Medallion Necklace

I've been away at a meeting the past couple of days, but I did manage to finish my first Vintage Medallion necklace before I left. I love making this necklace design by Tamara Scott because it incorporates my favorite stitches; netting, peyote, and brick stitch. I made it to wear with a black and white dotted skirt, so I chose opaque white fire polished glass beads mixed with jet, hermatite and silver Swarovski's to embellish the netted band. It was a challenge searching through my stash for just the right pieces for the focal. A shell button layered with an 8mm silver disc and a 6mm crystal jet rondelle brought just the right amount of color.

I wore it to dinner and thought it was a nice complement to my skirt, but it proved to be the perfect piece for what another woman was wearing at the event. After learning I had made it, and trying it on, she asked me to make one for her!

Funky Focal

After waiting months for it to appear on the calendar, I finally had the opportunity to take Tamara Scott’s Vintage Medallion class this week at Beadazzles in Sandy Springs. I love Tamara’s designs and she’s an excellent and inspiring teacher. (More about the Vintage Medallion project in a future post.)

While waiting for the class to begin, I looked around this fabulous store with enticing bead strands lining the walls and display cases offering thousands of loose beads. On top of one of those cases sat a simple Dixie cup holding a lone bead. A funky focal that was not my style at all, but somehow it called out to me. I returned to my seat as the class started, but kept thinking about that bead. As the store filled up with customers, I decided to move the Dixie cup closer to my beading tray. I remembered another beading class months ago at another bead store. Every time I looked up from that class, my eye rested on a strand of beads pinned to the wall right in my line of vision. Great colors ranging from dark reds to soft ambers. I purchased them on my way out with no idea what might be done with them. They would look great with this chunky focal bead, I knew.

I moved the Dixie cup to the cash register along with my medallion materials, where several customers exclaimed over it and asked me if there were more. When Alice, Beadazzles’ owner, confirmed it was the last one, two offered to buy it from me. I’m glad I brought it home. It’s like nothing else I own, and I had fun with it! A seed bead necklace can take days, weeks, and in my case, even months to complete. Sometimes a girl needs a little immediate gratification!