The Crystal Kingdom

Another set of beads hiding in my stash with no clear purpose was a collection of iridescent crystal beads.  It can be really hard to pair shimmery, color-changing beads with something.  Anything you put with them can either dull their luster and effect or place too much emphasis on one color from the broad spectrum of colors they reflect.  This creates a terrible problem for me because I find it difficult to place limitations on the possibilities of a particular design...

Of course, it's also pretty stupid to play the part of Smaug and sit around hoarding a pile of pretty beads.

So...I suck at drawing dragons.

I opted to make an effort and give this project the old college try.  Drawing on creative visual elements in some of my favorite childhood movies (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story), this is what I came up with.  The necklace is a mix of iridescent beads with purple or taupe undertones.  I added a tiny bit of teal and bronze to help pick up some of the less obvious colors in the crystals' iridescent sheen.  It worked out fairly well.

This necklace forms an elegant V that falls a few inches from the collarbone.

The elegant, looping shapes in the main focal creates an optical illusion to help you see continued swirls in the shine of the beads.

You can see more of the beads' colors clearly when placed against a dark background. 

This one was fun to make and it used up one of the focals and some of the beads that I didn't show off in a previous post.  If you'd like to learn more about this necklace, or you'd like to adopt it into your personal collection, feel free to message me or leave a comment.  Also, check my Etsy to see what goodies are there!