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I finally got Heather Powers‘ book Beautiful Elements: Creative Components to Personalize Your Jewelry. It’s a very exciting book, and I’ve barely delved into it. I’ve made a tour through all the projects, and each one is something I would like to (and will) do, but the first thing I did wasn’t even making my own components. It was one of the jewelry projects shown using a component from the book.

Necklace by Heather Powers from her book Beautiful Elements

The book shows how to make the leaf toggle/focal (it’s easier than you might think!) But I couldn’t wait to make this necklace. I saw those center drilled stick beads and thought of some center drilled African turquoise sticks I got at a bead show some years ago. I picked them up while hovering in the Dakota Stones booth waiting for someone else to put down some gorgeous apatite rough nuggets so I could buy them (she did and I did). I liked the turquoise, but it was an unusual shape for me. Here was an inspiration for how to use it!

I wanted a focal that made a statement like this leaf. I decided to look in my stash of treasures by Erin Prais-Hintz that I’ve been hoarding. I suspected I’d find something perfect, and some of them should see the light! I was rewarded with with this amazing pendant.

Erin always packages things really beautifully and includes information like the name of the piece, which was on the card this was attached to. I very carefully saved it so I would have it for this blog post. That was weeks ago, and now I can’t find it (until, I’m sure, I push the publish button on this post!) Anywho, I believe this is patina mixed with resin, and it is just gorgeous. There are little touches of pink, and I used this  bead my sister’s girlfriend gave me that is the exact right color. I love that. (Thanks, Lisa!)I also loved using the three Czech glass petal beads that echo the shape of the pendant. The pewter clasp, by Inviciti, has a similar shape too.

I am so pleased with this necklace and that I’ve got some experience using a bead shape that I had trouble with before. That will help open up my designs. Look for more projects from this book in the future.