This piece is remarkably similar to one I made 4 years ago (and had forgotten). I made it because after the intense effort going into the green and purple plant hanger, I wanted a fun and relaxing project. I had made the focal bead with a friend who learnt from the bead artist who originated the style, which involves gold fuming over ivory to produce a butterfly webbing. The cz is supposed to be not where I put it, but fortunately it seems to be fine.

However, I didn't really want to sell it as a component, as it's not part of my regular line, being a sort of copy at one remove. At the same time, it's rather pretty, and, more importantly, is a memento of an enjoyable time with a bead bud. So I decided to string it up.

multi-strand purple, gold and cream necklace.

The necklace is fairly standard, but I was really pleased with the way the tassel came out both because it lays very well, but also because I was pleasantly surprised with the color graduation of the tassel: it goes from iris (opaque purples) through iris transparent ambers before tapering off to (slightly translucent) opaque MOP. This was also the piece in which I discovered the joys of very flat thin rectangular beads—they provide visual bulk, but don't spread the tassel strands.

Of course, the little glass beads of this sort aren't really being manufactured so much anymore, the companies having moved on to the dual-hole tilas; and mother-of-pearl beads of all kinds have been difficult to source for years, I gather, as the shells are no longer so freely available. The only reason I had these was that my friend Page recently cleaned out her bead drawers and gave them to me—they're probably 15–20 years old.

Closeup of tassel.

So I used most of the odds and ends in this one piece; and will have to find other beads that serve the same purpose.

In progress. This shot was taken 4jan2014; I had a progress shot of something else (in an entirely different colorway) by 6jan, so I know I had completed the piece by then.

Because I was just looking to have an enjoyable time stringing—as I had making the bead in fact—and otherwise had few expectations, I lucked out with the tassel, which achieved an effect I've attempted for years.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.