Branching Out

Not yet completed, the brown piece above is entitled "Branching Out" for a couple of reasons. First, the piece is made with butterflies, 'flowers' and such with branching fringe. Second, it is a new design technique for me. I have recently taken a liking to all those funky, chunky designs I have seen and wanted to try my hand. I began with a base row of larger seed beads in 49 strand wire to make it good and strong. Next, and this is where I am now, I try my hand at free form peyote, adding fringe, pearls, gemstones and such. This is truly a new experience for me. The things I normally do are so planned out. Here I am just picking up beads on a whim and have no real direction in mind. In fact, the design idea has changed several times during my work. I am hoping to get this piece finished by the end of the week...even I can't wait to see how it will come to completion! The very first piece I did is pictured in my previous post and I had so much fun with it, I decided to do another. Tis a bit tricky for me because my "normal" design can be taken apart if need be, not so here. There are so many twists and turns that to take it out would take weeks. The lampwork in the center is by Generations Lampwork where I get most of my lampwork beads, you can find them here http://www.generationslampwork.etsy.com/.