Orange Sunrise Collar

Today’s destash challenge design was a long time in the making. I’ve been pondering possible uses for two strands of translucent white pinch bicones for months now. In the back of my mind, I knew that sooner or later I would make a collar with them, but I was waiting for some other inspiration to strike. With the really ‘usable’ beads that need to be destashed winding down to a minimum, I decided it was time to just cut these strands and make something great.

Right around the same time that I pushed the pinch bicones to the front of the queue, I had another light bulb moment. Why has it been so long since I’ve made any Egyptian replicas? It felt like the right time to remake some favorite Egyptian jewelry, and I went with the collar of Princess Nofret as inspiration. The pinch bicones could stand in for the silver paddle fringe.

Unfortunately, when I went to my bead stash to choose colors, I was stumped. I had the red, but no pale green, and no dark gray. I tried dark green and pale gray, but to do that, I would have to combine multiple finishes - transparent, matte, colorlined. I didn’t like the way it looked at all, so I decided to stretch the palette a little and combine colors that were similar, but looked fantastic together.

The final palette includes ceylon cream, transparent rootbeer, aqua lined jonquil, and red lined topaz. The colors all have a lovely warmth. The red lined topaz is especially beautiful - a perfect sunset orange. I’m still planning to do a more accurate recreation of Nofret’s collar, once I have a chance to find just the right combination of colors. I may have to cheat a little though, and assume that the green has faded over time, just to add a little more color.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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