Gardens

After New Years was the first time I felt I was able to take a breath for the first time in a full year. I don't recall the last time I gave myself the luxury to sit at home, alone, and think. Just clear my mind of deadlines, assignments, meetings, work...and just think.
Since I finally had time for such things I figured I could also get back into beading again. I wanted to do a small project, with the beads already in my stash with a new technique, something I haven't attempted before in my beadwork.
Diana Fitzgerald is one of my heroes in beadwork. Her attention to detail and structure is a huge inspiration in my own beadwork. This particular piece I planned out based on what I had read in both of her books Shaped Beadwork and The Beaded Garden. If the style of your beadwork is like hers then I highly recommend having both these books on your shelf for quick reference. If you're looking for a complete cookbook project, these books don't necessarily have such projects. Their intention is primarily to teach a basic technique to use to come up with your own projects.
I used to start projects and follow them to a T. Now I realize that my judgement of the beads before I put them together and what they want to do can differ at times, and listening is the best thing you can do.
Below are four pictures at different stages of the beadwork process. I added flowers where I saw fit, and spent a lot of time looking at it at all angles and deciding where the next flower would go and what color and kind it was going to be.

  At first, I was going to do the entire necklace front, but decided to stop earlier and leave it asymmetric. I like it so much that it has become one of my favorite pieces. The finished product is below.