Design Through Storytelling

Project and Sample by Janice Parsons and Kate Richbourg 

Janice and Kate took a stroll through our Archived Projects, looking for anything we could revisit, bring back, or have some more fun with. Of course there were loads to choose from! But Design Through Storytelling caught their eye and they thought it would be especially fun to bring back. It started with Janice, using some items at her home in Virginia, making some finished components but not a finished piece. She sent these components to Kate, and you’ll see Kate create a finished piece out of them live! We even updated the ingredients list as the show progressed!

As you can see in the photos above, Janice’s six components made their way into Kate’s finished necklace flawlessly! Let’s take a closer look at each of those six components and how they fit into the necklace overall.

Janice’s Six Components

*Note, all Janice’s Components use 24g Wire.

Component 1: A Poetry-style component using Regular C-Lon and 6mm Stone Rounds. This component is bookended with Link Connectors and a single Wire-Wrapped Bead Unit.

Component 2: Knotted in the Contemporary Bead Knotting style using Regular C-Lon, with a single knot between each bead/bead section. The beads used are 4mm Fire Polish, 6mm Stone Rounds, Daisy Spacers, and Metal Beads. The 4mm Fire Polish keep the large Aqua Kitty bead in place, with its larger hole. Each end is finished with a Clamshell End Tip.

Component 3: Six lengths of chain, bookended with Wire-Wrapped Bead Units. Each unit uses a 10mm Stone Round and Daisy Spacers.

Component 4: Knotted in the Odyssey style using Regular C-Lon. The beads used are 4mm Fire Polish, 6mm Stone Rounds, and Daisy Spacers. Each end is finished with a Clamshell End Tip. This was the only component Janice gave Kate a suggestion for using, recommending she double it over on itself using a hoop.

Component 5: Three lengths of chain, bookended with Wire-Wrapped Bead Units. Each unit uses a 10mm Stone Round and Daisy Spacers.

Component 6: Kate and Drea thought this was chain...nope!  While you could use a length of chain, Janice used 4mm Jump Rings to create her own. Each jump ring has 2 Czech Drops attached using the Wire Wrapped Briolette method. This component is also bookended with Wire-Wrapped Bead Units. Each unit uses a 10mm Stone Round and Daisy Spacers.

A Journey Through the Finished Necklace (starting top left, at the button)
-Kate attaches a button to Component 1 with two 6mm Jump Rings. Another 6mm Jump Ring connect Component 1 directly to Component 5. From the other end of Component 5 we find two Wire-Wrapped Bead Units Kate created. The first, a Squash Blossom Bead with a single 4mm Fire Polish on either side, using 26g Wire.

-The second Kate-made component is a bit trickier. It connects the Squash Blossom bead unit to Janice’s Component 4. As mentioned above, Janice suggested doubling it over on itself using a hoop, which Kate did. The two Clamshell end tips connect to the closed loop of the Wire Wrapped Bead Unit, and two Roller Beads are slid over to hide that loop. This piece is made with 24g wire. They are held in place with a single 4mm Fire Polish, then wire-wrapped to a Jade Ring. A second 24g wire wrap hangs on the opposite side of the ring, connecting it to Kate’s Squash Blossom component with a pair of 6mm Jump Rings.

-Now we come to the focal point of the necklace, a pair of layered hoops wire wrapped (26g) with Daisy Spacers and 4mm Fire Polish. The wire wraps both hold the hoops together and add embellishment. This hoop component is attached to the rest of the necklace with two Trail’s End style loops of 1.5mm Leather. The first is closed with a Silk Wrap using Irish Waxed Linen, this piece connects to the hoop Janice’s Component 4 goes through. The second is secured with a metal crimp bead, and continues forward on our journey…

-From that second Trail’s End Loop we have two pairs of 6mm Jump rings (note that they’re doubled up!) to attach to Component 2. At this connection we also see a Wire Wrapped Briolette, using 26g wire.

-Component 2 connects directly to Component 6.

-Component 6 connects to a component Kate makes with a scrap of UltraSuede and Bead Embroidery techniques. The strip of UltraSuede is folded over onto itself in similar fashion to the Trail’s End Loops, and is sewn in place with KO Thread and bead embellishment. Kate has a single 1.8mm Miyuki Cube on this part, a leftover from another project. Use what you have on hand! The other side of this UltraSuede component connects to...

-Component 3, which brings us to our finale! A button loop made from one final Trail’s End Component, again using 1.5mm Leather and a Waxed Linen Silk Wrap. Finished! 

Find ingredient quantities for Design Through Storytelling listed above for easy shopping. General categories and quantities are linked in the list above, specific products used are shown in the "shop windows."

Please join us as our worldwide community gathers on Facebook and YouTube at 10:30am Pacific Time on January 6, 2021. It’s so much fun to go live with us and bead together! After the live broadcast the video will be available above.

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