Anyone for Rococo?

Well here is my finished Plume Agate cuff, as time went by it became more and more ornate, having started fairly Baroque it became Rococo!

I decided to edge the main area of the design with Matsuno Amber SL AB finish seedbeads, although they are less regular than the Miyukis, I think the shimmer makes up for it. It would have been easy to just continue all the way to the edge, but I wanted to keep the focus on the stone and it was already quite busy. I chose to just fill the background with rows of gilt lined ivory alabaster beads for an opalescent shimmer. I considered other beads but these seemed to fit without overwhelming. I wanted to use only the beads I had to hand (too impatient to wait for orders) and I had a 50g tube of these.

The final effect reminded me of the palace of Versailles, where every surface has decoration, and light and shimmer bounce off mirrors, crystal and gilding. I therefore decided to name the cuff  'Trianon'.

Trianon Cuff

Attaching to the cuff blank, and edging to complete took another evening. I chose Matsuno Champagne SL AB size 11s and  Miyuki duracoat Champagne 11s for a 'gilded' frame effect. The cuff is lined with cream Ultrasuede.

This whole piece was completely outside my comfort zone in colour and style, but while making it I was transported to another place and time, and I hope the 'romance' in my head was captured in the final product.

For other pictures including more progress shots, and a picture of the unmounted complete embroidery, see my Flickr Album Bead Embroidery