Beadwise I have slowed down a little, with the return to work, but have a new project underway. This uses one of the Czech buttons, gifted to me by Nancy Dale of NEDBeads. The clear button with AB finish presented several challenges: trying to keep both the transparency and the flash of lilac colour displayed to their best advantage meant I experimented with backing, finally using pearl grey Ultrasuede. The button itself had a self shank (ie one cast in glass, integral with the button face). I have sent a spare button to have a shank removed by a stained glass cutter, but wanted to try this one without alteration. I cut 2 donut shapes from the Ultrasuede and glued them on the back of the button using BOND 427 adhesive. When dry I cut another circle of Ultrasuede to fit the entire back and glued that over all (it was initially slightly larger then trimmed back with sharp scissors). Bezelling was done using transparent size 11 cylinder beads (Toho transparent crystal) with gilt lined alabaster size 15 (Miyuki) and transparent AB Czech charlottes to pull in. An extra row of very tiny silver plated charlottes was used on the back to really tighten the bezel. I added a 4 bead wide bail for hanging as a pendant
I like the way the AB finish really shoots colour over the piece...for something made of predominantly transparent glass it is very colourful! Next I decided to embellish the bezel, I checked my stash and found a small number of white opal bicones, not enough to do a full round on point, so I made a variation of the looped embellishment from the Auricula pendant. I used Miyuki 2211 (white lined pale lavender AB) as these toned beautifully with the button.
Any ideas for a name for this piece?
