I recently revisited my Heart-to-Heart bracelet pattern, since Valentine's Day is coming up soon. I thought I would see if I could re-arrange the two hearts to make a necklace. 

Here is the original bracelet.

Heart-to-Heart Bracelet designed by Janet Palumbo

The pattern was published in BEADWORK magazine, Aug/Sept 2013 and it was the first of our patterns to be published, so it holds a special place in my heart!

The pattern, with more photos and updated instructions, is available for purchase from our Etsy shop at this link if you would like to make your own.

For the necklace, which is for sale at the Red Tulip Gallery in New Hope, PA and from the gallery's online store, I thought I would make the hearts two different colors and intertwine them, since I was going for a Valentine's Day sale! I used luminous raspberry Czech farfalle beads for one heart and white Japanese peanut beads for the other. Both hearts have Swarovski crystal pearls in Rosaline for the embellishments. I finished the necklace with a heart-and-arrow shaped toggle clasp in pewter.

Heart-to-Heart Necklace by Janet Palumbo

  

 

While I was working on this necklace, I got the ideas for two more necklaces--a bead embroidered heart that can be worn as a pin or as a pendant on your favorite chain, and a delicate little necklace made with tiny faceted crystal flowers with a red and pink color scheme that worked out beautifully. Both necklaces are also for sale at Red Tulip Gallery and online.

Bead embroidered heart pin/pendant
by Janet Palumbo

The back, showing the pin with a bail.

Tiny Crystal Flowers Necklace,
by Janet Palumbo

Tiny Crystal Flowers Necklace, detail

Bead Weaving at Princeton Adult School--Spring 2020

I started the Spring 2020 Bead Weaving course at the Princeton Adult School, but only got the first class in before everything shut down because of COVID-19. I hope to use this post, along with some new YouTube videos, to keep the class connected so everyone can finish their projects.

Russian Spiral Necklace--detail

First, a look at the projects for Spring 2020!

Russian Spiral Necklace:
Metallic Purple,Matte Gunmetal,
and Silver-lined crystal

Russian Spiral Necklace:
Metallic Teal Green, Matte Copper, and
Copper-lined Opal

I wanted to design a versatile piece that everyone could use in their wardrobe, so I decided on a rope necklace and two different pendants. The Russian Spiral rope necklace can be worn on its own, or you can slide on one of the pendants that I designed to go with it.

Oglala Pendant--metallic purple

The pendants are very different! The Oglala ruffle pendant is frilly and romantic; the Warped Square pendant is edgy and a little futuristic. Because sometimes we feel frilly and sometimes we feel edgy, right?

The Oglala Pendant gets gradually wider at the bottom. The Oglala netting creates a layer of beaded ruffles. The pendant slides easily onto the Russian Spiral rope necklace.
The YouTube video is available at: https://youtu.be/Xb0y52c1su4

Oglala Pendant--metallic teal

  

Warped Square Pendant (metallic teal)
with a herringbone-stitch bail

The warped squares used in the Warped Square Pendant create a wing-shaped element with a front and back triangular shape. The Warped Square Pendant can be completed in several different ways, although only two are pictured here.

In the metallic teal version, a herringbone-stitch bail is added to a pendant with a smaller warped square atop a large warped square.

In the metallic purple version, the smaller warped square is still atop the large warped square; the small square is used as the bail, with the Russian Spiral rope necklace slid inside.

Warped Square Pendant (metallic purple)
with the smaller warped square as the bail

If you want to make a shorter pendant, you could make just one warped square instead of two. Either attach a herringbone-stitch bail or slide the single warped square onto the rope necklace. I think it would look great any way you make it!

I'm very excited by the fact the several students opted to mix the color choices to create even more color combinations. For example, teal with gunmetal and crystal; purple with copper and opal; purple with gunmetal and opal; and teal with copper and crystal! So many possibilities. I hope we can post photos of the students' completed projects here, so we can admire all of the work.
The YouTube video tutorial is available:
Warped Square part 1