Read Earth Pendant bead embroidery is an organic creation. What do I mean by organic in jewelry design? It grew out of the image of a cabochon and formed around it without any other influences.
The Cabochon
The center of the design is the petrified wood cabochon. It has its own composition contained within the lines and colors of the stone. I picked it years ago at Philadelphia Bead Fest without any serious intentions to incorporate it into a design. If you love gemstones, you understand how it just ends up in your stash!
Color
I chose the color palette provided by the stone in the center. The challenge was not to distract the viewer too much from the beauty of the stone. Petrified wood has a beautiful combination of a stormy gray and blue colors with warm red and orange. I think, copper tones nicely complemented the orange in the stone, but berry red played well with the warm gray in it.
Read more about picking colors for bead embroidery.
Read more about color palettes.
Beads
I chose beads as I was working on the pendant. First, the color-lined pink copper Delica looked perfect with the stone. Then brick red matte seed beads agreed with Delica. Copper #15s fitted well with the company adding the variety of surface finishes.
Red Jade bead looked like a nice addition to the design at the top. After it had been included, I had to pull out the yummy red matte #8s to balance the red in the whole piece.
Clusters of red glass faceted beads and stormy gray freshwater pearls were added to balance the texture of the pendant and the raised part with red jade in particular.
