Beading Back in Time Blog Hop

So the theme for this Beading Back in Time Blog Hop was to Choose your Favourite Historical period (500 AD - Present), so of course I went straight back to the Roman era.
I'm not sure what it is about the Roman style that I feel so drawn to but I just love it!
For my piece I chose a Roman gold and amethyst necklace circa 1st century B.C for inspiration this is the piece....

Photo found on christies.com via Pinterest

I just love every thing about this piece, the colours, the gems, the way the focal is set, the detail in the clasp every thing!

Unfortunately I am not so much in love with the piece I created, (it was one issue after another) so it is more of a work in progress!

So here it is....

First issue I had was the silver beads that were going to sit in between the tourmaline beads were not the right shape, they did not look organic enough so I left them out, which I don't like! Then even tho there was 20 inches of tourmaline beads only about 15 inches of them had a hole big enough to thread the stringing stuff through (can you tell I never string things) so it came out shorted then I wanted and I had to attach chain to the ends with I really don't like the look of!

I did not have a cameo in my stash to use as a focal so I decided to use a piece of Roman glass, but I did not have any that had that beautiful luster that I associate with ancient glass and it looked rather plain so I decided to set a stone in centre to add interest which I like but think maybe it's a bit too large/over powering? Still on the plus side I taught myself to set a stone on stone! I have seen this technique used quiet a lot and am glad I tried it!

So I like the ideas I had but they defiantly need refining, also I did not get to make a beautiful clasp in time so just chucked a pre-made one on, when I restring this to add on the more organic silver breads I will also be making a beautiful handmade clasp to go with it!!!!

To check out what everyone else has created head on over to Phantasm Creations!

Beading Back in Time Blog Hop Challenge

Today I can't tell you how excited I am to be joining in with the Beading Back in Time Blog Hop Challenge! The theme is Early Civilization (3500 BC to 500 AD) and so I thought I would start by showing you some of my favorite photos from our holiday last week to Paris, I could not go to Paris with out visiting the Louvre of course even if it meant chasing a two year old around and not really getting to read/see as much as I would have liked!

I just love all of these pieces and have a soft spot for seals and amulets....

Stunning every single one!

If I could have taken one thing home it would have been this whole display case, I love how they are all arranged so neatly in there lovely little lines....

I have a little cabinet of curiosities in the hall which my other half and I have filled with little treasures too (nothing as marvellous as these, but little pieces that we love)....

Here are a few of the more interesting pieces....

The little Roman ring has the most charming green glass cab in it and in the right light it just glows!

Here are some of the pieces I planed to play with, lots of djenne dig beads, square and disc roman glass, some viking knit (which I am still very new to) and even an old Roman coin that I set in silver (which I did not get round to using yet).

Any who I have rambled on enough and by this I guess you can tell how much I love the theme so probably time to show you what I came up with.

This first pair were inspired by a beautiful gold byzantine earring that I found on Pintrest.

Photo from The Metropolitan Museum Of Art web site

Gold is not quiet with in my budget so I went with silver.....

Viking knit with lampwork drops (I tried pearls but none of mine were quiet big enough to work with these).

This next pair were a mash up of lots of different types of Roman earrings that I had seen, they are made from copper and silver, the back plate is copper and originally I wanted the copper to shine through a kind of mixed metal modern twist, but I rather liked how crusty and old the copper looked after soldering so left it like that!

I really love how the garnets shine on this pair

And the last pair were a bit of an accident! I had planed to make a pair of earrings with some of my Djenne beads but the unthinkable happened, the bead split straight down the middle! But it was such a pretty bead with such a lovely glow to it that I (ever the optimist) decided to just set the two half's on there sides as a pair of studs....

A couple of hand made bezels and soldered earring posts later and I now have a new favourite pair of earrings!

They are 8mm x 5mm and I can't decided if they look like little gems or little jelly belly beans, but I love them!

I do hope you enjoyed my post (I warn you there may well be more ancient inspired pieces to come) and I really can't wait to see what every one else has created, so please feel free to join me hoping around all the other participants.

Sherri Stokey
Lindsay Starr
Susan Kennedy
Jean Wells
Michelle McCarthy
Niky Sayers 
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Stephanie Haussler


And have an amazing day lovely people! x