Pretty Palettes Challenge for May

Hi there!

Today I'm playing along with the Pretty Palettes challenge on the Halcraft site.  This Last month our inspiration was peacock feathers.



Here are the beads Molly Schaller chose for this month:


I ordered some of these - the purple dyed agate round, the green matte fire crackled agates, and the aqua dyed quartz stone drops.  And, of course, a few more that struck my fancy!

Well, I've been working on this for about a week now, trying to come up with something that I like.  I thought alcohol inks would be interesting, so I played with those for awhile.

Fun, but not exactly what I had in mind for a peacock.  It looks more ocean-inspired to me.   I need some purple ink!  So, I decided on a tassel.  I've been making lots of tassels lately - one of which will appear in Beadwork later this summer.

Here is my peacock-inspired tassel.

Peacock Tassel

These are fun and easy to make and I love the sari silk and sari yarn mixes.  (I got these at Darn Good Yarn.)  This is a little long to wear (for me), so I might just hang it on something for a fun splash of color - maybe under the umbrella on the patio.

Here are the steps to create your own tassel:

Cut lengths of sari ribbon and sari yarn.  For the above tassel, I cut 7 pieces of ribbon and 6 of yarn in 12" lengths.  It's a messy tassel, so you don't have to be exact.

Fold the strands of yarn in half and wrap a piece of 22 gauge wire about 7" long around the center of it.  Cross the wire at the top leaving one end longer.  Make a wrapped loop where the wires cross wrapping with the short end.

Slide on a large bead cap or two and a bead(s) and make another wrapped loop.

This bead cap has been painted with alcohol inks.

Trim any ends and you are done!

Check out the Halcraft site for more beady fun and join the community.

I'm so late with May that June's Pretty Palette is already out!  Looks like another yummy palette just right for summer!  Happy creating!