Leaves have always been one of my favorite motifs and who doesn't love the glorious color of fall foliage! Autumn Jewels was created using a vintage silver leaf brooch with a red jasper center stone as the focal in a bead embroidered bib style necklace. I found the brooch in a collection on old costume jewelry in an antique shop and though it had seen better days, it was perfectly suited to my purpose. The brooch is surrounded by seed beads embroidered in a stylized leaf pattern and beadwoven Russian leaves fall from the edge of the main piece. The straps are woven using spiral stitch. The primary colors I used in Autumn Jewels are russet and brown with touches of gold, orange, plum and olive. Length of the necklace is approximately 21 inches. The bib portion, not including leaves, is 3 inches long at the center and 4 1/2 inches at the widest portion. It is backed with a soft, brown leather.
Autumn Jewels was my entry in the October 2010 Etsy Beadweavers Challenge "Autumn Falling of Leaves". With this piece I tried to capture the color, texture and movement of falling leaves. All of the entries for this challenge are archived on the team blog at Etsy-Beadweavers.blogspot.com.
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