Mom’s Memorial Set – Olivine Green, Bronze, Amethyst
My mother passed away in March of 2023. She loved butterflies and earth toned colors. When I was able to go through her jewelry, I found these earrings with these great olive green teardrop beads but I hated the chains they were on, and the ear hooks. I decided to make some earrings to revive them and although these aren’t colors I usually wear, I have a skirt that goes great with that green.
The original earrings, and the beads I found to go with. I ended up getting different beads, and only used the bronze metal beads on the right.
Stitched with size 11 and size 15 miyuki seed beads, 4mm Preciosa fire polish, bronze metal faceted beads, Fireline in Smoke.
Finished August 2024
Pattern Used: “Amunet” Earrings by poetryinbeads on Etsy
After I made the earrings, I found this bronze steampunk butterfly in my supplies. Mom wasn’t terribly into Steampunk (I was kind of into it during its heyday in the late ‘00s and early ‘10s) but she always called it “Steamrock” which I thought was adorable. This butterfly was the perfect color for this set! This was actually my introduction to beading around rivolis as well, as you can see in the center of the star.
Stitched with sz 11/0 and 15/0 Miyuki seed beads, 4mm Preciosa fire polish, 4mm Preciosa bicones, bronze metal beads, 12mm rivoli.
Pattern: None
Finished September 2024
I can’t remember if I did the bracelet or necklace first, but this is a pretty simple bracelet using the same bead mix. Worked up very quickly!
Stitched with size 11 and size 15 miyuki seed beads, 4mm Preciosa fire polish, bronze metal faceted beads, Fireline in Smoke.
Pattern Used: “Diamond Effect Bracelet” - I found this pattern through Pinterest at the link below. It does not link anywhere and reverse image search didn’t turn up much.
Finished September 2024
Sadly, part of this set was stolen while I had it on display at a local art show in April 2025. The thief made off with the necklace and one of the earrings, so I still have the bracelet and one earring. It is extremely upsetting that the earrings were split up because what is someone going to do with one earring? It probably ended up in the trash. I do not have another drop bead to remake the stolen earring and I don’t have another of the bronze butterflies but I may have enough of the other beads to remake it. I may try to find another butterfly but I am not sure what to do about the earrings. I had actually worn this set several times as I have a skirt that goes perfectly with it so I genuinely liked it apart from the sentimental value.