Lampwork Beads

I bought the two beads used in this insect as singleton beads from a tub labelled 'oddities' by the seller. The larger bead reminded me of a piece of a skeleton with the internal swirls and I felt that the round bead was close enough in colours to make the head for an insect like creature.

I wanted to make something simple with these beads, but didn't want to make a necklace as I felt the piece would be too heavy, so I decided to make a brooch instead.

I made my own brooch setting using 1.2 mm copper wire to hold the beads and to bend into the brooch fitting, as shown in the second photo.

The antennae of the insect were made using 2 pieces of 0.5 mm thick copper wire. They are simple but I think they work nicely with the piece as it allows the beads to be feature more clearly.

The piece is about 5.5 cm (2.25 inches) long from antennae to brooch point.

When I saw this bead displayed on a stand it reminded me immediately of a toffee apple. So after I bought it I used gold plated wire to enhance the image I had in mind by adding a leaf.

The bead is held by 1 mm gold plated wire with the leaf made from both 0.8 mm and 0.5 mm gold plated wire.

I think that the gold plated wire flatters the colours in the toffee apple bead.

The piece is about 4 cm (1.75 inches) long including the gold leaf detail.

These three beads remind me of the seaside and I have married them up with a sterling silver byzantine weave chain as I felt it was a sturdier look than a more simple chain would be when holding these chunky lentils. The byzantine weave contains approximately 16.5 g of sterling silver.

The bead at the bottom of the photo reminds of the strands of seaweed.

The bead on the right reminds me of the motion of waves on the shore.

The top bead makes me think of rock pools.

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