...and we're off!

So, work was started in earnest on the new necklace last night starting by salvaging beads from the grouping of vintage jewelry and such that I had gathered to be part of the "bead soup".

Here are photos taken throughout the evening as I worked on the piece - check the captions of each for more info re: what's happening in each step:

The salvaged beads!

A super-duper bead soup made by mixing most of the seed beads together

The sections of the base necklace I plan on using for the piece

First, I trace each piece onto the reclaimed leather backing

Here are all the pieces traced

The pieces cut out and numbered in the order I will bead them - in case I run out of one color of seed beads, I can add in more. This will create an ombre effect in the piece rather than looking like "Hey, she must have run out of that color bead right here!" type of thing. :)

The start of the beading...

First trip around, finished!

Gluing the necklace piece to the leather.

Where I stopped for the night - the edges are worked in peyote up the sides and I've just started adding the "special" beads.

Side view

So, I'm off and running! Let me know what you think so far! :)