How a Bead Becomes a gEM's PART 2

In our first, How a Bead Becomes a gEM's piece, I showed you where gEM's are created. Now I'm going to take you further in to the creation process.

gEM's contain any combination of the following ingredients:

semi-precious gemstones
wood beads and/or pendants
glass
sterling silver

And sometimes any of the following ingredients may become an integral part of a gEM's:

buri

tagua
fresh water pearls
metal

I have a huge selection of semi-precious stones, in a variety of shapes and sizes, in beads and pendants. My favourite stone is turquoise, in all of its colours: blue, green and yelllow. A close second for me is carnelian (most often found as a firey orange colour).




So the pendant, or focal bead has been selected, and now the search continues for just the right extra pieces: some wood, and a stone. Glass is used sparingly.

Once the pieces have been selected, I begin to lay out a pattern on my bead board. I start by placing the pendant in the center of the bottom, and then placing the next largest bead. Other beads fall in to line, and I may discover that the left side of the board, and the right side of the board no longer match. I may shuffle the bead order around, creating 2 different patterns, or I may even add or remove a particular colour/style from one side.


On a rare occasion, I may leave the bead placement on the board, and walk away, to return to it later with fresh eyes. Patterns are evaluated for weight and balance, of not only colour, but texture as well. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day...