One of the main pieces of beadwork I developed last year was my Interlocking Crystals necklace.

From start to finish (original idea to actually being able to wear it) took me over four months but it was worth it. The finished piece is quite amazing in real life and I am delighted with how it looks.

When I was first developing the idea, I didn't expect it to be very versatile, so I was pleased that I could adapt it in different ways. Whether that was simply changing the sizes or altering the pieces to make them non-interlocking but placeable so they don't slide around when threaded onto a chain.

After beading the original necklace, I swore I wouldn't make a matching bracelet, as using the same colour bead for so long nearly drove me crazy, so instead I beaded a variation in different colours.

But, having taught this in November and been reunited with the original piece, I was reminded of just how much I liked it, and the colour scheme...

So here I am beading a bracelet to match... wish me luck as I really don't want this to take me four months!

Another project I worked on a lot last year were my new Geometric Secret pieces. These will be taught at my Gaudi inspired beading retreat in September 2011 and I am pleased to now be able to show you the project on the site along with a great one from the beadwork artist Lynn Davy.