When I design a new project it can be beaded a good 4-5 times before I'm happy with it. Even then I usually end up beading it, or at least bits of it, a few more times as I realise that the scribbled notes I made as I went along are indecipherable and incomprehensible months later when I come to write the instructions.

For my Tretze Necklace the entire things has been beaded and tested in cheaper beads that are a mish-mash of colours to help me see different parts and be able to tell different rounds and beads apart.

Now I'm re-beading it all in these delicious gold-plated Delicas and getting to see how it looks in the beads I originally envisaged it in and it's just as sumptuous and ornate as I hoped it would be.

The beaded clasp I'm especially pleased with as it means the look is fully beaded without the jarring appearance of a metal clasp.

It also means the whole project uses just 2 seed/ cylinder beads and anyone beading it won't have a crazy long list of requirements. This is always an aim of mine ever since I first began beading, and especially when for 4 years I was editor of a beading magazine, as I was aware of how hard it was for us beaders here in the UK to get hold of materials other magazines and designers used. So I always try and keep the materials needed to ones I know I and other beaders can easily get hold of here in the UK.

It does greatly impact what I bead as I always come back from my travels with wondrous beads and then am wary of using them in an idea in case no-one can get the here. But I'd rather limit my design ideas than come up with something that even I wouldn't be able to bead without importing items or travelling overseas.

Thankfully over the 14 years I've been beading we now have access here in the UK to a much wider range of beads which has opened up my potential palette but I hope I never get out of the mindset of trying to cater for all.