Description
About the Superduo Duets Necklace
For those of you who are not already familiar with these, Superduo Duets are exclusive to the Beadsmith. I first got to use them before they came to market, as part of my work for the Beadsmith Inspiration Squad.
Superduo Duets are basically Superduos with a fabulous colour innovation. The manufacturers, in concert with the Beadsmith product development team, have worked out a brilliant new way of coating the beads so that each single bead has two colours. The colours are split so depending on how you use the beads in your work, you can see both shades at once, or make reversible jewellery by showing one shade on each side. It is very clever and a lot of fun to design with.
About the design
For this design, I was playing with an idea. By combining the Duets with ordinary Superduos in a colour that matches one of the colours on the Duet, you can work in traditional stitches to incorporate colour patterns and texture. In this case, I used circular Peyote technique to create geometric shapes. If you are already familiar with the concept of geometric beadwork, then you will know this… You can create basic shapes using increase stitches (pairs of beads) in specific places to create corners. So, I took this idea and used the Superduo Duets to play with pattern and colour. The result is striking, but actually very simple to achieve.
The focal section for the necklace uses a combination of triangles and squares. I matched my Superduo Duets with ordinary Superduos to achieve the colouring. Then added 3mm firepolish and bicone beads. The final touch of sparkle comes from three Swarovski Montees. This focal section is suspended on a simple herringbone rope. But you could of course use any beaded rope that you like. All the components are quick to make. So you can complete this necklace in a day.
