Ginkgos Meet Wire!

Well, it was inevitable that I'd have to try my hand at making ginkgos to use in jewelry.  One of my favorite beading teachers, Diane Fitzgerald, designed a beaded lariat with cascading ginkgo leaves.  Of course I had to take her class at a bead festival and learn how to make this lariat.

This was the most labor-intensive bead project I'd done to that point, using delica beads for the ginkgo leaves and size 15 (think grains of sand!) beads for the necklace--sewing one bead at a time!  

As if 80 hours of work and eyestrain wasn't enough after making the first beaded lariat, I immediately made another one in peacock colors that thoroughly delighted me.  I have to say that these two necklaces were well worth the effort, and I wear them frequently.

I decided that 2 beaded ginkgo lariats were more than enough and of course turned to wire.  The challenge was on to see how I could make these beautiful leave out of metal.  I used wire, beads and freshwater pearls for embellishments and was pretty excited at the result.  Have a look...

I wonder where ginkgos will show up next in my life???

Deborah