Wildflowers. Design by Melanie Potter

I finally finished the earrings from my Melanie Potter "Wildflowers" kit.

This was an interesting project for me. The first time I set eyes on a  “school of beadwork “kit I had no idea it was actually a kit. There was a  photo of a necklace inset into an article on Carol Wilcox wells.  It was gorgeous and to me it looked like something a princess should wear. After some searching I discovered the school of beadwork site and was over the moon to see that the necklace I wanted was in a kit. At the time, I couldn’t swing the money for it though.  Marathon man lost his job and purchasing a bead kit seemed frivolous and so the School of Beadwork was put on the back burner.

After our move to Oregon we attended a bead show in Portland. I scored some fun stuff, including a freeform eye bracelet, a June Wiseman Pattern, and then I found the school of beadwork booth and they had the kit. (yay!) Marathon man was with me and he really liked Carol Wilcox Well’s  “Sweetheart’s Bouquet” kit. I had a decision to make.

On the one hand, I was super stoked to have one of the sought after kits in my grasp. On the other hand I had marathon man. He way paying for it, he loves me enough to have come to the show and was also showing an interest in what I was doing. On top of it,… he calls me “sweetheart”. How could I refuse? We chose the olivine and padparadscha palette and went  on our merry way. I figured I’d just buy the other kit from their website further down the road. Unfortunately I waited too long and the Scalloped Choker is no longer available as a kit. At another booth I scored the necessary supplies that I needed to make Carol WIlcox Well’s Double Delish Earrings.

At any rate, I bought the beautiful Sweetheart’s Bouquet kit and shortly after the move in to our current home I misplaced the instructions. SIlly me, I can never remember where my “safe place” is.  I emailed the site to ask about obtaining replacement instructions. They seemed like very nice people and I like to do business with nice people, so I ended up purchasing the WildFlower kit, which brings me back to the beautiful earrings at the top of the post.

The instructions are exceptionally well thought out and are easy to follow. (providing you’re paying attention). I started with the earrings because I thought that was the piece that I would be most eager to wear.  Interestingly enough I am now more eager to finish the pendant. I goofed on my first flower, but I didn’t actually notice it until I finished my second earring.  I took the first one apart and redid it. I was mostly working at 2am, as that was when I actually had a few quiet minutes. Unfortunately, fatigue was an issue. I did it over the course of two nights and evidently the second night I got out the wrong beads because when it was all said and done half of my petals were the wrong color! I restarted it and on the last petal I broke one of the bezel beads. So I made it again. Eventually after making it five times I had two beautiful beaded earrings.  Not following the directions was my fault. Breaking the bezel bead was frustrating and all in all I ended up using about three times the number of needles in the kit (and I still have the pendant to make).

Loves:

The kit is put together beautifully. I love that they included an entire spool of thread. I’ve purchased kits from a local bead shop and it always irritates me that they measure out the required amount of bead thread.  There is also an ample supply of beads.  I also feel that for what you get, and I’m including the attractiveness and intricacy of the pattern) that it’s a pretty good deal and it is very professionally done. I’ll definitely buy from them again. `

Not so Loves: (and I’m sure this is user error)

I’m working on the pendant. I really want to get it done so that I can wear it but I’ve restarted it three more times as I keep breaking bezel beads while trying to work the second set of petals. So at the moment my frustration level is pretty high. I’ve got a short enough attention span as it is, so it really pains me to make something over and over and over again.  In this case, I think it will be worth it. I’m going to give it one more go and if it happens again I’m going to set it on the back burner for a bit so that I can work on something new.  At this point, I’ve made it so many times I could probably make a beaded flower without using the pattern.

You can purchase a complete kit from the School of Beadwork by Clicking here. If you would like to see more patterns by Carol Wilcox Wells, she has some books available at Amazon.