Pretty Palettes August Reveal

In November of last year, Erin Prais-Hintz started a Pretty Palettes color challenge on the Halcraft blog.

Each month, Erin picks a set of beads that coordinate with a color palette and invites her readers to create something using those beads.

A few months ago, Erin started partnering with guest bloggers.  It's always fun to see how two people use the same set of beads.

The inspiration for August comes from notion:creative, which showcases street art.

Erin picked a variety of beads

As much as I tried, I couldn't get those beads to play with each other.  I ended up doing a few pieces, each using some of the beads.

The first necklace uses those delicious brown rondelles and the red beaded beads.

I made a small Conway Bead, designed by Gwen Fisher, with red and brown seed beads.  It went perfectly with the brown and red beads.

The rest of the necklace is made using part of Catherine Hamilton's Orbital Ensamble necklace.  I like how the chain maille orbits echo the beaded beads.

The second necklace is similar to the first one, but I used the pink and white beads.  I also used small green/teal beads from Michael's that matched the larger teal disc beads from Erin.

I paired these with more Conway Beads.  I went a bit off here when I grabbed dark green seed beads in an attempt to match the teal discs from Erin.  Those beads have dark greens, blues and teals in them.  The green isn't quite the right shade.

The rest of the necklace is made using different part of the Orbital Ensamble necklace.  I had thought that a teal patina would work, but it didn't match.  Instead, I used a laurel green patina from Miss Fickle Media.  While the green matches the beaded beads, it is a bit off from the palette.

As with Heather's Michaels challenge, I used the smaller pink beads to make Sabine Lippert's Granada pendant.  (You can find the pattern for this in Sabine's book, Beaded Fantasies.)

This time around, I used white in the center and I *love* how it looked.

I actually used red and pink together!  I was amazed at how well they worked together.

I liked the design I used for the pendant in Heather's Michael's challenge, so I did something similar here.

I beaded a spiral rope using pink, red, teal, and brown, then hung the pendant from a brass chain.

The spiral rope shows off the jewel tones.

Finally, I used the teal discs to try an idea that had been swirling in my head.

I threaded three of them on a headpin and hung it like a pendant, similar to how I used one of Erin's beads here.

Then, keeping it simple, I made another spiral rope.  I couldn't find the right shade of teal to work with the disc beads, so I went with emerald.

I don't know if you can tell, but I used a teal seed bead for the base of the rope.  I also incorporated white and brown tones.

I still have an idea for the other two beaded beads.  I ran out of time to try it before the reveal, but it's banging around in my head, so you might see it soon.

Erin, I can't tell you how much of an honor it was to be chosen to work with you.  I had so much fun with these beads.  Thank you so much.

If you want to see what Erin made with these beads, check out the Halcraft blog.  I know she made something fabulous that you will want to see!