Sometimes a fun new design comes from nothing.  These two gradient necklaces started as a pile of leftover white beads on my dining room table. I make these double stranded necklaces for the gift shop where I work.  It is hard to be a jewelry seller online with so many great designers out there, which is why I don’t have them in my Etsy shop, but they seem to sell themselves in person.  My most popular colors there are always white/champagne and turquoise.  So I had the leftover bits of both of those on the table and leftover bits are a pain.  I don’t want to sort everything back out into its components and the color mix will never be just right for the next thing.  So I started to wonder.  Could I use up all of the leftovers and make a gradient (which is ultra trendy right now)?    Why yes!

A friend asked me my method of laying these out. For these I had 3 piles of beads: light, medium and dark, and in each one a variety of sizes from tiny Japanese seed beads to chunky turquoise and shell bits.  I started beading the lightest first with about 2-3 inches of just white.  Then I gradually added the lightest of the medium beads one or two at a time, alternating with the light ones for about an inch.  Then about 2 inches of medium.  Same transition to the darkest and then back in reverse.  The second strand I pay more attention to placement of the larger beads, so I have a nice staggering of those between the two strands and not big clumps anywhere.

Next up is a white to black gradient, I think.