Amethyst and Gold

Amethyst and Gold seem to be a recurring theme with me.  I started working on the gold and purple chevron chain this past weekend for a different project, but I soon realized that the bead choices that I had made were not going to work for that particular project (more on that later) but I really liked the chevron chain in those colors and wanted to do something with it.  My first thought was to use it as a foundation chain for a beaded collar, but I really didn't have any bugles that would go with those colors.  I let the chain sit on my beading table for a few days and pondered my bead and semi-precious stone stash.  Then yesterday I wore my Victorian Parfait necklace with my Japanese Maple pullover to work and as I was sitting at my desk fondling the focal bead it occurred to me that I really like those close-fitting necklaces where the focal bead rests in that little hollow at the base of your neck, and then I thought about an amethyst that I had bought while I was in Yellow Springs back in October and a design idea was born.

When I came home from work yesterday I pulled out the amethyst and went in search of delicas to bead a bezel around it.  As luck would have it I happened to have some Aiko delicas in the perfect purple that matched the stone exactly.  So last night I beaded a bezel around the amethyst.  It was a non-trivial task, considering the shape of the stone, but I started out with the modified right angle weave that Kate McKinnon has pioneered and am pleased with the results.  Now back to the chevron chain.

Materials:
Amethyst gemstone (12.44 carat) purchased from Unfinished Creations in Yellow Springs, OH
Gold seed beads (size 14 - no idea of the stock #)
Purple seed beads (size 11 - Beadcats stock # 2-11-748-90 clear lined with cool purple)
Purple delicas (size 11 - Toho Aiko TB-328)
Gold and Purple thread (KO)