July Art Bead Scene challenge necklace

When I looked at the inspiration piece for the July Art Bead Scene challenge, the first thing I saw was the bright yellow flower on the chair.  I knew that I needed to make the flower pendant my focal point.  Having taken ten classes at the Milwaukee Bead and Button show, I decided to use the skills I had acquired to make the flower pendant.

I began with a sheet of 24 gauge copper.  I sawed the outline of the flower from the sheet.  My artistic husband drew in the lines for the petals that I then etched on the flower.  I torch enameled the yellow and green color to the flower. I then wanted to add a leaf to the necklace.  I thought about using my saw and making a leaf similar to the flower pendant. However, I had taken two classes on folding metal and decided to make a folded copper leaf.

 I added the patina using my torch.  The backside had a nice torch patina as well. 

Then I had to decide where the leaf would be placed on the necklace as well as the other components.  This was harder than I expected.  I started making several variants of flower beads with a bead cap and leaf all on a wrapped loop eye pin.  I also made two flowers from lucite cali lily beads on wrapped loop eye pins.  Combing these elements was a bit of a challenge.  I finally decided that a minimalist idea with chain was best.
The final step was the clasp.  I added a single picasso faceted bead on a wrapped loop headpin to the end of the chain, for a more finished look, with a lobster clasp on the other side.

The finished piece.