Barbara Ehren of Anna Maria, FL has really embraced the spirit of Africa with this striking---and truly fun!---necklace. In addition to the wonderful black elephant-head pendant (where did she find that, I wonder?), she has combined four different kinds of Krobo  beads that she found on this website: hand-painted, recycled glass beads; solid-colored flat spacer beads and "flying saucer" beads; and small, glossy waist beads. Matching earrings complete a delightful, one-of-a-kind set.

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Sandy has combined Krobo hand-painted, recycled glass beads with translucent Krobo "donut" or disk beads and added metal beads from, well, somewhere else, to make the clusters of African beads stand out from each other. She has strung the beads on leather that picks up the orangey-gold that is a favorite color in Krobo culture, and then added an attractive button/loop closure. Well done, Sandy.

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These beautiful earrings were made by Emma Rodriguez of Chattanooga, TN. Using a matched pair of triangular ocean jasper cabochons she purchased from Soul of Somanya, she created bead embroidered bezels and then added dagger-bead drops and wonderful leaf-motif post earring components to add both balance and personality. 

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Emma Rodriguez
​of Chattanooga, TN.

Barbara Glennon created these exquisite wire-wrapped earrings using a matched pair of spiny oyster cabochons she got from Soul of Somanya recently. Copper wire and beads combined with bicone crystals and superb workwomanship---not to mention a highly refined sense of composition

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This time, Barbara Ehren of Anna Maria, FL has chosen single-fired Krobo beads that have a lovely golden swirl on a dark blue background. The layered white and gold beads accent the larger beads perfectly, setting them off from each other and brightening the  look of the entire piece. Barb pays attention to every detail when she works. I love her choice of braided blue and white cord where she might have gone for something plain. And then comes the icing on the cake: exquisite lost wax beads; iconic, traditional brass pendants; and even brass cones and other findings. I encourage you to visit Barb's excellent website at: https://brezzamarinadesigns.com. 

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Vicki Hubbard of Varnell, Georgia wasn't really planning on doing any major shopping when she suddenly spied among our earring cab pairs a perfect match for the polygram jasper stone in her beautiful bead-embroidered necklace. She promptly snatched them up, and . . . oh mama! Look what she came up with! Using freshwater pearls, Czech crystals and seed beads in rich bronze and dark teal tones, she stitched these scalloped bezels to make earrings that complement the necklace perfectly. The necklace is absolutely gorgeous as well. Vicky took her cue from the two distinctly different halves of the stone to go the asymmetrical route with both the bezel and the strands, all the while maintaining a delicate sense of balance and sophistication.  

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Okay, wow. Just wow. Kim Humphrey is the owner of Bead in Hand, a wonderful bead shop in Oak Park, Illinois where, among other things, she has been hosting Soul of Somanya's trunk show pretty much annually for almost a decade now. (Thank you Kim!) As you can see, her work is wildly original and beyond beautiful. She chose this spectacular piece of boulder opal from our cabochon offerings some time back and, using it as a focal piece, proceeded to create an extraordinary example of bead embroidery. The shapes in the asymmetrical seed bead bezel echo the natural markings in the stone, and the freeform fringe picks up all the right colors, as do the tube-shaped bail and slide clasp. I could go on and on, but let's face it---the necklace speaks for itself!

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Suzanne Ward of New Orleans has a style all her own,. Sometimes quirky, frequently playful, it is never repetitive or boring. She has made good use of our online garage sale (scroll down to see recent posts) to pick up interesting items that exude personality and individuality. She often combines them with regular website items or other beads to create her wonderful conversation-starter pieces.

More work from Vicki Hubbard of Varnell, GA. Vicki bought this extraordinary "Tie-Dye" Agate cab from SoS, and I couldn't wait to see what she would do with it. She exceeded my expectations. chose to bezel the stone using plain and rhinestone chains that accentuate the colors in the cab without distracting from it. The pearls pick up the creamy white on the right-hand side of the stone. Nice job, Vicki!