July design team reveal: the amazing purple donut transformed

It's the last Friday of the month, which means that it's time for Kristie's design team reveal!  I'm pushing back my Friday Feature and Saturday Link Lists posts this week so those will resume tomorrow.

I am honored that Kristie accepted me as a guest member of her design team.  This is the first time that I've participated.  For those who don't remember, this is the selection of ceramic donuts and buttons that we got to choose from.

I chose the middle purple donut.  I knew that I wanted to create a beaded bail for it with a beaded rope.  I chose two purple delicas for the bail and a champagne mix of delicas for the rope.

I started with the rope.  I still think that this would look awesome in a gray, but I couldn't pair my purples with something that I liked with the pictures online so I went with champagne.  I made this with tubular herringbone, which was something new for me.  In the future, I would make a rope with 6 beads around, not 8, but the thicker one works for this because I wanted more of a statement piece.

The herringbone was pretty fun.  It's a little tedious, but I think it may give me a new venue for some of the delica combinations I've been planning but simply cannot get excited about working in peyote right now.  Part of the tediousness of the rope came from the length.  A bracelet will work up much more quickly.

I made a really big bail because I was worried about the rope not fitting.  When I made a bail for one of Kristie's donuts a couple years ago, I made it way too tight and only a thin ribbon will fit through.  This has inspired me to redo that at some point.  Anyway, the big bail works with this statement piece.  I like how the purples coordinate with the donut.  I wanted the magenta shade so the piece would have a brighter pop of color.

The donut is so reflective!  I had a hard time taking a picture without glare that didn't turn the purple into black.  I am pleased with how the purple did turn out in a lot of these shots.  Kristie's donuts are so much fun to work with because her craftsman ship is so great.  If you're interested in your own, they're available here.

I added an extender chain for this necklace.  The rope is 17".  The extender will lengthen it up to 22".  I can add a longer chain if necessary.  The delicas are so light that the rope didn't weigh the piece down as much as I thought it would.

I'll have this item up for sale in my Etsy shop sometime next week.  You're welcome to reserve it now if you're interested.  I am still clueless on a name for it so if you have any inspiration, please let me know.

One of the best parts of this team is that you get to see what all of the other members created this month as well.  Click on the picture links to see what they made.