Gallery 3 Cabochon Work, Designed and Beaded by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Heidi Kummli uses these beautiful porcelain cabs in her necklaces a lot. She did a wonderful one with green turquoise (or gaspeite, I'm not sure which) for Betcey of Beyond Beadery. I fell for it but of course, couldn't copy hers but I did have the cab and a bunch of beautiful chrysocolla cabs crying out to be used. I did use similar embroidery around the raven wings and somewhat similar conformation of the fringe, having admired Heidi's use of the wings and tail as a line for the necklace, but mine hung better with a little more tapering up the sides. Whereas Heidi's artful use of embroidery and her green cabs made such a striking design, I had a bit more space to fill and decided the blue paua shell gave the illusion of night sky and water, with moonbeams framing the raven's head and the upper part of his wings. A vintage green faceted glass cab I got from Betcey made the perfect little spot at the bottom for the point of the tail. I also departed from Heidi's influence in that this is more of a bib than a collar. I couldn't think what I wanted to use for a strap and then came across an old Mexican pottery bird necklace I've had for years. The birds interspersed with blue and green leaves made a perfect compliment to the raven and his environment. The earrings are blue paua shell fringed to match the necklace.
All images and patterns © copyright 2004 Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. All rights reserved.