Sunflower seed bead necklace


I really like this necklace. I made it a few years back but I never wear it. It's wierd, but it's one of my favorite necklaces to look at, to admire, to hold and to have - but not to wear. It's one of the pieces featured in my catalog that I plan to distribute to friends and family; in the hopes of selling it. I priced it pretty steep because I really don't want to get rid of it. I want my pieces to go to people who really like them. It's funny, because when you make things yourself, it is really hard to part with them. Each Peace has to go to a good home.
I made it with sunflower color opaque seed beads, some African trade beads featuring a Congolo nut seed pendant. A few facts about the Congolo nut seed below.



•The big brown pendants featured in my necklaces are actual polished rainforest seeds from Colombia called Congolo seeds
•These large seeds come from a tropical vine that has huge bean pods - some 6ft long! These are apparently the world's longest bead pods
•The English name for this seed is Sea Heart because the seeds travel long distances and often washes up on beaches
•Sea hearts are also called favas de Colom or Columbus bean by the Portuguese in the Azores (middle of North Atlantic Ocean) because they were reputed to be Christopher Columbus’ inspiration for exploration
•The seeds are all big (approximately 2” hgt x 1.5” diameter) but very lightweight and vary in shape and color
•They were once used by English sailors as as good luck charms

Comments

  1. DuchessOctober 28, 2009 at 1:52 PM

    Hi Zee,

    I love this beautiful earthy necklace design! The colorful mix of components with the Congolo nut seed pendant is wonderful. I also loved reading your informational tidbits on the seed beads, it was very interesting.

    Thank you so much for sharing this.

    Duchess
    From Artbeads.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZalinaWOctober 29, 2009 at 9:37 AM

    Thanks so much for your comment. Yeah, I bought a lot of these Congolo nut seed pendants a few years back from this great bead shop in Santa Monica called Ritual Adornment. I have made a few necklaces with these beads featured. I sold one! But it was a while ago.

    ReplyDelete

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