Ever since I started Beads of a Rose I’ve realized there are so many perks to this job. Besides just making beads and jewelry, I get to hear the stories that are attached to the flowers that are processed. Then I get to help design the perfect piece of jewelry that will showcase the rose beads that were made from the memorable event. Every once in awhile someone comes to me with his or her design in mind–knowing exactly how he or she wants me to build the piece.
I love a creative mind, so when people have ideas for their finished pieces, I welcome them with open arms.
I first met Sara a couple of months ago when she brought me the roses from 3 weddings and a funeral…hmm…this almost sounds like a movie title. 😉 Anyway, she knew exactly what she wanted. Sara had saved the roses from her wedding and from the weddings of her husband’s two siblings. She wanted at least one rose bead made from each wedding for her project.
Sara had found a company that engraved handwriting onto metal. She then found the signature of her mother-in-law’s mother—it said “Love Grandma”. Sara’s idea was to represent each grandchild with a bead made from his or her wedding roses. We then picked out birthstones, or stones that matched the colors of each grandchild’s wedding. It’s interesting how birthstone color, the color of flowers, and wedding schemes seemed to correlate…at least with a couple of the weddings in this story.
For the first wedding of the grandchildren we used Amethyst, the birthstone for February. This stone not only was the bride’s birthstone it was also the color of the roses in the wedding. We also used sterling silver spacers…the combination of the rose bead, Amethyst, and sterling silver made a lovely pendant.
With the second wedding rose bead we used Ruby dyed Jade to represent the birthstone ruby and the dark red of the roses that were in the wedding. With the third wedding rose bead we used Rhodochrosite, a beautiful light pink and grey stone. This stone not only matched the colors in the wedding, it was close to the powder pink color of the rose that produced the rose bead.
This is the necklace that Sara created for her mother-in-law for a Mother’s Day gift. It has the signature of her mother and the rose beads from each of her children’s weddings. I’m lucky to have been part of it…
And well… the funeral rose beads; they’re for another story. 😉
