Michelle B. Johnson
I've been designing jewelry as a hobby for about 5 years. As a working mother of two small children, I find beading to be a wonderful way to relax and stay creative. My grandmother designed jewelry in her retirement years and when she passed away, left me with a lovely collection of her beads, which I use in most of my pieces in some form or fashion. It makes the pieces that much more special to me.
Rattlesnake Choker
I’ve been working a lot with a weave pattern involving three strands of beads…I wanted the challenge of creating a five strand necklace and I thought it worked well as a choker. When I finished it, my little son looked at it and said it looked like a rattlesnake…I thought he described it quite well. […]
Orange Elegance Necklace
This jasper pendant was so beautiful that I wanted to use it in a necklace that would frame it well. The bright orange and dark orange metal beads woven in with the smaller copper ones created exactly the effect I was looking for–bright, vibrant, and pretty. It measures 18 inches and combines glass orange rounds, […]
Steampunk Lace Necklace
I like combining steampunk elements, such as gears and chain, with my own flair to create something unique. This necklace measures 18 inches and combines gold plated chain, copper rounds, silver plated rounds, copper Swarovski crystals, and metal gears in shades of antiqued gold, pewter, and copper. The gears are connected with jump rings in […]
Falling Leaves Necklace
I love autumn for it’s crisp weather and beautiful colors and wanted to create a necklace to incorporate those colors. I used brown, gold, orange, and pale yellow faceted glass beads on head pins connected together in triangles with jump rings. The leaves were hung down from those triangles and between the triangles to give […]
Tigers Eye And Picture Jasper Choker
This piece is a 18 inch choker with two strands closely intertwined. The first strand has tiger’s eye stones and picture jasper beads with the second strand of gold colored seed beads wrapped around the picture jasper beads. Brown glass and copper-tinted spacers are mixed in with the other beads to complete the piece. All […]
Citrus Delight
The inspiration for this piece was a large, green, carved jade pendant. I’ve been trying for a while to use this pendant in a simple but elegant setting. Done in shades of gold, orange and bright spring green, this necklace uses chunky millefiori beads surrounded by gold-plated hoops. The smaller round green beads are glass […]
Asian Gold And White Necklace
I’ve had this pendant for several years, it just laid in a drawer waiting to be used in something…I just had no idea how to use it in a creative way. When I found the chain, I thought it would be a great way finally to showcase the very ornate pendant. I wrapped a a […]
Pink Shell And Crystal Necklace
This piece was created around the pendant. I wrapped the large round pink shell with silver plated wire and threaded the little flower charms through the wire as I wrapped. Since the pendant was large, I went with a longer necklace, using clear crystals, pink jasper, and salmon glass beads with a metallic hue. The […]
Asymmetrical Blues Necklace
The vast majority of my pieces are symmetrical and I wanted to experiment with an asymmetrical design. The large pendants are turquoise dyed jasper and the smaller round beads are amazonite separated with small silver-plated spacers and wire wrapped glass turqoise beads. The final bead dangling from the very bottom is a large, ornate silver-plated […]
Maile Leaf With Fresh Water Pearls And Green Glass Leaves
The pendant was the inspiration for this piece. It’s a Hawaiian Maile leaf (from my home state), dipped in gold. My husband wore a fragrant Maile leaf lei in our wedding, so Maile leaves have sentimental value for me. The rest of the necklace is comprised of green glass leaves, and other green glass beads […]
Southwestern Three Strand Necklace
This is a 19 inch 3 strand necklace with sodalite beads and brickstone beads with silver spacers. The contrast between the two colors is stark, which I think is part of the appeal. I was aiming for a southwestern look when I designed it, with the silver, reddish-brown, and blue combination. Because the colors are […]
Orange And Blue Swirls Necklace
I wanted to create a piece with bold blues and oranges, a fun color combination I think. I tried a few different pendant ideas which either didn’t sit right on the neck or didn’t work well with the necklace before settling on the pendants in the picture. I used blue 18 gauge wire to create […]
Leafy Green Necklace Featuring Aventurine
This necklace is a 17 inch choker made with aventurine beads, faux green pearls, and 13 mother of pearl tear drop shaped pendants in green and white. I wanted to create a leafy look with the pendants (which hang about 1 inch long with the faux pearls at the end of them). The piece fastens […]
Porcelain With Blues Neckace
I love the delicacy of patterns found in porcelain beads. This piece is longer–strung on 6 strands of 20 inches of tiger tail, 3 strands on each side. I wove seed beads in shades of blue, green and gold are together with electric blue glass beads and porcelain beads, (rounds as well as cylindrical beads). […]
Oceans Of Malachite And Aventurine Necklace
In the heat of summer, I wanted to create an oasis of cool colors. I started with a silver, green, and blue pendant which I wrapped in green 20 gauge wire with a few silver spacers. I combined some of my grandmother’s large malachite beads with aventurine rounds, lapis lazuli chips, green seed beads, silver […]
Turkish Twist Necklace
I love the variety of textures and colors available through twist necklaces but I also wanted a pendant to tie all of them together and give the piece a focal point. The Turkish eyes seemed perfect. There are five strands altogether: a strand of teal glass beads, a strand of blue seed beads, a strand […]
