This piece recently was on display at the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Arts with the Alaska Bead Society's exhibit of contemporary beadwork. The center medallion is handpainted by my good friend Rhonda. She used six different shades of green in the leaves, so you can imagine what a time I had trying to match green beads. Nothing was quite right. In the end it came down to having to mix four different shades of green beads alternately with each other in the Loop Stitch technique to get a match. There are 183 4mm grape and green colored Austrian Crystal on this piece! Some of them are wrapped with the size 15 beads. The medallion was mounted on teal green suede leather then beaded around. It truly is "most beautiful".
