Spring Acorns for Caramel

Teaching Caramel's Acorn Earrings at the Upper Midwest Bead Society (much better than my first teaching effort, but still not what I would consider to be flawless) wiped out my stock of Acorn Earrings kits, so I have begun re-stocking.  A wonderful friend has volunteered to help with these kits, which are crazy labor-intensive!

I have a new color way, called Spring!

  I had hoped that by the time I was ready to publish these new acorns, there might be some real ones to shoot.  Some oaks set acorns early in the year to mature slowly through the summer.  I had hoped to have some photos to show you when I published these, but the Oaks here have only just stopped shivering. They really are amazing, and flower first, with long dangly catkins of golden green pollen-producing tassels.  I promise to add some images to this post when they finally appear.  EDITED TO ADD here is a starter! I found the twig of new oak leaves blown down on the path during my walk yesterday and the color was so fresh and similar to the acorns!

It has been a very slow Spring in Minnesota!  Yesterday, I dragged the deck chairs up from storage through my house, because it was finally warm-ish!  And the Best Man Ever put on his snow boots and brought the table around the house through the melting drifts for me.  I am so starved for sunshine!  And all my outdoor critters, including Caramel the squirrel, are very hungry  I keep my feeders full to meet demands.

In the mean time, you can check them out here.  My personal favorite acorn is from this site:

https://montereywildflowers.com/tree-fagaceae-quercus/

Scroll down to the Valley Oak/Roble, and check out the color in that acorn!

  

Or take a look at a range of images of catkins and Spring acorns here.  

The Canopy Melon beads in this colorway have a pinky sheen, and the colors I used are both from nature, and in support of that sheen.

If you want to duplicate my results, here is the bead list, and if you want a kit, visit my shop through the linked photo below, and choose "Spring"!  

A - 12 pcs CzechMate Crescent Opq. Rose Gold Topaz Luster

B - 12 pcs Toho 8/0 Hex #262 Light Bronzer Lined Crystal Rbw

C - 25 pcs Toho 15/0 #764 Rose Chalk Matte Opaque

D - 38 pcs Toho 11/0 #764 Rose Chalk Matte Opaque

E - 38 pcs Toho 8/0 #169 Light Rose Transparent Rainbow

F - 24 pcs Toho 11/0 #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

G - 14 pcs Toho 11/0 Demi #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF 

(plus 2 pcs #994 Bronze Lined Crystal Rainbow)

H - 2 pcs Czech 14mm Melon Bead Canopy

J - 2 pcs Toho 8/0 Demi #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

K - 2 pcs Toho 6/0 #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

3 yds One-G Thread 

3 pcs Copper 2” Headpins

2 pcs Copper Fishhook Earwires

2 pcs Earring Nuts

Find the new kits here, and the tutorial here.  I am in the process of getting most of the colorways re-stocked, so I'll keep you informed as they appear.  And the Silk Butterfly Bags are in process!