Tracy came to her first beading party already with an objective in mind - a gift for her friend. She obviously knew what colour to pick too.

She went with a floral theme, using both glass and metal flower beads. She really spaced those out a great deal with plenty of pale rose seed beads. Little metallic cube beads and some metal rondelles to bracket the purple flower beads were also used. Her earrings sported only the metal flowers. Tracy must have thought the purple flowers too big for earrings so she used oval purple beads instead.

The word "purple" originally came from the Greek word porphyra which refered to the dye made in ancient times. The purple dye back then came from the glandular secretion of a marine snail, known as the Murex brandaris or the spiny dye-murex. This Tyrian purple dye was so expensive given where they got it from. The Romans reserved it for ceremonial robes. Although this imperial or royal purple shade is more like magenta, Tracy's friend will be pleased to know her purple set is of a very special colour.

Reference
Wikipedia : Purple

Beader Design #: 344
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The Beading Gem's Journal