Sherri has made a few necklaces before and each time she has challenged herself to use colours she would not normally choose. This design though thoroughly suits Sherri's complexion.

The rich tones of this necklace show how good she is at mixing golds, ambers and bronze freshwater pearls and dark blue beads in her main necklace for they all go well with the foil bead pendant.

Little does Sherri know but her design echoes the magnificent colours of the 12th century Palatine Chapel or Cappella Palatina in Sicily, Italy. The colour combination she chose was so striking and lovely, I had to make the comparison. It is worth being historically inspired.

The stunning mosaics and architectural style of the chapel's dome were created by Byzantine artisans. Byzantine comes from the old name for Constantinople (Istanbul today), Byzantium and it is the name we give the part of the Eastern Roman Empire that lingered on until the 15th century.

This royal chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132 for Norman Kings in Sicily. The Normans came from northern France and were descended from Vikings or "Northmen/Norsemen". The Normans didn't just conquer England in 1066 (and forever made the British cranky about the French), but they also for a time occupied southern Italy and the Near East as you can see in the map below.




Beader Design # 389
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The Beading Gem's Journal
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