Sometimes you have to make a cut

The labradorite stones that I had or have are usually blue, grey and green, but labradorite can have so many more colors with the rarest being purple.
Months ago, I went through my cab drawer and noticed that one of my carved cabs which looked grey and green actually had a beautiful pinkish shimmer in a certain angle of light. That I haven't been able to catch well (yet?) in my pictures, but it's there, really.
And I knew just the beads to use with that.

For the bezel I chose my beloved "magic apple" coated seed beads. It will be a very sad day when they are all gone, I even love just looking at them in the tube. For the connection with the pinkish hue I chose a transparent dark red - another favorite of mine - and some pinkish 15s.

The bezel is the easy part. It's not so easy to decide what should come next, and this time I made the wrong decision.
I was looking forward to doing another freeform focal. I love freeform (and sometimes wonder how much Gary Larson's amoebas - google them if you don't know them - are to blame for that because I always think of them when I do it). I wanted to make it a mix of reds and pinks in different bead sizes, maybe with a touch of gold here and there.
When I do freeform, I like to cut the felt around the cab into shape first and then follow that with the beads. Usually I'm quite happy with that although I may have to trim the edges a bit here and there. In this case, though ... oh my, I hated it after the first three rows, I think, but kept going anyhow.
It's hard to explain my feelings when I continue working on something like that. It's like a drop of hope swimming in a sea of doubt,- there's still a tiny chance I'll manage thanks to a creative miracle - or more often a molecule of hope in a sea of anger (at myself), loss of motivation, and the voice of my muse yelling at me to give it up already.

That's the hard part. Sometimes you need to push on, sometimes you need to make smaller or bigger changes if possible - and sometimes you just have to cut.
The way I had cut the felt meant I wouldn't be able to use it for a regular design, but I liked the bezel and didn't want to do it over. Why should I, though? I just cut along the edges of the bezel and glued it all to a second piece of felt. Duh. Not that difficult, is it? So the cab sat higher than usual now because I like using thicker felt, but that was fine with me.

To hide the extra edge, I used beautiful large dark red/purple beads, then a row of gold for contrast and two rows of edging in a raspberry and the magic apple.

After that I was stuck. I have always had that problem with the drop shape, from the very first labradorite drop I ever used (remember I asked your opinion the other day - well, no answer, so I had to deal with it myself).
Do I want the tip up or do I follow my muse who always wants the tip down? As you can see, Mabel has won.
I added a large beaded peyote tube in the back for the twisted Herringbone rope I had woven in magic apple and dark red/purple. It makes the pendant sit at a slight angle instead of flat.

And if that wasn't enough, I had to give in to my asymmetric side. It had taken so long to develop, but it's here to stay now.
My first plan had been little brown glass flowers which I had used before and love a lot, but alas, I couldn't find them quickly.

I did find these leftover pearls, though, and liked the contrast they add to the pendant. Bold, maybe, but I felt the necklace could use some boldness to make it a bit less classic (and boring).

I cheated a little, by the way. At the moment that I'm writing this, the necklace doesn't have a clasp yet. I don't have a golden lobster clasp that is big enough, but I didn't want to wait taking pictures because I'm so happy this WIP that has been waiting in the workbox for a few months now is almost finished!