Beadworkers Guild Challenge 2026 - A Night at the Opera - part 1 - inspiration

As some of you might have understood, I didn't send my beadwork to the Guild for the Challenge this year... Not that it wasn't good enough. I think it was. At least I competed hard against myself, and paid it with big issues in my shoulder. I couldn't send it because I didn't do the right thing. And it's entirely my own fault. I will come back to that later.

I cannot bead for the time being, but I can write a bit, and will certainly not deprive you of the creational process. Here, on this blog, I like to blether about my makes. It's my joy to create and write about it when I cannot talk about it. Which is always the case for the challenge piece. It has to remain a secret. 

There is a lot to tell, so I will split this post in 3 parts. The inspiration, the planning & playing and the reveal. 

Let's start with the muse.

We surely can all agree that this year's challenge theme is absolutely perfect... but my muse remained stubbornly silent... 

Sarouchka's necklace

Of course the lovely necklace worn by Julia Roberts in the film Pretty Woman, the night she goes to the opera to see La Traviata, came immediately to mind. But some of you may know that it has already been done by Sarouchka Lobbens in 2013 for the FMG contest (and probably by others) and, if that wasn't enough a reason to avoid making another one, it also would not have been elaborate enough for the "Previous winners" category I'm in.  

So during several months simply NOTHING happened. No bells ringing. I thought that my muse was giving me a break. In fact, it was. Perhaps I should have understood this. 

The challenge remained at the back of my head. Ideas popped up from time to time... 

I hesitated to bead the opera house of Sydney, which I studied from every angle. After all, I'm into geometric beading and love a challenge, which this is all about. But to me, it didn't represent "a NIGHT at the opera". It's a fabulous architecture though.

Of course, I also thought about the Phantom of the Opera. But beading a mask was out of the question. I beaded a Venitian mask for last year's challenge. My motivation asked for something different, and it had to be exciting enough to fuel the hard work. 

I briefly wondered if I should make bling jewelry. To me, jewelry couldn't really reflect the theme entirely either, so I left things linger. Sometimes it is best to just wait and see if something happens.

Slowly, an idea started to take shape from little signs from the universe. Things that repeatedly popped up on the Internet, TV, etc, things related to La Traviata.

I discovered, notably, that Giuseppe Verdi based his world-famous opera, La Traviata, on a play, the Lady of the Camellias, a novel written (and staged) by Alexandre Dumas fils. I vaguely remembered a very sick woman in a black dress, nothing very exciting. So I took some time to find out more. It was an interesting rediscovery. 

Did you know that the film
"Moulin Rouge" is another
adaptation of this story? 

The novel is a French classic based on Alexandre Dumas fils' real life love story with a courtesan called Marie Duplessis. Dumas renamed her Marguerite, (and in certain English translations, her name is Camille). She was as famous as a courtesan could be. Papparazzi-famous. The most desired woman of her time. However, the very reason I chose her for my inspiration was a precise mention in the text about her life style. She [..] "attended all the opening nights and spent every evening at the theater or at a ball. Whenever a new play was performed, she was sure to be there, with three things that never left her side and that always occupied the front of her ground-floor box: her opera glasses, a bag of sweets, and a bouquet of camellias." [...]

The Lady of the Camellias

I love camellias, I love La Traviata, and I love sweets. Marguerite had her lodge at the opera. What better subject could I possibly hope for? The muse got very enthusiastic about it and decided to  remind me of a bag that I had bought to cover with beads, some day... suggesting me to make something very sophisticated for a beautiful woman, to carry her opera glasses, and sweets. 

It takes time to hunt for materials for a project of this sort and a good amount of brain storming and shopping, and of course raiding my stash. And while waiting for all my beads, crystals and elements to arrive, I immersed myself in planning and playing. Which is the subject of my next post about this project.