"Got By With a Little Help From My Friends", actually a TON of help.

In June my sister hired me to make a necklace and earrings for a friend. I was really stressing about this project because I have never met the woman, knew noting about her style and it was for her son's wedding rehearsal dinner.  All I knew was her dress is black and white,  my sister said she  doesn't wear "big" jewelry and it should not be anything to wild or hang down too low on her neck.  I played around with a few techniques and  they just did not seem right.  Decided to try swirled lentil beads using black, white and red; simple yet interesting.    I had pretty good luck getting then to swirl properly but had seen some stunning lentils where a small amount glitter has been swirled. It reminded me of the tail of a comet.   I had never used  glitter in lentils or ay other bead. Were those sparkles really glitter in the clay or on top of the clay?  Maybe it was glitter paint put on later.

I found the answers to my questions and the conficence to give it a try at Cindy Lietz, The Polymer Clay Tutor at beadsandbeading.com.  I did a search at her site for lentil beads and found several past blogs.  After posting my questions and uncertainty several clayers gave me suggestions.    Thank you to all who helped me in this journey, especially Sue F.  who went into detail on a technique I had never tried.  
Thank you to all in Cindy Lietz Community.  The necklace and earrings were a big hit.