Well, it's been a while, but I haven't given up on the project -- I've been busy with numerous other projects, as usual. But I always swing back around, and knowing that I have enough of the tiniest pearls to finish the project (or I should!) helps...
I've made good progress here. The midsized pearls at the tip of the stem were kind of a pain, but I ran the doubled carrier thread back through the second to last pearl and wrapped everything up tight with the attachment thread.
And all the pearls are on! The loose threads will all be glued down to the back. Silk is, for lack of a better word,
boingy at this scale, and knots can't be trusted to stay knotted for very long.
A shot of the messy back before gluing. A toothpick, some small scissors, and a bottle of PVA later, and...
...the first piece is complete!
I haven't made any progress with modeling the other pieces yet. I know that I'll need to scale up this piece, which is easy, but I've been putting off the circular pieces. They're not flat, so I have to work out how to warp the meshes and join them together at the right place. Meanwhile, I still have the mirror image of this piece to start.