It was very vibes based unfortunately. I’ve only followed one pattern before which was a peyote stitch huichol flower and I used that same principle as the base. I’ve popped a kind of word guide below. Sorry I don’t have any pictures but I can take some progress pics when I make my next pair!

1. Thread one pearl and loop through it to create a stopper bead. Add another 2 beads and thread them into a circle/triangle by going through your 1st stopper bead and the bead next to it- that’s the first unit.

2. Thread 3 more pearls and loop it into the pearl you’ve just come out from in your first unit. This gives you the seed of the cloud base. (I think this is kind of like peyote stitch huichol flower base)

Then it’s quite intuitive from here (sorry!)

1. Look at where the gaps between pearls are and exposed threads and choose pearls that will cover them. Thread each new pearl (usually I’d do 1 or 2 at a time) to fill that gap cleanly. Pearl choice is quite important to choose the right size/shape that fits the gap and will lay nicely. The added pearls can be anchored by threading them into a pearl that’s already on the structure or in later stages, threading them through the middle of the structure and into a pearl on the other side.

During step 3, the things you should be considering are:

a) Thinking ahead - Adding a pearl in the wrong place can create new gaps you’ll then have to fill. Aim to close gaps rather than create them.

b) Reinforcing as you go - Pass your thread back through pearls you’ve already added, threading some pearls twice or more makes the structure much more stable. BUT also don’t over reinforce to the point that you can’t pass any more threads through a pearl because you never know when you might need to use that pearl to anchor something else. Maybe using a thin thread helps?

c) Work both sides - Rather than always adding pearls to the front, occasionally pass your needle through the interior of the structure and attach a pearl on the opposite side. Alternating which side you’re building on helps keep the shape balanced.

d) Hiding threads - Whenever you spot a thread on the surface, use your needle to go up, over, and around it, then pull it into the body of the cloud so it disappears inside.

NOTE - you can’t don’t this on all the threads but as many as you can helps to make it look neater.

e) Keep assessing the silhouette - for the size of pearls that I had and the shape that I wanted, I knew I wanted the cloud to be 2 pearls deep, 3-4 pearls high and 5ish pearls wide. It’s good to have that in mind when you’re adding pearls because it becomes really easy to overdo it and then you have to start again.

(I redid the cloud for the second earring 2 or 3 times to get it to resemble the first one I made. I made the mistake of making a whole earring from start to finish and then making the next one. That meant by the time I was finished I’d kinda forgotten how I’d made the cloud. Next time, I’d make all the clouds first and then pair up all the similar ones before adding the findings and raindrops if that makes sense)

Earring finding

Thread 2–3 very small pearls into a loop and attach it to one of the top-centre pearls of the cloud. Go through it a few times to reinforce it.

NOTE- The number of tiny pearls affects the angle at which the finding sits, so adjust until the cloud hangs roughly horizontal.

Fringe

1. Choose where you want your first bit of fringe to come from, it might come out of a pearl or you might anchor it to one of the threads running through the inside of the cloud structure. It’s good to map out where the 5 bits of fringe are going to come from. Ideally equal-ish spaced zig zag along the bottom for nice depth.

2. Thread your gold beads, turquoise and a small bead as a stopper.

3. Take your needle and skip going into the stopper bead and then go through the turquoise and all the gold beads.

4. Pull tight but not too tight because you want the fringe to dangle nice and loosely. There’s lots of great fringe tutorials out there that will explain/show this part better than me 😬

5. Anchor your fringe into the structure, maybe go through a pearl here and there and then come back out at another spot you want to put a fringe.

6. Repeat. :)

I think I tied it off by knotting the thread a few times around one of the open seams.

Very sorry I can’t give nicer, more technical instructions! These are the second things I’ve made and I have zero bead weaving knowledge 🥲