Yellowknife (Nov 12/04) - More than 10 people took part in a Contemporary Beadwork workshop put on by the continuing education department at Aurora College recently.

The course was scheduled to run for one day only, on Oct. 23.

However, most of the students returned to the workshop the next day to try and put the finishing touches on their project.

The instructor, Marja Van Nieuwenhuyzen, is a well-known artisan. She is also the chair of community programs at Aurora Campus.

For this course, the project for the students was to create a pendant made with a semi-precious stone surrounded by small beads.

Students chose from a variety of stones.

They included tiger's eye, eagle's eye jasper, unakite and rhodonite.

One student used antler.

Van Nieuwenhuyzen says all of the students were adults, except for a mother and daughter team.

The teacher said the duo did a particularly "awesome" job.

"The students were all beginners and I think everyone was very proud of what they accomplished," she said after the workshop.