Monday Miscellany - The Beadin' Path's Glass "River Rock" Design Partner Necklace

Heather De Simone of The Beadin' Path recently asked some bead-jewelry designer/bloggers if they'd be interested in being design partners. I was honored to be asked and thrilled with the opportunity it would give me to be able to feature some of The Beadin' Path's exclusive and unique offerings for jewelry design on a regular basis.

So, it wasn't very long ago that I received a package with their large glass "River Rock" nuggets in topaz and citrus colors.

I don't do a lot of work in what I've seen described variously as primitive, natural or tribal styles. My personal likes tend toward the vintage, favoring Victorian, Edwardian, even Renaissance looks.

That said, when I got the nuggets immediately I knew they would look great combined with a strand of amber chips, some lava rock and a number of India glass round beads in a light AB finished amber color that I've had in my stash forever, it seems. I felt that I should only use a few of the large River Rocks because they're definitely substantial in size, presence in the piece and weight. The India glass beads and lava stone are very light weight, fortunately, and I didn't use any metallic beads, caps or spacers, either. I still haven't added a clasp - need to find something suitable and don't even know where to begin!

The strand with the River Rocks is strung on .38" 49 strand Beadalon satin gold because the River Rocks are rather heavy. The practically weightless amber chips are strung on .33" 19 strand Beadalon satin gold. When finished it will be about 18 - 20" total length.

The nuggets I got had some powdery grit on them, so I rinsed them before I used them. There were also a few with more than one drill path through them, in other words, one which dead-ends and one that goes through. They're are definitely rough hewn inside and out.

All in all, while they aren't the kind of thing I'd have thought to buy, I was surprised with how much I liked what I came up with. I look forward to making another necklace using the citrus colored 'rocks'.

That's it for today - see you tomorrow for Tuesday Tidbits: Dawno shows you her clean(er) workspace.