Beachcombing Necklace

Used some of my new beads last night - shell heishis and little whole shells, with tiny freshwater pearls, amber shell beads and brass Artistic Wire.

Reminds me of summer days spent at the beach, searching for little shells, chasing waves. I decided to make this with a rustic look. I used 26 gauge Artistic Wire in an antique brass finish to link the heishi shells and make the dangles.

See some additional closeup angles at my Art Fire shop!

Dawno

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New Piece Finished Tonight

I finished a piece this evening that I worked on during breaks in my reorganization efforts this weekend. It's just under 18" long, made from blue-gray coin pearls, "liquid silver" sterling silver tubes and seamless sterling silver (3mm) beads, all from Rings & Things.

The clasp has been in my stash for quite some time and I didn't save the packaging (something I do now) so I have to trust my memory - I'm sure it's sterling (has a 925 stamp) but I don't recall the supplier. It's a hook and eye type clasp with a little bit of decorative etching.

I secured the clasp on the Beadalon 49 strand silver tone bright .38mm beading wire with silver plated wire guardians (Rings & Things, again) and silver plated smooth oval Scrimps from Michael's.

I love the baroque look of the pearls, the texture provides some interesting reflections on the pearls. By using three smaller tubes the choker is more flexible than if one long tube had been used, although, to be very honest about it, that's just because I didn't look carefully at the length of the tubes I was purchasing, rather than a deliberate choice. Nevertheless, serendipity worked for this piece I believe.

I'm watching Cosmos on Hulu (see my other blog for details and a clip of the first episode if you'd like to check it out) as I putter around in the workroom. Some of the beautiful natural photography and imaginative animations of outer space may just provide some inspiration! In fact, the blue-gray pearls are rather celestial looking - like little moons floating in a silvery ring...

Well, lookie here - you can buy this right off the page if you like it!

Dawno

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Finished Hematite Necklaces and Learing Knotting

With New Year's Day coming up, I got to thinking about glitzy jewelry the other night. I had my box of hematite beads out from the necklaces I made the other day, so I used hematite, silver and the Sterling Effects bead caps that remind me of marcasite jewelry, and a matching Sterling Effects focal in this necklace.

I also have a lot of hematite tube beads in that box, so I used dark gunmetal eye pins to link a bunch of them together in a chain, hung a little flower and vine charm with some hematite 'fringe' on it to make this necklace.

I've been putting off teaching myself how to use thread and knots in jewelry and today seemed like a good day to figure it out. I found some video tutorials on YouTube that were helpful - this one is the one that helped me the most:



I use Beadalon knotting pliers instead of tweezers, gripping handles works better for me than pinching tweezers. After some practicing, I decided to make a knotted necklace to go with an etched tab shell pendant I'd I purchased from Artbeads some time ago. The green beads are chrysoprase colored Czech glass druks, the brown beads are amber shell beads. For stringing and knotting, I used chestnut brown Gudebrod silk, size FFF. All I have left is to decide how to finish it.

Sunken Treasures

Tonight's piece is made with "fossil coral" per the label on the square beads and more of the amber shell beads, this time both brown and beige, including the oblong ones. It's about 30" and will be finished with gold plated lobster claw fasteners. I have a number of beige and lighter winter white sweaters that I pair with brown cardigans, brown tweed or leather jackets and brown slacks - I think this piece would look fabulous with them as a necklace or badge lanyard.

I made a necklace lanyard not long ago (listed on Etsy) with the brown amber shell beads and onyx that I think would be a great complimentary piece, too.

If the weather around here ever gets cool enough (we've been hitting mid 80s all week) I might even get a chance to wear them and see if anyone takes notice - seems most of my sales come from people asking about pieces I wear and then wanting something for themselves. I'm my own best spokesmodel, I guess.