Rings & Things Goodies - Memory Jewelry

I have a completely icky head cold right now, started last night just before bed, too, so I didn't sleep very well. I don't feel completely awful, just very congested. I went to work this morning (I have this thing about calling in sick on a Monday) which I really shouldn't have. About an hour after I got there I was so miserable that I drove to the local Walgreen's and bought nose spray, Dayquil, tissues, throat drops and a huge pump bottle of hand sanitizer. I hope I didn't give this to anyone else.

I left work a bit early this afternoon, at my manager's kindly suggestion, which also included "why don't you work from home tomorrow, too?" You don't have to ask me twice! Anyway, coming home to find an envelope from Rings & Things waiting for me was just the kind of pick-me-up I needed at the end of the day.

What a great collection of items for making memory jewelry! I haven't made any to this point, guess I'm going to have another opportunity to move out of the ol' comfy zone again. The bezel cups are going to be my biggest challenge. I haven't worked with resin yet (have some, haven't gotten around to using it) don't have a UV light for curing it indoors, and it's been cloudy and rainy lately, so outdoors isn't an option most days. I may not be able to show off a finished piece with these until I get a sunny weekend!

Here's the stock # list with links (these aren't in the same order as pictured above, btw):

32x15mm glass jars, cork top #30-187-SM
Glass heart vial #30-407-H
Brass 22mm bezel cup, round, one loop #46-301-11-0
Brass 22m bezel cup, round, two loops #46-301-21-0
Brass 18x13 bezel cup, oval, one loop #46-301-50-0
Brass 18x13 bezel cup, oval, two loops #46-301-60-0
Hinged picture frame 1.5" square #55-700-21-1
Antiqued copper plated hinged shadowbox, 1.6" square #55-701-01-7
Hinged glass pendant, round (glass front and back) #55-702-11-1
Alexandrite colored diamond shaped glass bottle #56-999-01-262
Blue diamond shaped glass bottle #56-999-01-452

Where to start? I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out!




FTC compliance notice of material connection: The items shown above were provided to me for free, to be used for design purposes, or for a statement of my honest opinion of them, by Rings & Things.

Mid-Week Flutterings, I Mean, Mutterings - Jacaranda Blooms Lima Beads "Fresh Pick" Necklace

I'm pretty pleased with today's necklace. Back in June I blogged about doing a "Fresh Pick" which is one of the features of the Lima Beads site. I named the pick "Jacaranda Blooms" because of the purple dogtooth amethyst and purple freshwater cultured pearls that caught my eye and recalled to me the lovely colors of the jacaranda tree.

I ended up buying the picks from Lima Beads soon after, but didn't get around to making a necklace with them until this weekend (almost 3 months!). I tried a number of things, and ended up not using several of the pieces. This is what I've got so far.

I wrapped the larger piece of dogtooth amethyst in 20 gauge oxidized brass colored beading wire from Accessories Susan and added a Vintaj brass butterfly charm from Lima Beads, as well, also used the same wire to make the bead links. Accessories Susan antiqued brass fluted 5mm bead caps decorate the dark brown jasper (called antique jasper at the Lima Beads site) which reminded me of bark.

This was the first time my first try at doing this sort of wrapping actually seems to have worked out and look good. Have to also give huge kudos to Wubbers pliers for letting me make the bends in the wire without marring the finish.

Then I strung the beads on Soft Flex Metallics 21 strand .014 inch Antique Brass flex wire, because of the tiny hole size of the tsavorite and pearls I was going to use, which I got from DryGulch.com. I did one side's strand at a time, finishing both ends with wire guardians and Scrimps from Rings & Things.

While the design is repetitive, and sort of symmetrical, I decided to make it a little bit different by having one side feature a line of pearls then a grouping of "wild orchid" potato freshwater cultured pearls, antique jasper and tiny (2.5 - 3.5 mm) tsavorite faceted rondelles (which add the bright green, to give just an impression of leaves on a jacaranda branch) and the other side featuring the antique jasper in place of the pearls. The little groupings have two lovely oxidized brass filigree bead caps at each end of them, also from Accessories Susan. Lastly, I added an antique gold plated curb chain, which I think I picked up from Michael's, long ago, because the necklace just seemed to need it.

I've still got some bits of the pick left over and am deciding whether or not I want to try and add them or use them in other pieces. I do think this one is finished - I kind of like it as it is. And that means I've got plenty of left over pearl, jasper and dogtooth amethyst to make bracelets and earrings and maybe another pendant necklace, too.

So, this is another design full of little departures from my comfy zone. It's also one where the beads seemed to lead me where I should go rather than me having a fully conceived design idea before I started. Does that ever happen to you? I'd love to hear about it.