Hardly Looks Like the Same Necklace Now

Vintage images courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Ah, Saturday. Sleeping in. Lazing around. Well, at least sleeping in. I have so much stuff to do this weekend and next weekend my daughter is visiting again, so I'll not be getting much done then. I have a special order necklace to make, pieces to finish, and so many ideas to try. But, you're probably here to see what I've got to show for myself for today...

On Wednesday I showed a work in progress using Romance Trios from Soft Flex. This is what it looked like then:

I've been fiddling...here's what it looks like now (click picture for closer look):

It hangs a bit longer than shown - the bust is a bit short so I had to pull the chain down in the back. I like this much better! There are still some finishing details I need to do - a crimp cover here and there - but this is pretty much it.

I think you can see where I snipped the wires and crimped them to create the wisps? vines? that were once part of what Tish called the bow tie, then I made a loop at either end of the beading and fastened two twisted wire rings through them to connect it to an antiqued silver chain (from Accessories Susan). The clasp is made from a twisted wire oval I bent into a hook.

I think I may have 3 or maybe 4 entries to send in to the Flex Your Creativity contest - if you're thinking of entering (and I hope you are!) don't forget that you only have until Sept. 1st.

As I didn't get anything listed on Art Fire, per goal, neither Thursday nor Friday. I'm going to have to do three today to catch up. Fortunately, it's Saturday and I have 1) sunlight for photography and 2) all day to do it!

Here are the eight new ones I've listed so far - I'd be very interested in your candid comments about them - photography, setting, price - whatever:

Dawno

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Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Wandering Around the Beadosphere!

Tuesday Tidbits - Green

I had a wonderful mini-vacation last week, which included the new Harry Potter movie and was topped off with a splendid dinner with my husband and daughter, and the play Wicked at the Orpheum in San Francisco. Besides that I got a lot of rest and reading in.

Now it's back to the usual stuff and I'll be blogging daily again.

First off, I got some great news via Twitter - the Soft Flex company ran a Trios giveaway and I was one of the winners! Sara, at the SoftFlexGirl blog also posted about it on Saturday, but I just found out today. And to complete the circle of synchronicity - Sara went to see Wicked for her birthday, too!

With having just seen Wicked, and having recently finished reading a fabulous book titled, Green, by Jay Lake, I was definitely feeling the urge to make something green.

So, I started by getting out my Renewal Trio to make a bracelet with all three colors (Green Emerald, Chrysoprase and Peridot), plus carved aventurine flowers (from my trip to Beads & Baubles in Berkeley), faceted prehnite ovals and briolettes (Fire Mountain), chrysoprase Druk beads (Artbeads) and small, green, Czech glass disk beads (Rings & Things). I added silver crimp covers over the crimps (#2 Beadalon silver plated crimp tubes) and another crimp cover around the three strands between the first beads and the clasp.

Then I went a bit nuts.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can make this a necklace instead...

(Additional beads added: round aventurine beads, iridescent green glass beads from one of The Beadin' Path's bead of the month selections, green Czech pressed glass flower beads, more Czech glass disks and really tiny faceted light green Czech glass rondells.)

See you tomorrow!

New Pieces to Share, but My Friday Pick is Postponed

I may be able to finish a Friday Pick selection later today, but wasn't able to last night. But I do have some pictures I can share of two finished pieces.

On Wednesday I mentioned my package from Artbeads, through their Blogging for Beads program, had come in and that the beads I received were of CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements. Among the selections I made were Crystal Volcano 6mm bicones and a Crystal Volcano teardrop pendant. Here's a piece I just finished using those and Beadalon 49 strand, .030 inch silver plated stringing wire, #4 silver plated Beadalon crimp tubes, fine sliver closed hammered rings from Prolifique on Etsy, and sterling silver beads.

The Beadalon wire I used is so lovely, I was looking forward to using it exposed and am very happy with how this design with it turned out. My inspiration for this design came somewhat from the Woven Rings design (p 126) Katie Hacker showed in the book Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed, that I reviewed last week.

The clasp is a Sterling Bubble 3-strand toggle, also from Artbeads. I have two more of these and plan to use at least one as a focal in an upcoming necklace since it's way too pretty to hide behind the neck all the time.

Also finished the giveaway bracelet in the blue and gray rain colors that Spamwarrior requested in her winning comment. Hope she likes the bracelet - it's on its way.

Mid-Week Mutterings - Artbeads "Blogging for Beads" Goodies Have Arrived!

This month's selections from Artbeads, through their Blogging for Beads program, comes from their great selection of CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements.

As I was looking through the pendants, I saw this gorgeous seashell pendant and picked it, along with some 4mm 5301 faceted bicones in Golden Shadow from Artbead's Swarovski crystal beads collection.

I plan to make a fairly simple necklace with these, possibly incorporating some real shell beads and gold chain.

The next CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements that caught my eye, were the teardrop pendants and this 24x12mm teardrop in Crystal Volcano has so much color and fire, I couldn't pass it up - got some 6mm 5301 Crystal Volcano faceted bicones to go with it.

The color matching opportunities with this particular selection are almost endless, so I'm thinking something multi-strand with lots of colors from my stash as well. I have some beautiful 49 strand silver plated Beadalon stringing wire that I've been wanting to use and I'm considering an "exposed" design inspired by the Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed book using these crystal beads.


Finally, I came upon the lovely color "Blue Opal" in the 11x5.5mm Briolette pendants. It seemed a perfect match for some angelite beads and pearls to make a romantic short or choker length necklace - again, possibly multi-strand.


I'm planning to sketch up the ideas for all of these, so when I do, I'll post them and, of course, the finished pieces when I'm done.