Amethyst teardrop pendant

Another simple wirework pendant, done in amethyst and silver.

 

Name:  N/A

Price: $15

Length:  2 inches tall including bail x approx. 1 inch wide

Lapis Lazuli pendant

Simple lapis lazuli rectangular pendant wrapped with tarnish-resistant wire.

 

Name:  N/A

Price:  $15

Length:  Pendant is 2 inches tall (including bail) x approx. .5 inch wide

Busy with bracelets

Yesterday I whipped out eight bracelets using leftover stones from a variety of projects.  They're all about the same length, in a variety of colors and patterns, depending on what I had available that worked with them.
Picture-taking didn't turn out too well as you can see--the camera won't focus on the foreground, whether it's the front of the bracelet or just the bracelet in general, only the background or the back of the bracelet, no matter what I tried.

 

 



Name:  N/A

Price:  Malachite and silver $20
            Green aventurine and gold $10
            Sapphire, Swarovski, and antique copper $15
            Blue lace agate and silver $10
            Garnet and silver $10
            Peach/Red aventurine and antique copper $10
           Rhodonite, blackstone, and silver $15
           Yellow jade and silver $10

Length:  all are about 8 inches

Blue Sunflower necklace

I've had these blue-and-white petals for what seems like forever, trying to decide what to do with them, and was recently browsing an old jewelry catalogue and came across an idea that might work.  The catalogue had used fancy amethyst briolettes and gold, but the design basics worked very well for this, too.  I didn't have enough petals to do the entire necklace that way, however, so finished it out with the silver rounds.
My camera is still being quite grumpy and doesn't focus properly, so the pictures are bad, sorry.

Name:  Blue Sunflower

Price: $20

Length:  about 20 inches

Bound Heart necklace

Back when I first started making jewelry as a kid, in part thanks to my Dad making special "date" trips to my favoritest store in the whole wide world with me, I wanted to make my Mom a necklace.  So we went, and I picked out a rhodonite heart bead and several pink lepidolite rounds for an illusion necklace.  I strung it (with Dad's help and a lot of frustration) on some poor-quality, very weak gold-colored wire, and was never happy with it, but Mom kept it nonetheless though she never wore it.  About two years ago, I found it in her jewelry culls to be thrown away, so I took it to redo.  It sat in my bead box until last night, when I finally came up with a plan to use it and some of the remaining rhodonite rounds I got for her opera-length necklace from this fall.
I wanted to do something fun and creative, so I used silver wire and wrapped both ends (it had two holes for stringing I utilized) to make it a link pendant, then I strung the rest of the necklace off-center so the heart would stand upright when worn.  This was the result.
I used silver wire, Beadalon beading wire, rhodonite, blackstone, and a lot of silver.

 

Name:  Bound Heart

Price:  $25

Length:  just over 20 inches

Amethyst Blossom Vine pendant

This is what I do on quiet, rainy Friday evenings since I'm not dating.  I was half-watching a Ninja Gaiden walkthrough, letting my hands tease ideas from my brain for the pendants I have lying around.  Throw in a batch of homemade popcorn, a glass of milk, and a cat for company and, well, this was the result.
This pendant is a nice piece of amethyst, wrapped with a tarnish-resistant brass wire vine and Swarovski bicone "buds", accompanied by pressed glass leaves.  I didn't follow a guide, or any photo for inspiration, just let it tell me what it wanted to be.

 

Name:  Amethyst Blossom Vine pendant

Price:  $25

Length:  pendant is approx. 2 inches by 1 inch, including bail

Through the Grapevine

Finished this today, though it was mostly made yesterday while I was doing laundry.  A new technique for me: tubular netted.  I had planned to make it longer, and because of that had used a batch of seed beads (black iris) that I had a ton of, but somewhere in adding thread the second time something went wrong and I couldn't figure out where or how.  So I finally gave up and simply attached the clasp.  It has the feel of a grapevine given the netting style and the clasp with its grape leaf toggle and the cluster of grapes on the bar.  I didn't originally know how I felt about the black iris coloration with such intricate chainwork, but it grew on me the longer I worked with it.

 

Name:  Through the Grapevine

Price:  $35 (reason: mostly time and effort)

Length:  18.5 inches

Mom's birthday necklace

Didn't realize I hadn't posted this here!

I had a hard time deciding what to do for Mom's birthday (the 28th), when I suddenly hit across a series of ideas.  I was originally making this style of bolo in a bright blue-teal, and she had remarked how much she liked it and wanted to see me finish it.  But I haven't gotten around to it due to lack of finding ideal fringe beads.  Then, during Bead Day with my niece, she commented how much she loved these buttery-yellow seed beads a friend of mine had sent me.  Bingo!
So I started to bead the bolo chain.  Then I realized I didn't have a ring for it.  So I rummaged through some things until I came across a metal ring necklace I'd bought on clearance with the intent of using spare parts for another project (but had found a better alternative), and decided one of the links would be perfect.  I still wound up one or two fringe beads short, so I smuggled the unfinished work home last weekend, snuck to my favorite local bead shop, bought a couple beads, went home, smuggled my bead box and the project upstairs while she was busy in the garden, and finished putting it together.

 

Name:  N/A

Price:  $40 (original not for sale)

Length:  about 30 inches