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
Made this with my Aunt in mind today. She had a very rough day and I was her pep talker. I thought about her all day, and kept thinking about these beautiful amethyst nuggets I had waiting for a special project. I came home after work with the intent to use them...only I had no idea for what, which has happened multiple times. Then, just as I'm getting ready for bed due to a freakishly early morning at work tomorrow, inspiration hit and this is the result.
Name: Spring Vine
Price: $15
Length: almost 8 inches
What a battle to get this done! I bought this really nice green, silver, and gold Murano leaf pendant years ago (another "finally done" project!), and it's been sitting in my bead box ever since. I've tried a variety of techniques with it, but none worked until I decided to simply multi-strand it using a mix of gold, brown, and green.
First I fought to get all five strands the same beaded length. That done, I then battled to get the bead cone and crimp cover on one end; the holes were too small for five steel strands, even at the thin diameter I use. Got one side set, and started on the other, wrestled for fifteen minutes, then discovered the pendant hole was just too small for the widest part of the cone to go through. Being glass, I didn't want to force the issue (a good hard yank might've done it). So I had to undo 15 minutes of work by pulling the cone and crimp cover back off, stringing the pendant, then another 15 minutes to put them back on.
All figured, this took two days to do.
Note: the colors in the pendant look washed out in the photo, but the greens and golds match in both pendant an beads.
Name: Springtime Murano
Price: $30 (reason: time and effort mostly; Murano foiled glass isn't entirely cheap, either)
Length: about 20 inches; pendant is 2.5 inches tall
Perfectionist that I am, I'm debating redoing the interior strand so the beads line up with the voids on the outer strand of this necklace. Malachite is a rather expensive stone to get good quality, so I've been collecting it over a couple of years for a project and last night I finally got the inspiration of what it would look like. I handmade the bail for the donut, and carefully measured where each beaded section would be on the two strands, then crimped them in place. I accented just a little with some silver. I made a "visible" illusion necklace, since that seems to be a growing fad--instead of clear fishing line, I used the usual protected steel cable I use for stringing.
Name: Misaligned Malachite
Price: $40 (reason: malachite prices)
Length: outer strand 21 inches, inner about 19 inches
I made this today after an early afternoon of housework. Three different Swarovski bicone colors, antique brass rounds and findings, and gold spacers. I thought I'd ordered antique brass spacers, but I guess not. I like the color contrasts between the bright gold and the brass, though.
Name: Firesong
Price: $30
Length: 19.25 inches
On my trip home this weekend, I came across some fascinating Bloodstone rounds. Unlike most Bloodstone I've seen, these were not the usual green spattered with red. The rounds, approximately 8mm (larger than I usually use), are a deep, smoky gray that borders on black with darker red spatter. I knew I just had to experiment with them, so bought two strands. This is the result of the first idea I came up with. This necklace is my second extreme wirework project--every link was hand made, as were the findings. This took at least three hours!
Name: Blood and Silver
Price: $35
Length: 22.5 inches
My Grandma's favorite color is aqua. Her birthday is in April, and because I don't get home as much as I'd like and knew this weekend might be the last in a few weeks to see her, I deliberately looked for something for her while I was at my favorite supplier. I had almost given up when I came across these small rounds, labeled Sea Blue Chalcedony. They are about as true an aqua as I've ever seen, beautifully clear, and perfect for my plan. I stayed up until 1am this morning making it, before driving back home today to see my Mom's work in a local quilt show. My Aunt and Grandma were there as well, so we all went out to lunch. As with a lot of my work, I kept it very simple and elegant, and accented with silver.
Name: N/A
Price: $25 (original not for sale; gift for Grandma)
Length: 18 inches, I think (forgot to measure)
Pair of earrings to match the previous necklace.
Name: Silver Skies
Price: $10; $35 for set w/ necklace
Length: see image with quarter for size comparison
I've had this Murano glass pendant for years, trying to figure out just what to do with it. Finally decided just to toy around with it and this was the result. Also made matching earrings (next post). This is a lot more silver than I usually use!
Name: Silver Skies
Price: $30; $35 for set (with earrings)
Length: 24 inches
