I had this necklace planned out and in mind before I spur-of-the-moment made my carnelian and banded agate cross-weave necklace this week. I like the mottled colors and unique red of mahogany obsidian, and since people have said how much they like my cross-weave pieces, I decided to make a longer one in case anyone was interested. This necklace is really long; I can wrap it around my neck and clasp it in the front and still have the pendant dangle. I used a different metal for my findings this time: gunmetal. I like the look of gunmetal, but hadn't had the opportunity to use it until now and I like how it looks with the mahogany obsidian. This necklace took me far longer than the others I've done given the length, and a lot more stone than usual for the same reason. I think it looks incredible!
Unfortunately, by the time it was done, it was too dark out to take pictures, so I took what I could inside and will try to get outdoor "fashion" shots in the next couple of days.
Name: Mahogany Sunset
Price: $40 (reason: a ton of mahogany obsidian, time, and effort)
Length: 24 inches, with a 1 inch pendant
Today I did a project for myself. I've had a unique oval red-and-black-and-white banded agate pendant for about three years, but had been unable to come up with a suitable design for it. It reminds me of a clownfish, which was part of the difficulty. I'd bought carnelian rounds to go with it (I read somewhere that banded agate is usually carnelian and/or onyx, both members of the chalcedony family, as is agate).
I decided today to try just doing a simple round necklace using the carnelian rounds in the cross-weave pattern, but figured it probably wouldn't lay right unless it had a pendant. Then I remembered I had the banded agate pendant sitting in my bowl of collected polished stones and dug it out to use at last. I love the way it turned out, although where the necklace comes together over the pendant doesn't quite lay flat. I didn't have enough carnelian to make a longer necklace, and because of the pendant's size I didn't want it too low anyway. As things are, the V where the cross-weave comes together sits at the hollow of my throat. I used size 15 black-lined red seed beads between the rounds, and a single blackstone round as embellishment below the pendant.
Name: Clownfish choker
Price: $40 (reason: tons of carnelian, time, and effort; personal collection)
Length: 15 inches; pendant is 1.5 x 1 inch oval
This past week my boyfriend Dan bought me a new book on different beading techniques I've passed up "at least five times" while we were browsing at one of the local bead shops. A couple of nights later my computer crashed, so I plugged in my old CD player, popped in my Sherlock Holmes and Clash of the Titans and G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra movie scores one after the other while I learned how to cross-weave a necklace. I got lucky and had a nice large aventurine pendant and 6mm aventurine rounds, and tiny size 15 seed beads. I also had a large, sturdy clasp that suits the soft green leaf colors perfectly. I really like how it turned out, though the style and size of the beads are far too large for me to wear. The necklace is relatively heavy given the amount of stone involved!
Name: Aventurine Foliage
Price: $35 (reason: tons of aventurine and a fancy clasp) Donated to the Dan Bollock charity fundraiser 3-02-12
Length: 18"; pendant is approximately 1.5" x 1.5"
