This necklace is named after my rose, Orange N' Lemons, given the color scheme. I used up some handblown cane glass, the last of my fire opal Swarovski bicones, yellow-orange rondelles, and flat yellow Czech glass rondelles with gold metal seed beads. Bright and cheery, and even a little bit refreshing to look at. I don't do much with crystal (or sparkle), and strangely enough I don't do much with fire tones like these despite the fact that I'm drawn to them.
Name: Oranges N' Lemons
Price: $25 (reason: cost of cane glass and Swarovskis)
Length: about 19 inches
On our Bead Day, my "niece" really, really wanted me to have one of her two Hello Kitty charms. I've spent the last two weeks trying to decide what to do with it. I finally settled on using the corally-bubblegum pink freshwater pearls I bought during our outing, some butter yellow freshwater pearls purchased a year ago from the same place, and some silver metal seed beads to make a charmed memory wire bracelet. I'll have to wear it Easter Sunday when she visits for dinner so she can see it.
Name: Hello, Kitty!
Price: $15 (personal collection; not for sale)
Length: 4 loops
I made this about two weeks ago. I've had some memory wire for necklaces for quite a few years, but never really played with it until this. I also hadn't played with one of my favorite stones, Tiger Eye, in a long while, either. This was the result.
Name: Tiger Eye Memory Wire
Price: $10
Length: adjustable
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
I had a few beads left over from the Bronze Lily necklace I made my sister this past year, and felt it might be nice to use them in a bracelet since I still had some gold metal seed beads to act as spacers. I had two different types (and dye lots) of the magnesite--the pyrite-laced rondelles and some tiny, more turquoise standard rounds with the black matrix instead of pyrite--so I used both for visual interest.
Name: Gilded Thread bracelet
Price: $8
Length: 8.5 inches
I decided this morning I wanted to experiment with a tiny difference in my work. Usually when I make memory wire bracelets, I'm limited to seed beads or similar; most stone beads don't have large enough holes to string on memory wire. I decided, what the heck, I'd go through my bead boxes and see if I couldn't find some stone beads that would work. I'd been thinking of my peach adventurine for the last couple of days and how I hadn't done anything with it (purchased it well before Christmas), so I got it out and turns out it worked. I also don't use a lot of gold, but it went so well with the aventurine.
I thought a lot about my neighbor growing up, Lois, and how I remembered seeing her wear two colors a lot when I was a kid: peach and mint. The two go well together, so when I photographed the bracelet, I used my new dusty teal sweater as the backdrop. It's kind of a tip-of-the-hat to Lois and my childhood. Lois is my parents' age, and my sister and I used to dog-sit and mow her yard. Her husband, Jim, raises honeybees and does woodworking. We spent a decent amount of time over at their house or in the woods between theirs and ours. They're one of the sweetest, gentlest-natured couples I've had the honor to know.
Now all I need to do is make some lemon poppyseed bread like she made me while I was growing up...
Name: Peachy Keen memory wire bracelet
Price: $15 (reason: over a whole strand of peach aventurine)
Length: 5 loops
