Galactic Glimmer wrapped-cord bracelet

This is the first Christmas present project I've done this season.  A friend of mine from college likes "shiny" things, but has never been much of a jewelry person because it tends to not be all that practical to her.  She likes the idea of jewelry, just not the practice.  When I showed her the project Warrior's Bond, she really liked it, and I suggested letting me do something similar for her.  As she's a computer tech, she didn't like the idea of a bracelet, which can roll all over your arm when you move it.  I told her that the leather cording makes such slipping less of an issue, and even put on Warrior's Song and shook my hand upside-down to give her an accurate idea of how much movement it had.
She decided she wanted something blue/green/purple/pink, so off I went to my favorite beading store this weekend with another friend who had never been there, with a list of supplies I needed to purchase for a variety of things.  We spent about three hours there, and when I finally spotted these fluorite rounds on the wall, I knew I'd found the perfect stones for the gift.  They are magnificent quality (and therefore really expensive!), and the colors blend from ice-green to sky to lavender, to dark purple.  I matched them with some nice black leather, and rummaged through my mother's antique button collection for the perfect choice--the only one like it in the thousands I looked through, which changes color in the light to complement all of the colors in the bracelet.
Since the fluorite was so lovely, I knew I wanted to use it all in a single piece.  This way the button doesn't look so big, either.  Move fluorite I've seen is kind of dusty in quality; this is high gloss on top of its rich, blending coloration.
She named it Galactic Glimmer because it reminded her of the patterns of dust and light that you see in photos of nebulas and galaxies.
I love this piece!  I may have to make me one like it.  I suspect it would sell well, too.
Will get better pictures when I have light.

 

Name:   Galactic Glimmer

Price:  $45 (reason: extremely high-quality fluorite, and lots of it!  Gift for Megan N.)

Length:  18 inches or so; makes two loops

Black Frost bracelet

Made this over lunch this afternoon, on break from work on my 2013 National Novel Writing Month story quota.  I got a nice strand of snowflake obsidian this week, specifically for this project.  As I said in my previous post, I had wanted to make both a moss agate and a snowflake obsidian wrapped cord bracelet.  The technique is tons of fun and relatively fast to do.
Someday I hope to make a necklace this same way (will require a lot more material!), and multiple-loop versions, but for now I'm limiting to a single loop.
As a consequence of getting into this project, the fish I made for lunch is a tad crispy and dry...
Sorry about the photos.  It's cold and cloudy today, so the quality isn't the best.

 



Name:  Black Frost

Price:  $15 (original sold to Lou Anne G.; is going to Azerbaijan!)

Length:  8.5 inches

Warrior's Bond bracelet

I've always loved moss agate--it ranks right up there with hematite, tiger's eye, Botswana agate, flame agate, malachite, and lepidolite.  I did a little research on what meanings people have put with it over the years, and one of the things it's known as is that it's a warrior's stone (so are hematite and tiger's eye, by the way).
I bought a strand of moss agate rounds about a week ago, some leather cord, and a leaf button because I wanted to try my hand at cord-wrapping again.  I did that technique a long while ago with some pearls and an antique button from my Mom's collection, and enjoyed it so much I came up with this idea.  I also have a snowflake obsidian one in the works.
Inspiration for the name came from the fact that moss agate is claimed to be a warrior's stone, and when I got it done for some reason it reminded me of a Clan BondCord from the old BattleTech series (defeated warriors would be taken by the member of the winning Clan who bested that person one-on one, and they would have to wear a three-strand cord around their wrist until they had proven themselves to the one who made them Bondsman three times).  While this is not a braided three strand cord, the name just seemed to fit.

 

Name:  Warrior's Bond

Price:  $15 (personal collection)

Length:  8.5 inches

Green Ice Bracelet.

So I tried a new technique today: wrapped cord.  I had some pretty icy green-teal potato pearls and have been wanting to do something neat with them for a while, and have wanted to try this technique but hadn't had the time.  I was fortunate I had all the materials for it; lately I've wanted to try new things and am missing just enough I can't finish.
One of the things the project required was a button.  My Mom has tons of buttons, but out of probably millions there was only one that matched.  And it's perfect!
I named the bracelet Green Ice because of the freezing, blowy weather that kept me trapped inside today.

Name:  Green Ice


Price: $15 (reason: time and effort involved, plus pearls; personal collection)


Length:  about 9" including button