Beads and More Beads

I'm still making bead jewelry and I just finished a super long multi-gemstone necklace. 

But first I used up some leftover burgundy pearls to make a matching bracelet for the Rose Quartz and Pearl necklace I made earlier.  I had these neat little magnetic clasps and had never used them.  I wasn't sure how well they worked, how much weight they could hold without just popping loose, or how well they would hold together during normal daily activities.  A bracelet seemed like a good experimental project. If it came loose and I lost it while wearing it I wouldn't be devastated. It actually holds very well and makes putting a bracelet on much easier.  But I think I would feel better if there were a safety chain between the two ends so if the magnet came loose the bracelet wouldn't just fall off the wrist. 

I also wanted to try making a necklace that did not have a clasp. I realized that the necklaces I'd been making didn't need to have clasps, they were long enough to slip over a persons head. But I didn't know exactly how to finish a necklace off without a clasp. I had an idea but wasn't sure how 'real jewelry makers' do it so I looked it up on the Internet. That's were I find almost everything because I have no one to ask about almost anything I have questions about.  In this case I know no one who makes jewelry, and why waste a clasp when you don't need one? I found a YouTube video showing a method to do it that was basically exactly what I was thinking so I made this long necklace out of a mixture of random gemstones with some clear and copper colored glass beads. 

It's a fun little casual necklace and even long enough to wrap twice around the neck with no clasp. 

Finally I felt like tackling a longer no clasp Earth Power Bead necklace with the 42+1 gemstones I have.  Because it was going to be so long and I didn't want it to be too bulky I only used the smallest beads I had in each of the 42 types. I have some larger beads (10mm+) in some, but not all, of the gemstones I've collected.  I used four of each type plus a few extras and sorted them by size and color so it is sort of random but also by design in sets of three all separated by copper colored metal beads.

Thanks for reading.

Aileen

Patchwork Hearts and Cookies

Well, Valentine's Day is over and I didn't do much for it but I did make heart shaped cookies. 

And I continued working on the heart patchwork project. As usual, these new placemats won't be done on time for this year but I'll have them for next year. I have two more of these heart patchworks to piece, then some quick machine quilting and the binding. That's actually still several hours of work spread over a few more days. That's a lot more satisfying than spending several weeks or months on a project. 

Problem is I have more than enough cut pieces to make four placemats. Do I put the leftovers back into storage for some future project or just sew them all together in some random way an see what happens? Around my house every surface has some size quilt thing on it. I change them out throughout the year and have some made specifically for holidays. I suppose a couple more pink table quilts could be used someplace. But I suspect I'll be itching to move on to something else by the time I finish the heart placemats.

And I finished the bead project I was working on. I ended up choosing pyrite, amazonite, serpentine, turquoise, a copper penny token, and a bone arrowhead for the charms. I added in some jade, goldstone, marble, rhodonite and agate, as well as for interest and more good energy.

This has been a good week. Thanks for reading. 

Aileen