jewelry

Here is one of my boy’s creations from our beading nights.  

We headed to the gem show with a plan this time.  First stop, our favorite pendant lady.  We picked out set stones then filled our bags with beads to match from the other vendors.

This one is some sort of agate that looks like a window into another world.  It has a polished, clear dome that you can see down into.  I wish I could’ve gotten a better photo, and that I could’ve bought more of them.

This mother of pearl pendant has a similar look, but in a completely different way.  The agate was naturally clear, the MOP has been layered with a faceted quartz over it to create the window effect.

I put this “doublet” on a double strand of tiny garnets and finished it with silver findings  the jump rings are hearts!  This is for my Sissy, garnets are her birthstone.  And there was a store we would visit in Florida on our sister trips with Bobbie that specialized in these layered stones.

While my son was doing beadwork based on the Fibanocci theory (his stones were placed in a very planned sequence!) I decided that mine would be simple strings of one color to hold the pendants that I’d bought.  

These are for the Spring Good Juju sale.   Along with tons of lovely blues that I’ll be selling for ladies to wear with their Royals shirts when they cheer on the local team.  

A lot of my time was also spent in re-organizing my beads.  There is a slight chance, well honestly, a very BIG chance that I got carried away with my purchases…  I had to make room for my new preciouses.

 
While I typically buy only genuine stones or take apart vintage necklaces for my creations, this time I picked up a lot of new crystals.  I’ve had sun catchers on my mind and wanted to give them a try.  Since the gem show is only in town twice a year, I went all out and bought a pile, hoping my idea plays out.

We had hoped to make them while Adam and Quelyn were here, but simply ran out of time.  I’ve never made these before, but when I get my curiosity tickled, I go all in.  I doubt this haul of shiny beads will go to waste.

But I do wish the kids were here to make them with me.

One of the advantages of having a bigger space at Good Juju is that I’ll have room to actually display my hand made necklaces.  My jewelry had been crowded into a smaller area and these pieces were mostly hung on hooks.

Which certainly did not show them off to their best advantage.  Especially the charm necklaces.  They need to be spread out to show how they will look while being worn.

I’m taking advantage of having more space to fill by using it as an excuse to craft more necklaces.

Because it sure makes me happy to whip some up.

I remember making seed bead daisy necklaces back in the 70s and thought I’d try to whip up a few more now. Trouble is, I’m not a fan of that type of bead anymore and hoped to use genuine stones.

The trouble with that, was that the holes are too small to get the elastic through twice.

I did have these vintage, Made in Japan beads, and they worked so-so.

But you know what works perfect? Medium sized seed beads from Hobby Lobby.

So I raided the grand fairies’ stash and made Swifty styled ones.

My heart wasn’t in it if I couldn’t play with my beloved stones and gems, so I went back to my own cabinet filled with sparkling delight and made mermaid bracelets for Sugarwings’ mama’s birthday.  While I was at it, I made a dozen (or more, you know how I am) Halloween colored ones for Juju.

I had an order for a few bracelets, so while I had my enticing tubs of beads out to play with, I whipped up a few extra for myself and for my display at Good Juju.  This soon became a pile of over sixty completed pieces.  

Seriously, have you ever made one? You cannot stop at one!

 I’m like an addict as I tell myself, okay, this is plenty…well maybe just a couple more then I’ll quit.  Hours later I’m still repeating that to myself as the dogs are crying for their dinner, my back is cramped up from sitting at my desk, and my vision is blurry from the close work.

The sales of beaded bracelets at my booth are spotty, but over time I notice the stacks dwindling down, so I guess the few here and there that shoppers get do add up.

As much as I love crafting them, I wish the gradual diminished inventory would go more quickly,

But that is also why I have so many varying items for sale.  A little bit of that, a little bit of this, you never know what our guests will be looking for and I certainly enjoy making many different things.

I am blessed to have found a venue where I can sell my hodge podge of arts, crafts, vintage bits, and jewelry.

And any day that I have an excuse to rifle through my gemstone bead collection is an extra wonderful day.

When I first got the order of 8, I was going to gather them from the ones still at the mall.  But I soon realized there was no fun in that, and used it as a good reason to get my pretties out to work with.

After creating a few I thought that I would be nice to fill the order, I started thinking about the group they were being gifted to.  These were meant for some gals who got together every week and called themselves the Thirsty Thursday bunch.  

The perfection inspiration to make beverage toned bracelets!  I hope they all get a kick out of these like I did.