Beading During the Game

So it wasn't that I wasn't interested in the game. And it's not that I needed to distract myself from what quickly looked to be a losing game. (Not for sure, but just likely...) But my bead box was still out from when I fixed my mom's necklace and just having it out put my mind to beading.

There were a lot of beads in there that I thought were so pretty. So pretty I couldn't resist buying them. Why was I leaving them sitting in a box? Not inspired? Insecure about liking the results? Not in the mood for stringing beads? Well, no more!

I whipped out a lot of necklaces, earrings, anklets and a ring today. Ya, I know...wow, right!?

Here we go:

1. Necklace from golden brown stones that I love:

It's meant to be worn with the clasp in front. This probably isn't "cool" anymore as I remember my older sister showing me a necklace like this years and years ago. But oh well, I like it. I love these toggle clasps by the way. So simple. So secure.

2. Simple strand of light-weight wooden beads:

These are reused from another necklace that I didn't like as much. But I really liked the beads. And several times since I had the idea to restring them, I've wanted to wear it with an outfit I had on. But I hadn't made it yet. Well, here you go, self!

It's held together with a magnetic clasp, but very insecurely. The magnet is not nearly strong enough. When I realized it, I did not have the energy to restring the whole thing. So I will live with it. Hopefully nothing's yanking on my necklace anyway.

I took a few of the extra beads, added some smaller black ones and strung them unto a stretchy cord for a ring:

I finished it with a simple square knot figuring it would be hidden inside my palm. I wore it all afternoon and it was very comfortable. I've had some of these rings that were way loose or tight, but this one seems good.

3. Another simple strand of pretty brown beads:

I found these brown beads strung on a string in my box. So I had "laid out" the necklace, put it on a string and then...? What happened? The only thing I could figure is that it came out too short and that I didn't have the energy at that time to solve the problem.

But today I did. I added some little silver spacers between each bead (I had only one extra...phew! I was a little worried at the end) and that did the trick.

The brown beads are flat and highly reflective. I found them in three different shapes: large ovals, small diamonds and small rectangles (not shown). This necklace is a touch longer than most I make which would  make it longer than a choker but not by much.

4. Red and black necklace:

Finally something different--I didn't just string some beads on a wire!

I took some extra red beads and put them on a wire with loops on each end. Then I separated them with black tube beads on wires. I put a bend in the center wire and hung some wires with various red seedbeeds on them.

I ended up with two extra red beads already on wires so I threw them on some fisherman hooks and now I have a pair of matching earrings.

5. Wooden bead necklace on leather thong:

I had a hard time doing a clasp the last time I used this leather thong so this time I just tied each end around the other string and now it is adjustable. There's enough friction with the leather that it doesn't slide unless you pull on it specifically.

6. Stone and shell necklace:

This necklace is made up of two strands. I liked the shells but couldn't quite see myself wearing a shell necklace. (Ok on a cruise, but not in my "real" life.) The other strand is made up of various stones and beads that I liked but didn't really have enough of anything to make a necklace with them.

I wanted to twist the two strands together but could not find a way to make them stay twisted.

Lucky for me, if I twist them and then do up the clasp, it stays that way. (When I unclasp it, it completely untwists again). I really love this necklace. The subtle colours, the interesting textures and shapes.

7. Two fun anklets: (Just in time for summer...oh wait...maybe not.)

The blue one is strung onto a stretchy material that clams to be "strong, stretchy, and easy to knot." The last part is completely untrue. Any knot I put in it came out with the slightest pull. I think I have it in place now with a couple of different types of knots. (A crimp bead just cuts through the stuff.)

The second one is strung on regular beading string. It was fun to do.

And that's "all." Now to figure out what outfits to wear them with...

One More Remembrance Necklace

I've added one more to the set of remembrance necklaces I made with beads from my dad's hematite necklace. (Details of the others and the story behind the beads here.)

You see, Dad had a niece named after him: Henriette. And although all his nieces were special to him, he indulged himself to spoil her a little more than the others. (He figured that was his job as her namesake!) It didn't hurt that her birthday (today) was only 6 days after his own. He always made sure to visit or at least send a gift if he couldn't see her.

I don't remember if one of my sisters suggested it, or if I thought of it on my own but I thought giving her a necklace along the lines of the ones I made for my sisters would be very nice. She's having a "big" birthday this year too, turning 20.

I'm not quite as familiar with what colours Henriette wears so I went with some pretty neutral beads. Strung some nice chunky ones up front using black tube beads to form the pendant hanger. And then lots of soft tumbled rocks for the back half:
I finished it off with a nice easy toggle clasp.

I hope she likes it!

Beading II

Long ago, I mentioned in this post that I was working on an ongoing beading project that I couldn't share at the time. I am, however, ready to share it with you now.

My father (now deceased) use to wear a black hematite necklace a lot. It wasn't a fancy necklace: basically a long string of flat black beads. He had bought it in the Dominican Republic where he and my mom vacationed somewhat regularly. He probably bought it from a vendor who walked the beaches looking for him. They never went more than every two years, but the vendors knew him and when he showed up on the beach, they all came, yelling, "Henry!!"

After his death, I got possession of this necklace which then had a snapped string and needed some repair. My original intent was to fix the necklace and maybe wear it but my first attempt at a repair failed, and the necklace was really too much for my little neck. It was, after all, a man's necklace.

So I just kept the beads in a bag and held onto them.

Until this year. This year, I got the idea to use some of the beads in multiple necklaces that I would gift to my four sisters on their birthdays. The trick would be to find the right beads to complement the black hematite because none of them really wear a lot of black jewellery.

First was my oldest sister in January. Let's call her, "Blondie." Blondie received a very neutral necklace in pearl grey tones with a central pendant.

The black hematite beads are worked in between each oval disc with small seed bead spacers.

Next was my second oldest sister (let's say, "Joomie")  in early February. She enjoys a lot of colours, but I saw some perfect green stone beads that I was sure she would like. Joomie's necklace is a little longer than some with no central pendant. There are just a few hematite beads between the featured larger stones which pick up on the black veins running through the green stone.

I also used a vintage clasp that was from a necklace I had once restrung because she loves antique, vintage, and generally old jewellery.

Next was the third sister, "Mik," in late February. She was also a green: no doubt about it. Mik wears a lot of green and is drawn to it as much as I am to red. But a different green than Joomie, more forest and less yellow.

The construction is similar to the previous necklace but with two different sized beads, medium rectangles and smaller ovals. I also made up some earrings made from the smaller oval stones.

And finally, in early April, my little sister, "Delicia," had her birthday. I was able to deliver this one in person. She has a history of promoting a lot of pink in our family so I couldn't resist using that colour. But I was not looking for a soft girly pink. I finally found some grey pink stones that I felt were neutral and grown up enough to use:

My design got a little fancier (I did, after all, have some additional time for this one) with a double strand in the front. The beads lent themselves well to earrings and a bracelet strung on memory metal so I made those too. (Don't the stones look like yummy little Chiclets!)

And not to leave her out, I made a necklace for my mom too. Her birthday's not til August, but since I was home visiting, I didn't have the heart to wait. What colour to use caused me a lot of angst until I saw these hard-candy like beads. The blues are so yummy and with enough black to work well with the hematite.

Mom's necklaces tend to have central pendants so I strung one unique bead to hang down. I worried about it being too short, but she claimed to love it and that she had been wanting a shorter necklace recently. (Aren't moms great!?) I can always restring it longer later, if need be, or if she wants a change.

And what about me? I didn't make myself wait until my birthday either. I did a little experimenting with some "invisible" cord and crimp beads. And the clasp that I had was so pretty, I didn't want to hide it in the back.

So I strung all the beads in the front, kept them in place with the crimp beads, and then strung the clasp to hang right in line in front too. It wasn't quite balanced so I added a few more beads on top of the clasp and I think it works.

You can see that the necklace, when worn, sort of floats on the invisible cording and that I made myself some matching earrings as well:

I wore it a couple times, and then when I put it on to show hubby (who hadn't noticed seen it yet) the cord snapped right at a crimp bead, and all the beads fell to the floor. I was so thankful it happened at home and not at work, in the car, a parking lot, or any of those much scarier places. (Not eerie scary; just never get my beads back scary.) I can only guess that the crimp bead had enough of a rough edge that it wore the string til it broke.

But I restrung it with a little lighter hand on the crimp beads and have worn it successfully since.

With each necklace I included a card which explained where the beads had come from. My dad did not buy the presents in the family. Sure, the card was signed "Mom & Dad" but we all knew that Mom was the one doing the buying. Except every now and then, Dad would get an idea in his head and buy gifts--the same gift--for everyone. One year it was mugs with our names on them. One year it was matching hockey jerseys numbered with our birth year. And this year, my card explained, they could consider these necklaces as a gift from Dad, who was no longer with us but who surely would have wanted to give us something.

Beading I

So I've gotten into a little beading lately. Just walking through the bead aisle is enough to get me hooked, there are so many gorgeous beads, rocks, and stones out there.

I bought myself a little beading tray set up with a gift card a few months ago and have collected up a few supplies.

My first necklace had to be restrung three times before it was wearable. A couple attempts involved trying to knot the string between each bead like they do with pearl necklaces, so that if the string breaks the beads don't fly off and spread all over the floor. But the bead holes were too big, or the string too small...in any case, it didn't work. In the end I knotted between the repeated round beads by the clasp, but left the center portion free. I could still use some lessons and practice at the details like attaching clasps, but I'm improving. (I'm sure a book or two from the library would be in order.)

I made a matching bracelet by stringing the same beads on some memory wire. It was my first time working with memory wire and it was very easy, at least for the smaller beads. The wire is preset to a certain curve (or diameter) so you buy a different curve for bracelets or necklaces. Since the metal "remembers" its shape, you can either make the piece a little long so the ends just overlap to hold the item on, or with a little extra pressure you can form a hook on the end to grab a split ring (which is what I did). The longer beads were a little hard to push onto the memory wire because of the curve, but I managed to get them on without breaking anything (and by flattening the bracelet into more of an oval). All this set needed were some dangling earrings and voila: a complete set.

I had bought the black and white square beads a while ago and finally decided what to do with them: I strung them onto some leather thongs, secured with knots. (The pic shows the back side so you can see the knots better.)

It also required several tries to get the sizing right and everything even, but it's ok now. It is very snug (there's a reason they call them "chokers") but I like the look and besides, it's the only way the beads will hang right without flipping wrong side up.

I am currently working on another project with several related necklaces, but that will be revealed when it is finished and the recipients have all received theirs. (Stay tuned...)

Meanwhile I am wearing more jewellery than I normally do, and keeping an eye out at stores for beads that I like. It's been fun. Yet another hobby I can do while camped out in front of the woodstove...

Bead on!

-christina