A Funny Thing Happened

A funny thing happened. I redid a necklace  because the thread was wearing out, and when I finished, I realized that there was someone looking back at me.The face that emerged is like some sort of ethnic mask.  He seems surprised or just whistling a tune.  This necklace has one of my favorite stone donuts in it. I was told it is Zebra Jasper. 

 The two large buttons are vintage, from a large gallon jar of buttons my sister bought. I had fun going through it on one of my visits with her.

This is the before picture

This is the After Picture

     Repairing this necklace has tried my patience. I would string some more beads and weave them in and something else would break.  I would get one done and another strand would lose it's beads. So I gave in and took the whole thing apart and used heavy thread and realized that this would just get cut by the sharp edges on the beads. 

So I undid it again and restrung it onto some coated beading 

wire. I braided it and found I did not have enough strands, so I made  more. I re-braided it and found it was really stiff because of the wire. I also found that when I set all the ends together they were too big to fit under the findings,( the metal bits that hold the ends together) so I found some old  silver earrings, cut the posts off and glued them over the ends and backed it with dark felt. I got glue on the earrings and could not get it all off. This is why I do not want to go into the repair business. It all made me cry and feel crazy.   It took 3 to 4 days. So  finally, I called it quits and gave it to the friend that had asked me to repair it and said it was not my best work, but it was the best I could do.        

My next attempt was a necklace and  earring set I made for my sister-in-law's birthday. It was more fun. Made with amethyst chips, pale lavender teardrop shape glass beads, green cut glass beads,vintage crystals, and some purple cathedral beads.  Purple and green are her favorite colors.  Amethyst is the birthstone of her mom and Estel, her brother.
 



      In the picture to the left, is a magnetic bracelet I made for my husband's arthritis, to see if what they say is true. He has noticed some improvement in the joints in his hands since he has been wearing it.  The turtle is kind of a symbol for him. His homeroom teacher in High School called him "light'n' " because he moved so slowly. He also had a t-shirt that his mom gave him that had a picture of the tortoise and the hare. It said "I may be slow but I sure am good." 
             

     

      Next is a little bracelet and necklace for my great niece who is eight years old. This set is made with macrame' and sweet yellow flower beads which I talked about in my windfall post. Bright and cheerful, they are like Spring, which I hope is here.

      Last but not least, I learned how to do these sweet little flowers at the lacer's group I belong to . It was designed by Ramona, a member of our group. I added some needle tatting and cross stitched on the gingham check and  some new and vintage beads with a pin in back. I think I will add a Barrette too.  



                                                                     We had snow here last Friday. I hope this bright spot will brighten things up a bit.

    I also bought and planted in a couple of pots of Peruvian Daffodils. They look beautiful in the picture, but we shall see. I have not been able to get my orchids or amaryllis to bloom yet. Third time is the charm, right? 

Windfall Blessing

Windfall Blessing

Since I last wrote I've had a bit of an adventure. When I went to be the guest artist at the Women's Council of Provo, Artist Section. I brought some of the things I have made and sold several of them. So I earned a bit. Then after my last post, a friend of mine bought two of the necklaces I posted, so it added to my windfall. Then, as we were out shopping with a neighbor of ours when leaving the store we saw a sign “Bead sale closeout”.

   A few days later I decided to take a chance and go see what they had. I was really surprised at the quality and discount so I spent some and thought that was good enough. As I thought about it I went and spent some more another day and I got 20% off on top of the already discounted prices. The day after that the lady from the shop called to let me know they were having their blowout sale the last two days. Friday they would give 40% off, and Saturday 50%. My Husband and I went on Friday. I felt there would be a better selection on that day and I already had some things planned for Saturday. So we had some more fun! As we were shopping my husband's sister showed up. I had told her about the sale. She was stopping by on her way to work. So we hitched a ride home because she was going that way.

These new supplies have sent my mind reeling with ideas. One night it was so bad I got little sleep. So In the next while I will share as I bring them to life. Here are some of my finds: This first picture is chalk turquoise. I had never heard of that.

Next Picture same kind of stone.

The next three pictures are mostly Jasper and some agate. I'm not sure of the one on the left that looks a bit like a cloud.

I think God has done some amazing work here. I have loved rocks as long as I can remember. I did a little research and Jasper is made of petrified mud. Nice mud I wouldn't mind wearing some of that mud. 

This next one I 'm not sure what it is I found online a similar looking one and they said it was some sort of quartz.These make me think of spring.

Hope I'm not boring you with my little rock fest.

        

This picture has some Czech glass, baby blue glass pearls, and one container of  clear flat round beads are quartz.

These are so sweet. Did you know there was such a thing as pink jade? The other beads pictured look a bit like ordinary white beans but they are subtle pale colors. Some sort of stone.

 

These are double holed button pearls,

colored a rich golden color. And the large red faceted stone is red Jade I've already made plans for this one. I attached some forest green satin cord and a ceramic bead I already had. It has a Chinese knot in it's future.

                                                

The picture on the left in the bowl has a jasper focal bead. Also, some sweet glass disk beads with small yellow and white flowers. More Spring.

This small picture is a bit disappointing because these have a beautiful, iridescent glow They are labradorite, or as I found out same as feldspar.

               

Picasso Jasper: this stone has baffled me for a long time trying to find out what it was. I had the donut stone I found at a thrift store and could not find any more of it so now I can complete this long awaited pairing. The others are red orange glass, green and gold swarovski crystals and last but not least bright tiny butterflies also swaroviski crystals.


Whew did you make it through that ?