Multiple Strands

This was probably the biggest project I've ever taken on, but one of my absolute favorites. I started with a string of chain for the base to hang around my neck. With a roll of .14 wire, I strung several kinds of beads in long semi-ovals hanging from the chain. I got a couple of silver Indian beads for twenty cents a gram at a local store and added a few of them throughout the piece. The long glazed beads with white circles painted on them are actually bone that has been painted over. I also have a lot of small seed beads and wooden ovals in it. It took me two days to make due to each strand having to be individually crimped and strung.

Materials:
Three strands of dark brown wooden beads
One strand of tan wooden beads
One strand of brown wooden beads
One strand of light blue beads
One strand of log-shaped painted beads
MANY silver crimp beads
One container of light blue 5mm beads
One string of silver chain
1 silver toggle clasp

Catalina Christmas Gifts

This year, my favorite class is Spanish I. My teacher, Senora Everist, is a short woman from Cuba who I absolutely love. Every morning, I go into school early so I can help her get ready for the day. I usually will organize papers or punch holes in worksheets for the day's class (when she forgets to set the "punch" setting to yes on the copier). Also, it gives me a chance to hang out with her and her student-teacher, Senora Wiane, who is a student at the U of A. So, for Christmas, I've made them both necklaces. Senora Everist's is a little shorter than Senora Wiane's, who is very tall.

Senora Everist:

Senora Wiane:

Working with Wire

I've started working a lot with wire lately and I've made a very nice necklace with wire and chains. Using a round pliars, I made each bead into little charms with hoops at each end. Then I attatched it to chains. It took a while because I made to make each charm by hand, but I'm very happy with the results. I used only three kinds of beads, little 5mm red ones I've been working with for a long time, orange carved beads that I used in my Robin's Egg Wood necklace, and some larger red ones that I found at Michael's.

Materials:
23 5mm red beads
8 7mm red beads
2 orange carved beads
silver wire
1 silver toggle clasp
silver chain

Traditional Black and White

I made this necklace with two strings of black and white beads that I bought when I was getting ready to make a personalized necklace for my aunt, Laurie. I loved the colors together and how the white, shell-like beads looked with the shiny black beads. Then I decided to make a traditional looking necklace from them. It was easy to bead and quick because of the simple design.

Materials:
9 big black beads
10 medium-sized white beads
20 5mm black beads
2 gold crimp beads
1 gold toggle clasp
silver wire

Many Charms, Many Possibilities

Last week, my family and I went to a Food and Wine show at a nearby park. There were many people selling their jewelry there and we met this one woman who made a very interesting lariat that had multiple strings and two separate lengths. One length was like a choker and one part was much longer. It gave me an interesting idea to make a long necklace with three strings of all the same length. At each end of these three strings were two bars from a toggle clasp. Then I made a charm using the ring part of a toggle clasp. This way, you can use the same necklace but easily use many different charms. I have personally worn my own version of this necklace (the one shown above), and I love wearing it. You can basically wear the same necklace for many different occasions. I wore this one to a party that my swim team held for the seniors that are graduating this year and then I also wore it to school the next day. Its fun, funky, and very easy to switch out charms.

Materials:

Necklace:
Hundreds of white, green, dark blue, light blue, orange 5mm beads
a few mixed 10 mm beads
2 toggle clasp bars
3 long strings of MagicStretch String

Black Charm:
silver wire
1 toggle clasp ring
9 black 5mm beads
1 big black bead
6 black and gold 7mm beads
1 gold crimp bead

Blue Charm:
silver wire
10 white 5mm beads
6 light blue 5mm beads
1 silver crimp bead
1 gold toggle ring
3 big brown and white beads