I Promise To...

A great big thanks goes out to a talented friend in TX for her vote! That lady is craaazy, so somehow must be related. I just got back from reading her blog/website and had to pick myself off the floor and dry my eyes from laughing so hard. Yes, you know who you are. Let me know if I can post your website to share with the bazillions of other people that follow my blog. Okay, 2 other people. And they're related. And I owe them money. Oh hey, the polls are still open for a few more days. Pay your friends to vote for #96!


I have photos! Aren't you excited?

This necklace is Night Storm and is made up of labradorite nuggets and pendant, Swarovsky crystals, and sterling silver. Taking the picture in direct sun was the only way to get the pendant to "light up." I love that blue flash in the gray stone--like lightning.



This next one is October and it's pretty obvious why. The orange stones are red aventurine, the black beads are stained wood beads (that can NOT get wet), and the pendant and rounds are picture jasper. It started out by falling in love with the pendant and then trying to find beads to coordinate. It's got a great autumnal feel to it without necessarily being just Halloween-y. I used mostly--but not all--sterling silver in this set. The earwires are sterling. I'm not too impressed with them. They're too soft and earwires take a lot of abuse, especially when used with earnuts. I think I'll stick to nickel-free and just use sterling upon request. Does anyone have any suggestions on this? Oh, all the rest of the pictures are in direct sun also because I was too lazy and cold to get up and find a new locale.


Next up is Tea Rose. The pendant is wood (its water-tolerance has not yet been tested) and the rest of the necklace is made up of copper-colored glass seed beads and faceted Czech glass. I decided to try some memory wire to make a ring, but it came out too huge for me. I bought a ring-sizer last weekend and found out that it is a size 9.5 (I wear a 5.5). I haven't played with the wire enough yet to figure out how to make smaller sizes. Something else to add to the to-do list, I guess.



Caliope (kuh-LIE-oh-pee) is a wear-with-anything set. The short necklace uses very brightly-colored Czech glass beads, but remains surprisingly capable of going with most outfits. The long necklace works well with just about any short necklace.



And we finally get to my recent favorite, Davy Jones's Locker. I made this in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I didn't want it to be super-obvious that it was all about pirates. I chose stormy-colored glass pearls interspersed with gold dagger pearls and aventurine. The three large gold "coins" are foiled, frosted glass. I chose an interesting array of charms to complete the Davy Jones feel: fish and fish bones, an octopus, coins, a lock and key, and skulls. I love it!




I have to mention that my aunt and I went on a bead hajj (as my aunt put it) last weekend. That's when I got that ring sizer/mandrel. Anyway, I found a lovely pendant of carved bone and some carved bone beads to go with it. I also got the most beautiful, yet small, piece of ocean jasper. It was a loner in its beauty, so now I need to work out a way to make it really stand out on its own as a focal piece. I also bought some really cool yarn--oh, excuse me--FIBERS to add to some jewelry pieces down the road.

I'm hoping that the economy (gasp! I said the E-word) doesn't get much worse by the time I plan to open my internet store. I guess that January and February are notoriously bad months to start a business in any economic setting, but I still plan to be up and running in February (it's my birthday).