Saffron and Silk

This year, Beadshop is collaborating with Danielle Wickes to create limited-edition jewelry-making kits, with beads from the store and patterns designed by Danielle. In September I splurged on the Saffron and Silk box, inspired by the fabrics and spices of Indian markets.

I'm so glad I did; I had a blast making a whole lot of coordinated jewelry.

Herringbone earrings:

A charm necklace:

Another necklace (not one of Danielle's designs), using the seed beads from the box and an elephant bead from Candie Cooper (coincidentally, last winter I bought her India-themed box):

A peyote-stitch bracelet that's like a lux ribbon:

A double-strand bracelet (it's a little big, so I may have to rework it):

A delicate fidget bracelet (I tweaked the colors, and added another elephant from Candie's box to make it hang properly):

A macrame bracelet with flower charms that's a riff on the companion Golden Splendor wrap bracelet:

There were two more projects, using primarily bugle beads, but those aren't my favorite so I skipped them. 

I wore the earrings at work last week for staff picture day, and the bracelets and necklaces yesterday. Love them! The next box, coming in November, is going to have a books and library theme, which is awesome. I can't buy another one this year, but I'm confident I'll be able to make some of the jewelry using my own stash (the nice thing about these collaborations is that all the patterns are free to the public). 

Knotted Pearl Treasure Necklace

 

I thoroughly enjoyed making a knotted pearl treasure necklace. The inspiration was from one of The Beadshop's videos, and the first step was rooting through my jewelry box and bead supplies for the appropriate charms and pendants. It was hard to limit it to five! Deciding on the pearls was easier; I had a string of fresh water pearls with the slightest lavender cast waiting to be used for a special project. Once everything was decided, the necklace came together quickly.

Left to right: 

A broken earring, from the late-90s trend of colored crystals and sparkly everything.

A fancy button I found on the street when I lived in Boston, and probably the closest I will ever come to owning something from Ferragamo. I miss Boston.

The pendant my father gave me the night before my wedding. It came on a gold collar but neither simplicity nor grey and gold were my style, so it languished. A few years ago I repurposed the gold collar to hold a cameo pendant and Mother and Child medal that used to belong to my mom and a white "pearl" pendant that belonged to my grandmother, making the collar a family affair and much more likely to be worn. I'm glad I've now found a place for my father's pendant, too. (No elegant, minimalist jewelry for me!)

A vintage French (I think) miraculous medal. This came from a tin of vintage notions from French General; they now mostly sell textiles and notions for quilts and other sewing arts, and I miss the jewelry kits they used to put together.

A gemstone pendant left over from the first iteration of my tiny, occasional jewelry-making business. I've been half-heartedly selling jewelry for a long time! I just can't bring myself to do any marketing and research to make a real go of it (there's a reason I became a lawyer, and then a librarian; I'm allergic to "business").

Woven Fringe Earrings

 Joan Williams's project in the autumn 2023 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry caught my eye immediately -- Czech glass on a miniature rug woven from cotton floss, inspired by the saddle blankets horses wear.

 

Lacking a mini loom, I made one from a large matchbox:

I enjoyed the weaving so much, however, that I'm seriously considering getting a proper loom of that size (the matchbox worked, but the warp threads had an annoying tendency to slip off at inconvenient moments).

Lacking glass beads in a suitable color, I instead created a little stack from brass discs, fordite beads, and size 8 seed beads to anchor them in place. Finishing was easier than I expected, too; a blunt needle made it easy to hide the thread ends under the wefts on the back.

These earrings were a lot of fun to make; I bet a bracelet would be, too!
 

A Long-Overdue Christmas Wrap-up

 It's been a tough month.

On the crafting front, I started Sue Spargo's Christmas tree pillow project. I cannot actually afford any of her kits, though, so I worked out of my stash. In the process I changed some motifs and stitches to suit my tastes, such as adding a manger scene because Christmas isn't secular for me, and eliminating most bullion knots because those are the devil's stitch. What I have so far:

I also stitched this freebie from Momentoell. I like the chunky effect she gets by using 6 or even 12 strands of floss. The lovely, soft colors are a nice change of pace, too, from the usual embroidered Christmas tree.

Not much jewelry making happened, but I did remake a bracelet (which apparently I never photographed) with several Christmas-themed charms into a necklace. No point in wearing a bracelet if my wrists are covered up in several layers of long johns and wool sweaters (it's so cold where I work).

 

My middle son gave me a skein of acrylic yarn for Christmas. I love the color, but it is too scratchy to wear so I crocheted a garland. This worked up so fast and fun I made a second with a different yarn.

He also gave me more buttons, so I made a button garland for the tree.

And I finally finished my youngest's quilt: 

On the book front, I read three Christmasy books:

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson: An enjoyable locked-room mystery, where, amusingly, Dickson had two characters immediately propose the most obvious explanations to accuse each other. John Dickson Carr was name-checked in the locked-room mystery Wake Up Dead Man, too, which was a fun little easter egg.

Snowed In by Catherine Walsh: a cute holiday-themed contemporary romance, related to her previous novel, Holiday Romance. I enjoyed it, but it lacked an effective structure to hang the story on.

Golden Age Christmas Mysteries ed. by Otto Penzler: some of these would better be classified as spy thrillers or adventures, but all were enjoyable. The collection runs the gamut from light-hearted, comedic stories to darker, melancholic ones, so there's something to suit most tastes.

I think that about wraps it up. Aside from the food, cancelled trip, car troubles, pretty snow fall, improv king cake ...

Belated Crafty Halloween Post

I was so busy finishing up some crafts, helping my kids prep for Halloween, and the usual ridiculous drudgery I never got a chance to show off what I made in October.

Those cheapo witch's hats you see in stores this time of year are too small to fit my giant head, so clearly the solution was to make one of my own:

The pattern is the Twisted Witch Hat by Stephanie Pokorny. I used two strands of black worsted weight yarn (I have GOT to stop picking patterns with multiple strands of black), and counted on both Stephanie's instructions to go up a hook size at a certain point and my own loose stitching to get the right circumference. And because of said loose stitching, I eliminated a few rows in the crown and brim (also, I ran out of yarn). The curl at the tip is maintained with 16-gauge floral wire. And to make it pretty (we need more beauty in the world) I crocheted some flowers, using the patterns here and here.

Earrings!

I've seen variations of the adorable floral ghost earrings for a couple of years now, so I finally made a pair for myself. The two skull pairs of earrings are part of my ongoing effort to create the perfect calaverita/sugar skull earrings. I'll get there someday.

Quick Jewelry Hits

A colleague at work has one of those gemstone initial necklaces that are so popular. I have a strand of tiny gemstone rondelles and assorted gold charms. The result:

Have you heard of fordite beads? Pretty amazing what gets made from paint scraps. I got a strand (not cheap) and used some of them to make hoop earrings, adding tassels I had lying around. Because these beads are not actually made from glass or stone (although they look it), they are lightweight to wear.

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Humblebeads had a cute tutorial for a bird bracelet using wirework techniques. The copper wire I used for the links wasn't the right gauge, so I may remake it in the future.

I was finally able to get some large freshwater pearls with large holes, which allows me to use cords and techniques I otherwise couldn't (pearls are usually drilled with tiny holes to accommodate only silk thread). First up is a stretch bracelet, inspired by some bracelets Candie Cooper made.

Finally, I remade a wire-wrapped ring I made decades ago that was fun and pretty but too uncomfortable for me to wear. After cutting it apart I glued the central flower bead with its two glass bead toppers to a ring black -- much easier to wear. The cluster of beads and charms that dangled from the old ring became the center of a simple necklace, to which I added a few more beads and charms. 

Pretty Earrings

 These earrings are made from flower components in Wendy Ellworth's Monet's Garden Lariat:

I don't like lariats, so after making two of the flowers I spent a good amount of time trying to come up with another way to turn them into a necklace, but dissatisfied with every idea I had, I finally set them aside. I found them again a few weeks ago and decided the simplest (and funnest) thing to do would be to turn them into earrings. They are super fun to wear.

These cuties are two of Anna Lindell's Wildflower Bouquet Pendants:

The perfect use for two porcelain beads I didn't otherwise know what to do with.

Finally, I realized I needed a pair of small gold and ruby earrings to wear with certain necklaces. Easily remedied:

Well, except I didn't have a bunch of fancy ruby beads lying about, just lots of garnet chips.

2 Necklaces and a Wrap

 My December Necklace, so of course I finished it in January.

It consists of three strands: African "Christmas" beads, turquoise crystal with a little red mixed in, and gemstone rondelles that remind me of a string of lights on a tree. I debated adding a pendant (maybe a Christmas tree), but this way I can wear it all year.

Pretty crystals with charms:

I got this strand of crystals a while back, and not knowing what to do with them I knotted them on a strand of novelty yarn. After some pondering I thought a cluster of charms, Candie Cooper-style, would make a good focal pendant. 

This wrap bracelet/very long necklace was made with the Pear Festival mix from The Beadshop.

I kept it simple but added some beads of my own for contrast -- opaque red faceted glass, ecru size 6 seed beads, bronze glass pearls, and a vintage button for the clasp. I can't wait to wear it (in the Spring, when I no longer need to wear oversized wool sweaters).

A Master Class in Stringing

Last year Kate Richbourg of the Beadshop ran a six-session master class in bead stringing based on the style and techniques of Helen Dietze; of course I jumped all over that.  The result:

The photo does not do it justice

This was a lot of fun to do. Kate's project centered around a large stone donut, but I did not have one in a color I liked. I did, however, have a giant brass replica of a Chinese coin, so that became the core around which everything else was built. I rooted through my stash and pulled every purple, burgundy, brass, and gold-colored bead I had and got to stringing. Some progress pictures:

This is not the first time I've done a Helen Dietze project; decades ago the late, lamented (by me at least) Bead & Button magazine featured her and a version of one of her ambassador necklaces. I made it but I never wore it -- it called for long dangles at the back to counterbalance the weight of the front. However, those strands were uncomfortable and set off my sensory issues. When I began this project, I knew I'd need to keep the front from getting too big and heavy so that I would not have to have too much hanging off the clasp. This necklace is much easier for me to wear.

The fun in a project like this is that it is completely improv; when I started, I had no idea what it would look like, just what colors I wanted and the fact that it should be a little smaller than Kate's to fit me proportionately. Playing with what was functionally a giant "bead soup" was a blast, and I'll want to do something like this again. It's a great artistic exercise.

Jewelry Round-Up: I Can't Stop Edition

Months and months ago I received a newsletter from a bead shop (no idea which) that featured a beautiful project.  I could not afford the kit but I loved the mix of colors and finishes, so I dug through my stash, put a bunch of beads together in a tin, and promptly forgot about it. When I pulled out the tin in late June, I realized I never saved the email and had no recollection of the original project; I needed to figure out my own thing. I've been on a knotting kick and I wanted to try a knotted necklace made with a wide range of bead types like Candie Cooper often makes, so that's what I did. I'm very pleased with it.

The jewelry designer Danielle Wickes designed these nifty circular discs with holes to create beaded fringe, and Kate Richbourg of the The Beadshop did a tutorial on how to make tassel earrings with them.  The seed bead mix I used, "Mardi Gras," came from the bead store I worked at part-time in college; I had originally made a daisy chain necklace with it, but the thread was showing it's age. These earrings are so much fun to wear.

I bought these beautiful, deep purple crystal rounds but I wasn't sure what to do with them. I also had a tiny jar of shimmery raspberry chalottes for which I had not yet found a pattern. By pure chance I put the two next to each other while I was sorting through my work area, and I fell in love with the combination. To make the earrings I basically reversed engineered the pattern from lunasulmare1's cipollotti earrings (she and her tutorials have vanished from the internet).

I'd been wanting to make earrings to commemorate one of my favorite shows, Pushing Daisies, for years. I finally put them together: pie charms, bee charms, and daisy flowers made by me.

The Bead Place came up with a cute decorative project, attaching beaded charms to chicken wire in an embroidery hoop (really). My first thought was to make the wire base myself because why buy a kit when I don't have to? But I quickly realized chicken wire is sold by the yard and super hard to work with. So the kit it was! I had fun using all sorts of flower beads from my stash.

And finally, a simple necklace with an inexpensive locket from Michaels strung with pink tourmaline and lepidolite in quartz (that's a mouthful).

I need to start selling some of my jewelry again.

Jewelry Round-Up: I-Keep-Forgetting-to-Post Edition

I participated in a bead swap way back in March (I swear I'll do that post some day), and the very first thing I made was a cute pair of earrings with lilac-colored flowers:

Cheap but colorful beads from Michael's + silver charms that had been languishing = an easy, fun necklace:

I'm such a dork I bought not one but two Middle Earth-themed candles. The second, by North Ave Candles, was their Shire Sweetgrass candle with a cute little mushroom charm. I made a bracelet with it:

(The first candle had The One Ring in it. My 10-year-old is mad I didn't give it to him, but it fits my fingers, not his!)

I love, love, love the fringe charm earrings I made from Susan LeGuyader's pattern in the spring issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry:

The "popcorn padre" beads at Beadshop.com have been calling to me. I finally succumbed and bought them, then made the shop's Tahoe wrap bracelet: 

I originally paired these silver charms with burnt umber beads; pretty, but I never wore them. Turquoise chips and ruby beads are much more my style:

Shell necklaces are in. I happened to have a shell with a hole right where it should be (a lucky beachcombing find), so I cleaned it to remove calcification, rubbed some mineral oil in it to bring back some color, and edged it with gold paint. Brass beads from who-knows-where completed the look: