Old Playing Cards: Check. . .

After several days off from jewelry-making, I've been rarin' to get going again. I'd put together some things, but nothing really grabbed me. So, yesterday, on a jaunt to Jo-Ann's, I picked up a copy of Belle Armoire magazine for ideas.

The current issue has some great pieces! One of them incorporates pieces of playing cards in bezels under a crackle resin. That got to me to thinking. . .

. . . and half a day later, I have a new bracelet that actually does grab me. I took some stray playing cards, a length of old wire-wrapped glass pearls (with the pearl finish worn off in places), a bezel bracelet I bought on sale last year, and some loose beads from my stash.

Pieces of the cards went into the bezels and under a layer of resin. Meanwhile, I wire-wrapped glass hearts and black beads. When I checked the resin, I was a bit dismayed to see that bubbles had remained stubbornly intact in one of the bezels, despite my efforts to pop them with a piece of wire. I found a bag of loose rhinestones, new and old, that I'd gotten in a big bag of jewelry odds and ends at a thrift shop; one flat-backed rhinestone became a beauty mark to disguise the air bubbles on the jack's cheek. I added the dangles I'd made, a magnetic clasp, and. . .

"Deal Me In!"

This bracelet measures just over 8". Thinking about listing it on etsy or else taking it to a local shop to see if the owner would like to display it for sale.

Memory Keepers

Apologies in advance for the Very Bad Picture Quality. . .

A year or so ago, my friend Cilla gave me a big plastic bag filled with jewelry in varying stages of repair and including many different styles of beads. The jewelry had been her mother's, who passed away in the last few years. Cilla's request: Custom-make a piece of jewelry for each of eight women in her family, plus one toddler.

Have you ever been rarin' to go on a project, yet overwhelmed by the choices at the same time? What direction to take?? Which beads to favor over others?? How to accommodate the different ladies' preferences for styles, colors and actual piece of jewelry (necklace vs. bracelet, earrings only, hippy vs. uptown girl, one request for a Gothic Lolita style)? And what to make for a toddler that I would consider safe from swallowing or breaking??

I dug in, starting with the piece of my dreams--a knobbly necklace made of round beads for one of the adult women in her family.

As I finished each piece, I emailed a photo to Cilla to make sure I was on track.

Despite the blurry photos (my ace photographer, aka teenaged son, wasn't available at the drop of a hat), Cilla sent back encouraging replies.

I was still flummoxed over what to make for the little girl. Finally, I took a wire snowflake ornament form and filled it with blue and crystal-clear beads from her grandmother and lots of smaller beads from my supplies, then added a pretty ribbon.

I sent off the finished collection and heard back that the recipients were delighted. After listening carefully to each of Cilla's requests, it seemed that I had nailed this very important commission.

Happy Monday, and a happy vintage bauble mix

Yesterday I visited Baubles & Beads in Berkeley, California, for the first time. I'd driven by with my daughter almost a year ago and just missed their business hours, so this was a long-awaited treat.

Okay. . . I should insert the caveat that I've told myself NO MORE BEADS until I make several pieces from my enormous stash. But then I walked into Baubles & Beads and saw their display of vintage Lucite beads. Wow! Not only do they have a fabulous selection, but they offer packaged mixes of pre-wired Lucite baubles in different color families!

I confess: I picked up a couple. I also bought a few beautiful, clear blown-glass beads that look like big water bubbles. I have an idea for an underwater-themed necklace, and those could work as bubbles or fishnet floats.

Here's one of the Lucite mixes I bought, front and back. The other package is a turquoise/aqua mix. Baubles & Beads had a nifty necklace on display that showed one way of using such a mixture: They used a fairly heavy chain as the necklace base and hung the wire-wrapped baubles from the links, one bauble per link. Easy and striking!

Baubles & Beads is at 1676 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. They're on the web at BaublesandBeads.com. By the way, if you have a resale permit and purchase $50 or more in beads, they give you a 20% discount. Which means I went back and bought more beads before checking out. :-)

The necklace below is one I made one year ago, using baubles I upcycled from clusters of artificial grapes! It's basically constructed the same way as the samples I saw yesterday, except the weight of these "grapes" pulls this necklace into a more defined V shape.