Here Comes that Desert Feeling Again...

Whenever the weather turns cold (or damp, or damp and cold, or rainy and cold, cloudy, dark, etc.) I start yearning to be in the American desert. (Other deserts around the world do not appeal to me). Hence, these two bracelets. (Mostly got sucked in by an email notification that Studio Rent had reopened so I ran over there and she had a bunch of lampwork spacers in a pale sage green (opaque AND transparent), and some in "egg blue" and "feather white." These appealed to my subtle and refined nature.)

This bracelet features Studio Rent lampwork spacers, fabulous porcelain beads by Macarroll (they look like the abandoned homes of little creatures) in sage, cream, and cinnamon, a plump lampwork roundel by Kelley Wenzel in swirling cream, sand and sage, and rainbow Soochow jade in a coffee hue. (Proud of myself for making a relatively simple bracelet. Normally they turn out looking like part of Cher's "2016 World Tour"  wardrobe. And is she not looking AMAZING?)

This bracelet is sort of similar, but I took my cue from the large lampwork beads by Pat Redinger of Being Beads--they have a pale yellow base, with patterns of caramel and sky blue, all in a snakeskin pattern. I wanted to design a bracelet around the lampwork bead pictured at the top of the photo.

The whole desert thing seemed like it needed some leather (I guess it was all those spaghetti westerns I watched as a kid that were filmed in the California desert--holsters, saddles, boots, chaps, Clint Eastwood's hat, etc.), and I just can't get enough of this buckskin colored deerskin. I needed to weight the bracelet all around to keep interesting (i.e., heavy) parts from settling under the wearer's wrist, so I used another sort of similar lampwork bead (also from Pat) to form the toggle clasp, and added a white brass acorn charm at the bar end of the toggle. The acorn is amazingly heavy. (I have no idea what white brass is, but I like it). The iceberg blue beads are the "egg blue" beads from Studio Rent (and one vanilla from an old set), plus some caramel colored moukaite barrels, and little Larimar Blue Crazy Lace agate roundels. And more Soochow jade in coffee.

And that's all I have to say about that.