Look Ma! No Symmetry!

This is my first attempt at an asymmetrical necklace. (Sorry, no buttons yet.) It is essentially monochrome (tone on tone)--I couldn't do multicolor AND asymmetry in one piece. Maybe later.





It features matte finish (which I guess is the natural finish) Crazy Horse Stone roundels, garnets, and big fossil agate rounds. The lead-free pewter pendant is from Happy Mango Beads. Hand forged, oxidized chain and S-clasp. The round silver beads are a gift from a customer--she sends me the most amazing stuff for my stash! Available in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

Alas I could only do one asymmetrical piece. That's all I have in me right now. The First Bank of Asymmetry is empty. Come back later. I was able to do this, though, with a big steel washer I've been carting around forever, and my new favorite stone, apple green howlite. Well, Co-Favorite with red sponge coral. I really like this necklace. The wire is all annealed steel, hand polished; little sterling daisy spacers add a little sparkle. The stones are apple green howlite and serpentine.





The necklace includes a 9" removable, hand-formed steel extender chain which matches the chain on the necklace. With the extender chain attached, the necklace can be worn as long as 28". The extender chain is adjustable. Without the extender chain the necklace measures about 19" and is also adjustable. The necklace can be worn at virtually any length between 16" and 28".

I coated all the steel with Future acrylic floor polish. Inhibits rust and adds some shine. Smells good too.

P.S., Harbor Freight shipped my doming block set early! It's on its way! Yay!! And I have my copper and brass sheet and my other tools, so hopefully handmade bead caps by moi are right around the corner. Decided to go with a pin vise drill with itty bitty drill bits for making the center holes (but of course I also got a Fiskars hand drill just in case), we'll see how that goes. A bientot!

Better Than a Poke in the Eye

One would hope so because that sounds awful. These bracelets I made are better than a poke in the eye, but maybe not better than fur handcuffs. I guess it depends. On a lot of things.

This one is made from the same materials I used in my Eritrean house pendant and the other bronze pearl necklace.

I added two more of the double cone beads from that pendant, and a couple antiqued brass round beads I found at a bead shop in Whitefish, Brought to Life Beads. (They have some awesome stuff--some Vintaj even--it's great that such a great shop is so close by). I just love this palette. It would be so lovely against dark skin. Maybe an Eritrean woman will buy it and repatriate the beads!

This bracelet below is my early work (Wednesday, I believe it was) in asymmetry. Asymmetrical designs are surprisingly hard to do. I've attempted them before and they looked to me like an upended junk drawer. Lorelei Eurto is the Preeminent Empress of Asymmetry, and I am once again stumbling along in her footsteps. Bracelets are much easier to do in an asymmetrical design because they slip around and around your wrist all day long anyway and who can tell which way is up. This bracelet isn't terribly asymmetrical, just a little. I'm stuck on the wood-and-amazonite thing right now. Just seems so summery--you know, cabin by the beach kind of thing. Wood and water. And bone. Something summery about bone too, can't put my finger on it. (Stumbling across remains in the woods at Kamp Karefree?) The little ivory colored spacers are made from bone. I don't know what kind. Best not to ask. I think they're from Africa, so perhaps wildebeest. Or goats.


This one turned out kind of gothic looking, or perhaps Old Spain. I guess just because of the dark steel wire. The stones are "pineapple quartz" glass, and just lovely. They are really made to mimic the irregularities of quartz and they practically glow when the light hits them.

This collection of beads and pearls sat around on my glass top Japanese-style workbench for a few days before I strung them together. I'm really drawn to dark, rich, wintry, melancholy kinds of colors so this kind of thing is a stretch for me (can't wait to make stuff for the Christmas shopping season). Too damn happy. But the world is full of happy people, who can tan, and one of them will buy it, love it and wear it.


Phew! I'm really fried now. This must be how pizza guys feel about pizza at the end of the week. Doesn't even look like food anymore. I've lost my desire to wear jewelry. I don't want to see another bead as long as I live until at least Tuesday. I'm going to go throw a sheet over all the crap on my glass top Japanese-style workbench and read a Jack Reacher book and maybe fall asleep.