Category Archives: Beaded Jewelry

Six More Beaded Creations

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Who’s ready to see more of my beaded jewelry creations?

You are? Cool, let’s get started:

1) This is a pair of approximately 3-1/4″ long earrings with round, olive green faceted Czech glass beads, 6 mm in size. Also included are small barrel spacers, flat round spacers, and an ornate connector piece. I bought the green because it’s one of my favorite colors, of course!

2) I found these interesting connectors (the long silver portion) at Hobby Lobby. They remind me of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I paired them with 6 mm white faux pearls and 4 mm dark grey hematite beads. Did you know that Hematite is a good gemstone for Virgos like me?? Hematite supposedly carries grounding and soothing energies to help you relax physically and mentally — all I know is, I love the way it feels. So cool to the touch!

3) Don’t you just love this shade of turquoise? They’re called fiberoptic or cat’s eye beads because they have a tiny white line running around their circumference (sounds like I was listening in Geometry class after all, haha!). They also feature long, antique silver tube beads. Anyway, true story: I wore this pair to a first meeting with a potential new client for my Web Design company. Everything went well until I got home and realized (gulp!) I’d lost the entire bottom half of one of my earrings! I checked throughout my car and retraced my steps to the garage, to no avail. I can only surmise I lost it at the guy’s office (sure hope he doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend who’s the jealous type because nothing happened. Promise!!)

4) These silver earrings are almost long enough to brush my shoulders! They’re made with twisted silver tube beads and an ornate connector piece. I love finding earrings that are as light as these are, too! They don’t yank your earlobes, but that means I’m checking periodically throughout the day to make sure they’re still there (unlike the previous pair, ha!)

5) Another piece in green! This one is a bracelet featuring bamboo-shaped tube beads, interspersed with crystal spacers and fastened with a toggle clasp. Perfect for St. Pat’s Day or the Irish in you!

6) Generally, I work in silver-colored metals because I’ve found it to be more flattering to my skin tones. However, sometimes a girl’s just got to try her hand at something yellow-gold, and this is what I came up with. I used the same olive-green beads from photo #1, along with faux white pearls and gold-colored daisy spacers. I have no clue what that weird round shadow is at the bottom of the green beads — must be some kind of reflection I didn’t notice until now. Trust me, they’re pretty!

If we could get an entire day with a steady rain, just imagine how much beading I could get done!

P.S. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s back to school we go! I’ll be taking a few days’ off this coming week so I can accompany the Domer back to college. I’ll catch up with everybody when I return — please don’t abandon me entirely, ‘kay??

Beaded Jewelry, Part Two

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I figured it was time for another beaded jewelry blog so here goes (for those who don’t appreciate beads and jewelry, come back another day, okay?):

Aventurine and silver bracelet

1) This bracelet is silver with a toggle clasp and pale green beads of Aventurine. Also known as Adventurine, this gemstone is said to bring good luck, particularly in financial matters. Who doesn’t need good luck there?? Aventurine stimulates creativity and intelligence, too, so perhaps I should glue it to my wrist!

“Y” necklace

2) Next is a silver chain Y-necklace, approximately 12 inches in length. Named for the way it forms a letter Y around the face, this style of necklace gained popularity two decades(!) ago with TV shows like Melrose Place and Friends. I’ve been seeing quite a few of them in jewelry stores lately, so it must be making a comeback (if it ever left!) Anyway, mine features 6mm peach and forest green beads, interspersed with faux pearl and peach beads. Its matching earrings dangle about two inches in length and have a fishhook ear wire.

Lapis chandelier earrings

3) Chandeliers, again! This pair, frankly, was a horror to make, thanks to the teeny-tiny space for inserting the beads. Nine dark blue (well, in reality, they’re darker than the picture!) lapis lazuli beads decorate this delicate silver-shaped piece, bringing the total earring length to about three inches. A leverback ear wire provides safety from accidental loss. Surprisingly, this pair is lighter than it looks and, because of all the lapis beads, it makes a delightful tinkling sound when your head moves. By the way, lapis lazuli is a perfect gemstone for emotional healing and stability. Also, it’s said to cleanse the spirit, bringing out inner truth and peace.

Anklet

4) This is an anklet in natural shell stones and various colorful beads. The clasp is interesting in that you unscrew one silver piece from the other to open it, then screw them back together to close. I imagine that would make for a very secure piece of jewelry. I photographed it on a beach towel because to me, these khaki-colored shells scream for a suntan (yes, even a “bottle tan” will suffice!); besides, anklet bracelets are made for sandals, not snow boots!

That’s all for now. I’ll post some more pieces at a later date, if anyone shows interest in seeing them!

Six Easy Pieces

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Recently, my friend Monica posted about the importance of art in her life.

When I commented that I do good to draw stick people, she reminded me that I bead jewelry and that, too, is art. She suggested I write a post about my jewelry creations, along with some photos and thoughts about them.

So, thanks, Monica, for the idea, and here goes:

Blue Shell Earrings by Debbie

1) I made these earrings on a whim. I wanted something flashy — more flashy than I’d normally wear! — so I fashioned them to dangle fairly long, almost to my shoulders. They feature a turquoise shell-like material and produce the most pleasant clinking sound when you move your head.

Shell Necklace by Debbie

2) This necklace is made from tiny shells. I like the way it says “beach vacation” and the fact that it goes with anything!

Black Earrings by Debbie

3) The two black crystal beads at the bottom of these earrings were leftovers. Three and a half years ago, I made my Dad a Rosary from these ebony beads for Christmas. He was in the hospital over the holiday, so we carried his presents to him and tried to make his day special. He died less than a week later, the last day of 2008. I keep the earrings in honor of him, but I find I can’t wear them. It still hurts too much.

Chakra Bracelet by Debbie

4) This bracelet is one I made several years ago, when I learned about Chakras. According to Eastern philosophy, we need to balance our mind and body based on seven energy centers that work together and independently. The seven Chakra colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. I don’t know if this philosophy is against my Christian beliefs, but I can’t see how balancing one’s emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual energies is counter intuitive to good living. Besides, it’s pretty!

Domer’s Rosary, now mine by Debbie

5) I made this Rosary for Domer’s birthday last year. Notice it’s in Notre Dame’s traditional colors of navy blue, emerald green, and gold. Apparently he thought it looked too feminine or delicate or something, for he suggested I keep it. (He wasn’t quite that blunt, but he’s never been known not to speak his mind!). I was glad to take him up on it, since I wouldn’t have made something that time-consuming for me, and the sapphire color is my birthstone. An added plus? The emeralds remind me of “the motherland”!

Chandelier Earrings by Debbie

6) This is a pair of chandelier earrings with a leverback ear wire. They’re in hematite (the greyish color, said to be a good grounding stone) and faux white pearls. I love the look of chandeliers. They’re girly, without being over-the-top. But they take a long time to make, since they have so many tiny parts, and if you don’t get them just right, they can be heavy on your ears.

There you have it. Six easy pieces, all different, all significant. And to think I have BOXES full of this kind of stuff, just waiting to find the right people to love them!

Maybe I should post one special piece every week until the whole lot is out there??

Beading in the Rain

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In my little part of the world, we’ve had nothing but rain for days on end.

Downpours. Cold. Wind. Thunderstorms.

But I’m not asking for sympathy. No siree. When the weather gets bad, some people read; others sleep.

I bead.

And since I had to attend a special dinner on Saturday evening with Mom, I used that morning to whip up a new pair of earrings to match the outfit I was planning on wearing.

Here’s what I came up with:

Earrings by me

You can’t see the pretty detail from this picture (blame the cloudy skies and the flash on my camera insisting on leaving a gaudy white spot on the black background). But they perfectly matched the color in my top. . . .Wait, I have a better idea! I’ll write a fancy sales copy paragraph describing them.

Simple and elegant — The bottom half of this handmade pair of beaded dangling earrings features five matching, 5 mm round, pink pearls separated by a 1/8-inch ornate silver tube bead. A figure 8 connector attaches the bottom portion to a half-inch long antique silver tube bead. Silver leverback findings provide an easy and secure on/off. Perfect for dress occasions! Flirty and attractive, just in time for summer!

No, I don’t sell my jewelry online — yet. I’ve been told I should, but as it is, I have more than enough on my plate running a business and writing. And the thought of taking every single piece I’ve made out of its protective bag, photographing it in the best possible light, writing sales copy, designing a Website, and placing all those items on it — not to mention the actual selling of the pieces, boxing them up, shipping them, etc. — just makes me weary.

So, for now at least, I’ll just continue to love beading. It’s relaxing, and there’s something that satisfies me to the core in selecting beads, playing with colors and textures, molding them together, and rejoicing in the pleasure of being creative.

Is it wrong to love doing something, just for yourself?