In which I am a jeweler
When friends prepare for travel, they will sometimes ask me if I want anything from their intended destination. As davidlevine and kateyule have so extensively documented, this past spring they went to Europe for a fabulous tour and asked me this very question. I gave them a sum of money and asked them to please bring me beads. When they returned from their expedition, they gave me a beautiful collection of beads from Murano, Italy that I could not have been more excited to receive. On Thursday evening, I completed my first project incorporating some of those beads. I have many more projects in mind for the balance of the beads they brought me. Here's the first:
This piece incorporates not just the pretty Murano beads (the green foil star and the blue foil disc) but limited-edition Czech glass (the long blue-and-green tubes, and the blue squares), and a selection of random blue, green, and clear glass beads from my standing stash. The cones and chain are rhodium, of which I'm becoming enormously fond as I use it in project after project.
This necklace was an experiment for me since I've never done a triple strand of beads in a necklace before, have never used cones, and have never done any wire work of the kind featured in this piece (which isn't really visible in the picture, nor would it be unless I photographed the clasp portion of the necklace up close). The best projects are often ones that teach me new techniques, which this one did, specifically, how to attach three strands and use cones to cover connections. Though I made what I consider one mistake in technique and one mistake in choice of materials, neither would be noticeable unless I pointed them out . . . so I won't. ::grin:: The piece works just fine even with those mistakes, so all in all, I consider it a success, and I'm very happy with it.
This piece incorporates not just the pretty Murano beads (the green foil star and the blue foil disc) but limited-edition Czech glass (the long blue-and-green tubes, and the blue squares), and a selection of random blue, green, and clear glass beads from my standing stash. The cones and chain are rhodium, of which I'm becoming enormously fond as I use it in project after project.
This necklace was an experiment for me since I've never done a triple strand of beads in a necklace before, have never used cones, and have never done any wire work of the kind featured in this piece (which isn't really visible in the picture, nor would it be unless I photographed the clasp portion of the necklace up close). The best projects are often ones that teach me new techniques, which this one did, specifically, how to attach three strands and use cones to cover connections. Though I made what I consider one mistake in technique and one mistake in choice of materials, neither would be noticeable unless I pointed them out . . . so I won't. ::grin:: The piece works just fine even with those mistakes, so all in all, I consider it a success, and I'm very happy with it.