The Random Chip Bracelets

Part 4 and the final installment on chips… for now. I just found more chips in my inventory. Though I would really like to start a sewing project (sweet victorian smoking jacket), I feel really inspired to make jewelry right now.

The above three-stranded bracelet is made with sea glass and rose quartz. I thought it would be appropriate to have a turtle made of sea glass also on the bracelet. Sea glass, sea turtle.

A simple blackstone chip and turquoise bead carved with flowers and Chinese symbols.

Amethyst, green adventurine and blackstone chips with green glass cat’s eye beads and sterling silver clasp.

Stay tuned for Ancient Egyptian themed jewelry…

Chip-cluster Bracelets

Part 3

Whoo! Using up the chips. Check out these beauties. These bracelets are triple stranded in short sections and brought together with accent beads.

Sodalite and imitation turquoise carved, one side is a rose and the other a Chinese symbol.

Red jasper and red agate faceted nuggets.

Amethyst and green adventurine faceted nuggets.

Scarabs and Chips

And now for part 2 in the gemstone chips series. I suppose it is appropriate to have included carved scarab beads while I was watching Stargate…

And matching bracelet…

I favored the warm colors here and end up cooling it off a little with black and the scarab gemstones. In this necklace, there is orange coral, blackstone, red jasper, red agate, and assorted carved gemstone scarabs that resemble amulets found on mummies of ancient Egypt.

This related bracelet with cool colors and carved scarabs also has sodalite and amethyst chips and green adventurine faceted beads.

Stay tuned for the next installment: chip-cluster bracelets…

Pearls and Chips

For about a week this December I sat in front of my computer and streamed Stargate SG-1 (one of my favorite shows–I can already hear you saying”Ne-erd!”) and tried to use up an assortment of gemstone chips. All the pieces I’ve tried to put into a theme. I will cover one theme a day until I’ve run out.

Chips; Part 1: With Pearls.

This necklace is made with black gemstone, glass pearls, black jade, and abalone. This is a one-of-a-kind item; the abalone beads used in this necklace are no long available from my source. See matching bracelet and earrings below, also one-of-a-kind items.

The creation below is made with chips from leopard skin jasper and freshwater pearls dyed dark rose. I also found a rose quartz pendant kicking around in my collection. In between the chips are silver-lined seed beads which give the piece an extra sparkle.

My Ornament Gifts

It is always a challenge to get a gift for someone. I don’t have much time or funds to get everyone the perfect gift.  I do not want to get someone a thing that will gather dust and that they will not appreciate. I usually try to get a gift certificate (always appreciated if a little unimaginative) or something consumable (beer, wine, chocolate, apple butter). A handmade item is often a good idea as well; it shows the recipient you cared to spend time to make them something they will hopefully like. This year, I made ornaments out of memory wire and base metal eyepins. The multicolored beads are acrylic from an assortment. The green and clear beads are Czech pressed glass.

That last one on the bottom right is pretty crazy. Yes, they could be called Christmas ornaments, I suppose, but some might just make nice window decorations. Small, flat and easy to store. I sure hope my friends and family like them. This project helped me reduce my inventory. Yay!

Too Much Inventory

It is not too surprising that as a person that makes and sells jewelry in an online store that I have a lot of inventory. Many times, I bought more beads than necessary in order to meet a price break so I could pass the savings on to my customers and keep shipping costs to a minimum. Projects involving many of those beads had to be put off and were forgotten altogether, until now when I find them taking up rather a lot of room in the office/workshop. I grew up with a pack-rat philosophy. I say the pack-ratting ends with me! I suppose that should be a New Years resolution.

Now featuring one of the lovelies I have made from my grand inventory.

This beauty is made with round and bicone Swarovski crystals and sterling silver. I can’t remember where I got the idea for this necklace–probably some TV show or period drama–maybe some vampire movie/show. I mostly wanted to practice the wrapping links, so this pieces is a little asymmetrical. Long ago, I ordered a crystal assortments, which did not always provide the most ideal and desirable colors to work with. Using a gradient effect for this necklace helped me use up some of those colors.

One of my 2011 resolutions will be to offer more promotions to get some of these items out to good homes. Many of these things will probably be one-of-a-kind items as I may not want to order certain beads again to keep my inventory down. However, if you see something you simply MUST have, I can make an exception if the product is available.

Cheers!

My New Favorite Necklace

You will all be relieved to know that the last storm did not completely was us away though the creek got dangerously high and we wondered if someone would risk kayaking it this year. Ten inches since last Friday!

Below is my new favorite necklace. I think I’ll call it the shivering necklace, because when it moves the plated drops shake and sparkle really fast. I made this with a sterling silver figure-8 chain. There are three different plated drops of silver and gold alternating with different colored Swarovski crystals in an imitation of a rainbow. I made the clasp out of sterling silver wire, making the hook spiral. I made earrings to match, but I ran out of one color crystal, so they are not finished yet.

I completely failed in posting every day to catch up on my jewelry doings as I promised last month. I’ll try again. I might just write all the posts today and press publish every day until they are done. That way, Doug will have some entertainment from me every day during the holiday. I wonder if I could stretch it out into 12 days like that Xmas song…

Happy Holidays to Everyone!