I will definitely be signing up for the Bead Soup Blog Party, although I was a big taken aback at the thought of only sending beads, rather than an entire matching set - I was already packaging my necklace supplies when I saw that we only needed to send beads. Ah! At first I was kind of upset, but then I found some of the more sentimental and mismatched beads that I own - beads that would be great to pass on to someone who could probably think of better ways to use them.
This is an event featured in a well-known jewelry magazine, and Lori has put a lot of time and effort to make this an awesome event that I would love to take part in. This will be my first time (I would have participated last year, but Lori got sicker and it ended up not being held), so I look forward to having tons of fun with this one (though I hope my creations don't look too terrible)! The button above these paragraphs will take you to the Pretty Things Blog that will tell you the rest of what you need to know for this event!
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I have always loved the look of keys, clock faces, and gears - especially when combined together. I saw a beautiful necklace that someone had created (probably on Pinterest) that had gorgeous ribbons attached the pendant as the "chains" of the necklace. I loved the idea, and was determined to make my own version. I had bought a strand of JoAnn Fabrics' gears, the neat ones they attached to each other with jump rings, and figured I'd use the ones that could easily be spaced apart to make a very large pendant. I also had this... key (for lack of a better word) that I had no idea what to do with. So, I figured, why not combine them? I wrapped all of the gears to the key with wire (that took at least two hours) before I even started on the ribbon. I took that and folded it over onto itself around the gears on the sides (it became a sort of curtain) which I then held in place by wrapping more wire around where the end and the body met. I repeated this procedure on the clasp, and I had made a pretty cool necklace, if I may say so myself. The only problem, is that I'm not sure if I should call this Steampunk. To me, this is my version of Steampunk, but to others it may just be a mess of wires and beads. This necklace was my improved method that I used on the last necklace. The key in the middle (that I'm pretty certain was used to turn those grandfather, but others said it may have been a music box?) had no obvious places for me to attach a gear so that I could create the massive pendant you see before you. So I glued a gear to the top with one of my favorite glues (which I will make a post on). This necklace is different in that I used very unique beads on the wire that I used to turn it into a necklace. When I first got the hollow triangle beads and the swirled copper beads, I had no idea what to use them on. But when I finished with this necklace's pendant all I could think of was including those beads in this design to make a wholly metallic piece.
I'm actually quite unsure what to call the pattern on those rectangular beads. I'm also very tempted to take apart this necklace and put those beads in my bead soup package. I picked these up in England in Canterbury when we went to visit the cathedral and wandered down some of the shops for souvenirs. I wound up finding a bead shop that the beads individually and spent about 20 or thirty pounds just on the beads. The problem I've found with these beads, however, is that I'm not sure what to call them. Are they snakeskin? Are they pixelated? What pattern are they exactly? To me, they'd always brought up images of blood-stained scales, but to others they could be chemistry symbols, or pixels, or any other number of things I have no idea about. This is another not so popular necklace, but I imagine that's because the beads I've put in to accompany my rectangular beads are just too small to look like they are in the right place.
What do you think the pattern is? Should I just take apart my necklace, or should I leave it? This is a necklace from at least four years ago (maybe more!) that was a complete flop. The beads don't look good with the pendant (what would?!) and the wire is definitely substandard. My poor, young self was so absorbed in just creating jewelry, that I didn't stop to actually look at the image I was left with. However, I've also greatly improved my speed at beading - it used to take me hours, but now I can usually do it in 30 minutes or less!
This is a necklace that would definitely be good for ripping apart - though I have no idea what I'd use the pendant for. Maybe a keychain, or an anchor on a bracelet? |
AuthorI'm a pretty amateur jewelry maker (I mainly work in necklaces and bracelets) but I love creating them and trying new things! Archives
June 2017
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