First makes of the year

I had a look through my Beadhaul box the other day, with the view to making some jewellery and trying a new technique. By new technique, I mean of course, new for me. It's a tried and tested technique amongst jewellery makers.

Before I start with that, I decided to make some earrings. As a writer myself, I wanted to use the pair of 'true story' charms, but I didn't want to use beads with them. Just adding the charms to a pair of fish hook earrings was quite boring in all honesty, so I had a look through the box and came up with the ceramic stars.

 

Obviously you have to have matching stars. I was lucky enough to have quite a few pairs, and settled on some blue/purple (more purple than they are in the picture anyway) and some grey ones. I used eyehooks to thread them on, so that I could put the book charm on the bottom. Don't be put off using the stars as earrings as they are surprisingly light.

 

A closer look. One thing you have to make sure is that you have aligned the stars the same way in each earring.

 

I also used the waxed cord to make a necklace, which is where I used the new technique. Basically what you do is cut a length of cord (necklace size), cut it in half, then with each end you double it back slightly and clamp it down with a jump ring. You squash the jump ring a little more than you normally would (best thing is to take it slightly out of alignment so that the ends don't meet.) Also, to prevent fraying, dab the ends in clear nail polish.

 

 

I overestimated the length slightly, so it sits a little low.

 

Here is the close up of the technique. As you can see, it creates a little loop in the cord, through which you can attach things. I used jump rings to attach the beads. The beads themselves are threaded on an eye pin, one end folded to create another eye.

 

The eyepins and jump rings were in my stash, but the lobster clasp, the beads, the cord and everything else was in the box.

 

I chose to put one of the glass hearts in the middle of the pendant, threaded using a head pin.

 

As you can see, the pendant itself is slightly different from the one in the box. I used three different nail polishes to highlight some of the areas (the butterflies, leaves and flowers)

 

Resolution wise, it's going well so far but this is only the sixth day! I haven't craved any fizzy drinks, and I've been doing at least two exercises every day. The second page of the Beauty and the Beast stitch is making progress (I figure if I allow myself three months for each page, it should be done by the end of the year) and the writing is coming along, albeit slowly. I have decided that the monthly treat (at least for some of the months) will be a new charm for my Pandora bracelet. I have chosen the first one, so it's given me an incentive.

 

Happy crafting everyone!

Ems