Idea Book

Last night I got a book chock-full of beading ideas for my birthday.  Didn't really look through it very well, but I suppose there are some nice designs in there.

It doesn't feel the same working from a plan that someone else designed, though, so if I do anything from the book, I'll probably change something up so it feels like it's my own thing instead of copying another person's idea.

What Next?

A little stuck on what I want to work on next.

I still have to work on that silvery pendant with the crystal in the middle, and I purchased a variety of clear and metal beads to go with it. After toying with them though, I think they're too small and I should buy bigger beads for it, and maybe use the smaller beads in a bracelet, maybe with some memory wire instead of a clasp.

Also, I have orange goldstone beads that I purchased around the same time I bought the snowflake obsidian ones, but I'd like to get a pendant to go with them, and that probably means another trip to Michaels, since Bead Rock, the bead store close to home doesn't have many.  I would probably need to get gold-toned beading wire and findings too, since it would look better with the stone, even though I don't like yellow-gold.

My LAST trip to Bead Rock gave me an idea to make rosaries too.  I'm not a religious person in any way shape or form, but my family members are, and I am sure I could give them away.  I bought 2 crucifixes and that little piece in the middle that connects the main string of beads, so it's a matter of reminding myself of how many beads I'll need, and picking them out.  I could go traditional, or I could even pick out some unconventional colours or patterns one wouldn't normally think of using.  I guess my lack of worry about offending the man in the sky would make me a little fearless in that sense.

Blue Goldstone & Blue Chalcedony Agate

Here's my latest.  It's a blue goldstone pendant I wanted to jazz up.  I bought it at the  local occult/magic/spirituality/don't know how else to explain it shop, and it came on a velvet cord.  I was unsure of which beads I was going to use on the strands until I stopped into the same local occult/magic/spirituality/don't know how else to explain it shop the other day, and found a few strands of blue goldstone chips.  I figured I may as well use the same stone as the pendant. 

I also saw some pretty blue chalcedony agate chips, and thought I would use it for something else, but the lady behind the counter thought I was going to use it for the same necklace.  That was a pretty good idea, as it broke up the darkness of the goldstone.  I should go back and show her what came of it.  

My mom said the pendant may be a bit small for all the busyness and angularity of the strands, and she may be right, but consider this:  I almost had 3 strands.  Luckily they didn't all fit into the crimp bead when I was making the clasp. 

Here's a picture.  I thought it would look worse than it did against a black background, but it came out okay.

Cinnabar & Howlite

As promised, here is the black cinnabar and turquoise howlite necklace I wanted to make:

This picture shows the detail of the cinnabar and the pendant:

I'm happy with how it turned out.

I also redid Firstborn with some different beading wire.  It was hard to put the little silver beads on because the wire was too thick, but I managed, and I know they won't move.  I took another picture of it, along with the earrings I made to go with it.