Keyring bead

Oh happy day!  I have my favorite keyring bead again.  Years ago I wired it to my keyring to see if the bead would survive.  It is about 2 1/4" long and thin, and it survived just fine.  The wire has broken several times where it wraps around the keyring, but not the bead.  I had been making a lot of long, thin beads then, and was asked all the time how strong they were.  I think I proved they are not fragile at all!  Over a year ago, it disappeared.  Last weekend, a friend saw it on the floor of my car!  (We won't say anything about how often I clean my car.)  Once again, the wire had broken.  This time I used two lengths of wire to attach it- we will see if that works any better.  I always liked how 'clean' the bead is, and how the cane wraps around it.  I was not trying to wind it evenly; I wanted it to look like a natural vine.  I had grown attached to it, and really missed it.  I am happy that it came back to me!

Black beads and pearls

While I was sorting all my stone beads and pearls, I found these black pearls and immediately thought they would look good with my black hollow boro beads.  I like the contrast between the rough, jagged pearls and smooth beads.  So after taking a color theory class and sorting all my beads by color, I ended up making a black necklace!

Organizing beads

Ok, I give up!  I bought another drawer unit for my stone beads.  I now have 9 drawers full, each color in its own drawer.  The pearls are in their own drawer unit, and another unit is full of seed beads.  I discovered I have too many green stone beads.  Why, I have no idea.  That is not one of my favorite colors, so I don't know why I bought so many.  Now I need to figure out a way to sort them by shades.  Will this never end?

The cases on top are full of silver beads, silver findings, copper findings, etc.  I could spend days and days sorting and organizing!