Two necklaces

The last few nights I have been working on two necklaces.  The focal beads are large, hollow boro beads and very similar in color.  Since most of my design time is spent going through my stash of stones, pearls, crystals, etc, I decided to put both necklaces together at the same time.  But after getting a pile of beads from my stash that I thought might work, I discovered that the focal beads are just different enough in color that they needed different stones, so there went that idea.  I usually string each strand in the necklace using mostly one stone, with something thrown in for contrast.  The necklace in the top photo has two strands of  amber stones (fossilized coral and sunstone- love them both!), a strand of aquamarine, and a strand of dark purple crystals.  For the necklace in the bottom photos, I mixed it up more, with each of the three strands strung with a mix of all the stones and crystals I used.  I am not sure which method I like best!

new necklace

I finished a necklace tonight.  The focal is a blown boro bead.  I love the organic nature of it, and I found some unpolished labradorite that matched it well.  There are pearls too, and tiny seed beads to bring in another color.  I tried to finish another necklace, but I must have measured wrong and it was too short.  I have to restring it, but it won't take as much time as stringing it in the first place, since I have made all the design decisions.  Shows are coming up fast!

Black blown boro beads

Tonight I finally put together a necklace that has been in my mind for a while.  I made these black blown boro beads (say that fast!) months ago and didn't know what to do with them.  They are so plain!  When I saw a strand of the rough crystal quartz, I suddenly knew!  I may tweak it a little yet (the photo definitely needs tweaked!) but essentially, this is it.  I love it when something speaks to me!

Serendipity, or kumihimo & beads

 Serendipity!  I love it when things come together!  Several years ago I got hooked on kumihimo, a type of braiding, and I made a lot of necklaces.  Most were done with eyelash yarns (I love the texture!) and finished into necklaces, and there were 4 of them still hanging around.  Several weeks ago I made some blown hollow boro beads and accidentally used the wrong mandrels so their holes were much larger than normal.  Last night, lightening struck!  The holes slid over the cones on the ends of the necklaces, and some of the colors matched!  I now have 2 new eye catching necklaces!

Boro hollow beads

I spent the day blowing these boro hollow beads.  My pile of black rods has just been waiting for inspiration, and I now know what I am going to do with the black hollow beads.  In March I bought the perfect stone beads for them and can't wait to put a necklace together.  Hope it turns out as nice as it is in my mind!  Boro blown hollow beads are so much easier to make than soft glass hollows because the boro is so much more forgiving!