New Beads

My BFF Tijuana Buchanan has been here this weekend. We went to see Jimmy Buffett play Saturday night. AWESOME!!! It was a great concert. Tijuana's husband Joe has been making some glass beads. He sent a bunch of them down here for me to look at and make some jewelry with. The first thing Tijuana and I did was go through them to pick out the best. Then this evening I made her a bracelet. I put small silver beads between each glass beads. Finished with a simple toggle clasp it looks wonderful. I hope to make myself a bracelet soon.

This broken strand of garnet was brought to me to restring. I love the clasp on it. This is a stand that has been passed down in a family. These are so lovely. I will restring it tomorrow and take it back to the family it belongs to this week. I have so enjoyed looking at these little gems. But they must go back home to enhance the beauty of their owner.

Have a good week and stay pretty. Kathie

Gifts

This old bracelet was given to me by a good friend, Dorothy Veil. She bought it at a garage sale and was going to make bolo ties for her husband. He wasn't crazy about the idea. So she gave it to me. I don't know what the stones are but they are gemstones. I believe the setting is a silver plate. It has not held up very well. It was strung on elastic which has worn out. The trim around the bezels are chain(you can see it better in the first photo). I haven't been able to tell how it was attached yet. I plan on taking the stones out of the bezels and redo the bracelet in sterling silver. I'll keep you updated as I work on the bracelet.

I started wire wrapping a shell tonight. I'll post pictures when I get it done. It was a "gift" from a company I purchase jewelry components from. At first I had no idea what to do with it. Then one day I could see it wire wrapped.

My BFF Tijuana Buchanan is coming for a long weekend tomorrow. Saturday night is the Jimmy Buffett concert. Fins up!

Stay beautiful. Kathie

Some days it doesn't pay

Was sitting at my table working on a necklace today. Just a simple stringing project or so I thought. The crimp beads didn't hold. Cut the stringing material by mistake. Put it together a 3rd time and the crimps failed again. Time to put that project up. I did get out another project and arrange the beads. This is for the wife of a friend. These are beads made by her Mother 50 years ago or so. They look like an earthen clay and have a slightly rough texture to them. They are handcrafted and you can see her Mother's fingerprints in the beads.I think I have a pleasing arrangement. But since I had such a bad time with the last necklace, I will do the actual stringing tomorrow. These are beads I don't want to drop or they will break. I also have another string to fix for the same woman. It is a string of small garnet beads. They are very old according to my friend. They have such a rich red color to them. Can't wait till I get them restrung.

Need to work on a few things this week. My BFF Tijuana is coming in Friday. We are going to see Jimmy Buffett on Saturday night. I am so excited. I have always wanted to see Jimmy Buffett in person and sing along with him.

Till next time. Stay pretty!

New classes

In the morning, February 18, 2012 I am taking 2 classes at The Bead Biz in Helena, AL. My first class will be a seed bead class. The second class will be an advanced wire wrapping class. I am looking forward to both classes. I hope to have some pictures to post after the class.

This evening I finished a kumihimo cord for a piece I am going to wire wrap. I made it too long, so I had to undo a large part of it. Kumihimo is very relaxing, so undoing part of it was not too bad.

Everyone have a good weekend. And stay dry. Birmingham, AL is predicted to get lots of rain on Saturday.

Another try

Writing a blog is like anything else. It helps to get into the habit of writing in it every few days. Since it has been so long since the last blog, I'll just pick up here. I finally opened a shop on Etsy, www.etsy.com/shop/deltajewelrydesign Right now I only have one item in the shop. I need to stop and take pictures of what I have for sale. Keep checking back for new items to be added. I have been doing a lot with seed beads lately. I am finally getting good at doing circular peyote. I'll post a picture as soon as I get the bracelet I am working on finished.

I went and played Bunko Monday night with some friends. I don't really like Bunko, but I like the ladies I was with. On the way home as I was getting close to my house I spotted something moving out of the corner of my eye. I slowed down and hit by high beams. It was 3 deer. There was a buck with about a 4 point rack, a female deer and a doe. They ran into a wooded area behind some houses. We live close to Oak Mountain State Park so it is not unusual to see deer around here. We saw a turkey vulture a few weeks ago. As we build more in the wooded areas, the wildlife need somewhere to go.

Today I am going to a friend's house and help her cut out a quilt. I am looking forward to seeing what her pattern is and her fabric choices.

Until next time.