Back To School?
Back to school always means it is time to start raking leaves again. This fire agate bead reminded me of the colors of autumn leaves. The weaving got a little hairy as I approached the bottom of the stone. this is the second attempt and it looks much better than the first, although still not a good professional finish.

Sept. 2008 and it is Fair time! I enterted the bangle I made from a kit in Eni's Bead Cruise class. It won best of class for a craft item made from a kit. Way to go, Eni!

It felt good to finish a beading project! This is from a free pattern on Beading Daily by Julie Ann Smith titled "The Illusion". Oh yes! Now that it is finished, I found a few spirit beads in there! I did this on the longish weekend I spent with Red Ventling and her DH Lance. I used Delica beads, crystal clear Fireline and a snap closure.

Crystal Clear Pendant. The pendant has 2 Swarovski cubes and a coated quartz crystal cluster that has large crystals and druzy crystals. The top shows the druzy side and the bottom photo shows the crystals. I wanted to be able to have either side be the focus. I wrapped the wire following the contours of the cluster of crystals. It was challanging to get the wire to stay where I put it.

Egypt Culture: The pendant shape reminds me of the matroha or baker's peel used by Egyptian women as they bake their bread in the open hearth ovens. The ornate links in the chain remind me of ornate Egyptian jewelry. This piece was started some 20 years ago. Then, ill health forced me to put away my jewelry tools. This week, I dug out the necklace and finished it. I needed to join the necklace through the top of the pendant. I could not make the solder flow so I resorted to using wire chain links.
The necklace is a jewlers equivalent to a sampler quilt. The techniques include soldering, sweating, dapping, cold connections such as rivets, a hinge that allows the roundpart of the pendant to open, bezel set stones, jump rings, chains, repousse, etc.

I know. This is cheating. I am cheating because I am so far behind!

Virgo: I don't know why it should be Virgo other than it is time for Virgo! It doesn't even have a sapphire on it! Judy Feskun recently published her tutorial for theEsprit Bracelet Tutorial. Of course, I could not do it just as published. I had to use these huge dragon skin turquoise nuggets instead of two smaller beads. Additionally, I believe the center yellow turquoise stone was larger than Judy recommended. The size of these nuggets made it difficult to shape the bracelet, and made it difficult or impossible to keep the wire wraps flat . Fortunately, I need a large bracelet.

Aug. 10, 2008 Off topic. This is not Leo zodiac sign. This is a very small agate arrowhead that used to be on a gold stickpin. I used Judy Feskun's Heart Wrap tutorial to wrap the arrowhead. The result can be used either as a pin or a pendant. I felt that the wire I used was too flimsy to stand up to being used as a stick pin. If I were to do it again, I would use a 5th wire which would be in the center of the bundle and would be round. This would be easier to sharpen and would allow usiong a wire heavy enough to be a stickpin. Due to the small size of the arrowhead I used fairly light wire.

This wire wrapped pendant contains fire agate and sterling silver wire. Back to school always reminds me that it is fall and I am going to be raking leaves. This view shows the front of the stone.

The next view shows the back of the stone.














This view shows the real color of the stone and the relative size as it sits in my hand.