I admit, I'm not much of a jewelry person, but I do like to work with my hands, and I do like pretty things. Going in, I knew I wasn't going to make anything for myself, but I was thinking about potential Christmas presents. It's always nice to keep your options open, you know? So I decided to start with a matching necklace and bracelet for Shae.
Funny thing: even when I'm not sure what I want to do, I still have ideas in my head. I was thinking about making a cute little rainbow bracelet, with different colored beads or crystals. Except that the materials don't come that way, which I didn't know when I walked through the door. (Research, dammit: look into it!) So I thought I would do something yellow, maybe with ladybugs, but I didn't really find anything that tickled my fancy (or my wallet -- lots of the beads the store had available were stunning, but I wanted to do something lower-end to start with, in case I turned out to be completely inept).
What I ended up with was this color pallette.
I know, I know -- pink. But there's green in there, too, and some cream and coral. My original raw materials for this project were:
- 8mm candy jade beads, 16" strand
- Czech glass beads (flat green ovals and pink diamond cubes), 8" strand each
- Pink calcite stars and butterflies, 3 each
- Chrysoprase stars and butterflies, 3 each
- 8mm copper beads, one bag of 20
- Small magnetic copper clasps (x2)
The good news: Shae likes both pieces. She said the necklace makes her feel pretty. But the bad news is that the bracelet is too small and will need to be restrung. That's a blessing in disguise, though, because when the bracelet was originally tied, I wasn't sure how I felt about the lack of "symmetry" -- I think the butterflies and the stars should be alternating. Also, I want to add a clasp to the bracelet, to make it feel more "grown up."
Didn't use everything I originally picked up. The strand of pink beads was returned uncut, and I only used two pink stars and two green butterflies by the time I was done. Including the cost of the class ($12), the entire project cost $34. More than I would have liked to spend (I wanted to keep it under $25, for this first time, anyway), but not unreasonable, I don't think. And next time I am definitely going to make something in yellow, and possibly millefiori beads.
I have a couple of pictures of Shae modeling the necklace but I want to try again when she is in clothes and not pajamas, so hopefully I will have an update soon.
