A little something

There is still no stitching going on here at Orchard Ranch.  However, I did string some beads to make a bracelet on Saturday night.  It took me all of about an hour to do, from start to finish, although I did tweak it a bit tonight.  It needed a dangle of some kind, so I got out my scrap jewelry making bits and put something together.  I'll wear it to school tomorrow, which promises to be a nice day (I can match my outfit to my bracelet).  I've got the parts to do two more bracelets of this style, but in different colors, and might even just power on through and make them soon, while the mood is still upon me.

To make these, I took some beads of complementary colors -- some sparkly cut glass, some glass pearls, and some seed beads (some pony size, some 8/o or 11/o seed beads) -- some tiger tail wire, some crimps, a bit of chain, some jump rings, a charm, and a lobster clasp.  You'll want all of your metal parts to be of similar colors -- in my case, they're "bronze" and copper.  Figure out how long you need your bracelet to be, taking the clasp into account.  Now, make a loop on one end of one strand of tiger tail, and use a crimp to hold it.  String on one kind of bead, alternating with a seed bead of appropriate size.  When the beads are all on, make a loop on the other end and hold it with a crimp.  Do this for each strand -- my bracelet has three, but you might want more or less.  Open one jump ring and slip one end of each of your strands on it, then close it.  Do the same at the other end of your strands.  Attach a lobster clasp to one end, and another jump ring to the other.  Now, using jump rings, attach the charm to one end of the scrap of chain, and then attach the chain to one of the jump rings on the bracelet ends (I put mine on the end with the lobster clasp).  Voy-lah!  One custom bracelet.

The next one may be translucent turquoise glass beads, pearls, and some clear cut crystal beads from a broken necklace that belonged to my grandmother that I've been hoarding for more than ten years.  Another of her broken necklaces has lavender cut glass beads, which would go well with a little cameo I picked up last year.  I love recycling Grandma's old jewelry; it keeps her near me.