Beader Madness 2

The madness is upon me again! Every so often I get the uncontrollable urge to make jewellery; this time the impetus was a pile of necklaces that needed altering/repairing and some uber cute cake and cookie charms I really wanted to use. The irony is that as soon as I started putting together a necklace with the charms I realized I didn't have the right beads to go with. So I ended up not making that necklace. Grr. (I know what kind of beads I need--now I just have to find them.) But of the ones in the photos about half are new and half are older ones I fixed/altered. Click photos to enlarge... 

The fruits of my labour: 

 

The 'R' and 'e' charms are part of the word 'more' (you can see it better in some of the following photos). I found a set of letter charms that spelled 'amore.' I decided I'd make one necklace with 'more' (seems to be my life's theme) and use the leftover 'A' (my first initial) in another necklace (you'll see it below too). I also made an '!' necklace (below, right) and an '@' necklace (later). Clearly my hours of working at a keyboard have seeped into my subconscious... 

 

I made a bracelet this time too, although I'm concerned the elastic thread won't hold up and I'll need to restring it. Otherwise I'm happy with how it turned out: 

 

I love this flower charm. It reminds me of Art Nouveau, which I adore and is just so lovely. Designing the necklace was fun too. The bat to the left of it used to be an earring.

   

Dragonflies are a favourite of mine (as are stars--if you haven't already spotted them there are three necklaces made with the exact same star beads, only in different colours): 

 

The blue heart is actually an evil eye charm that I picked up from a christening. I love incorporating found objects into crafts.  

I thought the swirly beads worked well with the @ symbol: 

  

A figure of Bastet peeking through a loop of beads. That was the first necklace I ever made (and it shows, but I don't mind too much as it's still one of my favourites).

  

The large bead is part of the 'Art Nouveau' flower necklace:

   

A closer look at the bracelet: 

 

The charms I use definitely tend to reflect my interests: a pentacle, the Eiffel tower, and a mortar and pestle:  

I actually didn't make this necklace but I finished it off. My friend made the chain of beads (yes, that is a crucifix design on the black beads). It more or less looked like a rosary (no, I'm not Catholic) but the dangly bit at the bottom didn't have anything hanging from it. So I added... 

  

...this cross (which I picked up on a visit to a Greek monastery). I'll probably never wear it (well, maybe if I feel like channelling my inner goth) but I'm happy it's completed.

  

This bee charm used to be attached to a "chain" of dark green wooden beads. It was okay but I'd grown bored of it. So I put together a new setting for it (next two photos, and some of the ones above, as well) and I think it turned out to be my favourite of the new batch!

 

The silver fleur de lys "badge" is a vintage piece I found in my mom's button box years ago. In fact, I found two others as well! (If you look carefully, you can spot one of the other ones above on a black bead and pearl necklace.) I'm not even sure what they're supposed to be used for (belt buckles? But they're not that big, although they're pretty heavy...) In any case, they were a fantastic find and my mom doesn't even miss them:  

The best part is that I didn't buy anything new to make all this; I used what was already on hand. I ended up making a dent in my stash, clearing off my "to fix" list, adding some new pretties to my collection, and getting inspiration for future projects. Pretty sweet. 

Want to see more of my handiwork? Check out this post: Beader Madness!

 Photos byWhimsy Bower

[Edited for formatting, and to add a link. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]