Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  I have the Easter Bunny in my backyard, and hopefully he'll bring us all some chocolate eggs.  He doesn't appear overly ambitious to me, but he's got until Sunday to finish his tasks.  We are having lovely Spring weather here, and I hope wherever you are, you have sunshine also.

Large Gray Pearl Clip On Earrings

I recently made these large gray pearl earrings for a member of a wedding party.  I think gray is such an elegant color. 

These are 16mm which are a bit difficult to find sometimes.  They are on clipon earring backs.

Purple and Lilac Stretch Bracelet

I used this really pretty crystal and brass connector to make a two strand stretch bracelet.

One row has pearly pale lavender beads.  The other row has translucent glass beads in two kinds of purple, a blue based purple and a red based purple. 

Jade Buddha Head

I picked up a strand of antique jade Buddha head beads at a bead show a while back. I liked them, but then had a difficult time deciding what to do with them.  They are a bit large and heavy, so they don't lend themselves to earrings.

 I eventually made a necklace with one bead as a pendant, using organza ribbon.  I think I was in a "ribbon phase" at the time.  I combined it with some pewter beads.

The bead is also too large and awkward for bracelets.  I might attempt a different design with chain or cord.  I don't want it to be paired with anything heavy, because then it would make for a really heavy necklace.  I'll continue to muse over this for a while.  I still really like the beads.

White Pearls on Antiqued Brass Chain

I made this necklace some time ago.  The chain is brass, with an antiqued finish.  It has a "rough" look to it.  I thought it would display the soft sheen of pearls nicely.

I like putting opposites together.  The matte brown of the brass is nice with pearls.

Black and Gold Pendant on Twisted Cord

This necklace was an experiment in using thick braided cord.  I made a pendant from a large acrylic bead and gold plated pewter bead caps.  The cord is black intertwined with gold metallic thread.

The trick was getting the correct size for the endings.  The cord is probably 4mm thick and was from a fabric store, rather than a beading store.  It all ended up well, and I think it looks rather Elizabethan.

Ruby Red Three Strand Necklace

I was thinking about Valentine's Day coming up, which led me to thinking about red.  So I collected many red beads, round, oval, faceted, in several shades of ruby red and made a nice three strand necklace.

 This has a nice rich look to it.  I like the pewter clasp and end bars, too.