Hematite & Mixed Metals...

Do you ever get those very specific requests where, no matter how you fiddle and restring and try different beads, there is absolutely no way the colours are going to work?

That was my dilemma today at the market. I'd been asked to mix hematite with "green glass" beads. The beads I had should have worked but no way this bracelet was going to come together. Gave up on that, thinking, ehhh, she's probably not even going to come back.

Instead, I dug out some brass birds I've been wanting to play with and, oh, boy, now we're cooking. Added some copper jump rings and even better.

Hematite, brass birds, copper jump rings as spacers and a big-holed pewter bead to hide the knot on Stretch Magic.

I think what really works is the contrast between the glossy black hematite and the matte vintage goldy-brass of the birds. That little flash of copper makes the birds pop.

Then my customer showed up. Uh oh. I showed her the glass beads I had been playing with and she liked them well enough, but when I showed her the bracelet... She loved it!! It was a bit too big for her, so I made another one while she did her shopping. Et voila, she's a happy camper.

If you're interested in ordering this particular bracelet, it's $35, shipping and handling is extra. Please email me for availability, or to order something made just for you.

Thanks for looking!

I'm *SUPPOSED* to be packing up for the show...

Instead, I got sucked in by these beautiful black tourmaline beads that I have had for at least a year or two now... and they happened to rest on the table next to some Nacozari slab beads that I was bagging... and they all happened to butt up and get cozy with my flying bird beads... Not my fault if my table looks a little barren or you see me frantically working away pricing behind my booth on Friday.

This is the best of the photos to show the blue and green colouring of the turquoise.

Cost is $57, black tourmaline, pewter birds, Nacozari turquoise, strung on elastic, comfortably fits a 6.5 to 7" wrist. Shipping and handling is extra, I take PayPal and Square or bank interac/email transfer in Canada. You can also see it in person at The Gem Expo on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks for looking, and see you at the show!

Added thought, 7:45 p.m. Okay, kinda goofy, but I was looking at the bracelet again, and a lot of times I tell myself stories when I make things. My story for this bracelet is this looks like two doves drinking from the oceans of earth, floating in deep, black tourmaline space.

Big Things Afoot at the AntMall... & A Pewter Skull & Seed Bead "Sketch"

At the AntMall, aka the One of a Kind Antique Mall, Nancy and Kate have joined me and started putting things into my small space (Booth 800/801 and... I forget the third number). Our big news is on July 2 we will be in a new 10x10 location just a few feet down from the cash desk. For now, we're in my original 5x10 booth, and we're loading it up with cool stuff. Oh -- and before anyone gets too excited, that crazy painting of the tower with the clock in the spectacular gold frame SOLD just minutes after we all left the AntMall Wednesday afternoon.

Yeah, this painting of a tower with a real clock set into the painting... buh-bye.

Tomorrow, Nancy and I will be adding items to the walls. We scored a pile of pegboard hooks and frame hangers on Thursday at Flim Flam in Brantford (my all-time favourite art and bead findings supply store that's sadly, heartbreakingly going out of business, and they're selling everything to the walls). Over the summer and fall, we'll be scouring estate sales and garage sales to find new goodies. 

Meanwhile, on other fronts, here's a little seed bead "sketch" of a pewter skull bracelet or choker design -- most likely both -- that I think is a keeper. It'd make a great anklet if anyone is interested.

Here are the finished the antique glass necklaces (I believe the beads are from Afghanistan) -- blue tube beads with coloured spots -- that I put together for Brenda, my fellow vendor, who has Showcase 861. She's got great sterling silver pendants and spectacular semi-precious silver rings all at incredible prices. You gotta check her out. 

 Thanks for looking!