Amber Loooove...

I found two strings of older amber this weekend at an estate sale. I'm assuming the original owner bought them in Eastern Europe during the late '70s to very early '80s since there were several souvenir pictures of John Paul II as a young Pope in the house. I knew what the amber beads were immediately, but I almost passed up the dark beads because I thought they were plastic -- I was fooled by the cut of them, not to mention both strings had been stuffed into tiny Ziploc snack bags -- but it was the glimpse of white string in the dark pack that gave them away. 

The graduated string of cognac amber splinters and nuggets is 32 inches long and the string of graduated 4-sided oval dark amber beads is 28 inches long. 

I'm in my usual state of paralysis here, and have zero idea what to do with these. What other beads would be worthy? Where do I even start???

Thanks for looking!

New Venture... A Jade & Dzi Necklace in Progress... & What's For Dinner?

A little bit of back story -- a year and a half ago I met my new pal Nancy when she showed up at my table at the market looking for crystals, knowledge (hah), jewellery-making lessons... and in return she turned me on to estate sales. A lawn and garage sale veteran of umpteen years, I move to town, hit up garage sales and Goodwill, furnish a place; then get rid of most of the stuff the same way. Move on down the highway, lather and repeat.

But estate sales... ooooh. What a novel concept. Picker entered my vocabulary. Along with the jewellery showcase at the One of a Kind Antique Mall, I now have half a booth (#800) to sell my finds.

After getting up at 6:30 on a beautiful, sunny and finally warm Sunday morning (rain and thunderstorms predicted all this coming week) and driving a few miles down a deserted concession road, lined with more flip, flap, flop and flying red-winged blackbirds than I've ever seen at one time, these were acquired, brought home, washed, priced and went into my booth #800, today:

Of particular note is this score: Camp Life and the Tricks of Trapping by Gibson, 1881, 1st ed. Looks like this is the Canadian edition as the publishing info on the title page is a titch different and it's missing one illustration that I see in the online edition of the book. Tucked inside this particular book was a pamphlet on hunting regulations covering every province in Canada and state in the US for 1903. There are beautifully clear line drawings in the book: how to set traps, how to build a canoe and make camp, etc. I'd keep it, but I think my days in the bush are long gone.

I pulled the hand-carved stopper out of that "whisky" jug, and holy moley, the owner had brewed something fruity in there!

I also got this small table on wheels... thought maybe I could paint the top white... or black... it would make a chic-ish little coffee table...

Tonight for dinner... boned chicken thighs cut up and sauteed in butter and Szechuan sauce on a bed of basmati, green grapes for dessert, with leftovers for three days. Yummers.

I'm in a bit of a bind here. It's been feeling like this has been a year devoid of sales at all the venues, but imperceptibly things have been selling. I look at my table and it seems like all of a sudden there's nothing left to sell, particularly noticeable when people ask for specific items. Oopsies. Better get making new stuff, especially since I'm being moved out of my spot at the market by the coffee pot where I've been since time immemorial. Next Saturday I'll be across the room where Oliver's Farm usually is (half the market moves outside that day) and I'll have tons more display room. Guess I need something to display.

To that end, I started putting this necklace together yesterday. It was sold to me as jade, but... mmmmm, I dunno. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Maybe the bead factory was pushing the envelope a little because, "Hey, this stuff's green; let's call it jade". It's purty though, and since green is one of those colours that for some reason has never done much for me (other than browny-greeny turquoise and Granny Smith apples... and, okay, green grapes), I rarely buy it, let alone use it. So, in the interest of being inclusive to all the lovers of green, because not everyone loveloveloves blue the way I do, here goes.

Green with scattered brown jade beads, handmade Ethiopian copper beads, a rectangular "Dzi" bead -- dunno if this shape would properly be called a Dzi -- but with 2 eyes, etched agate.

Note to new jewellery-makers: tiny jump rings are your friend. They can be placed unobtrusively to subtly spark and set off a long line of beads, the way I've done to "outline" the brown beads, and are also very handy at filling in the gaps that will occur between large beads and large and small beads when the necklace is being worn. It also cushions the wire so over time it doesn't develop an unsightly goink when it comes out of a large focal bead weighting down the bottom of the necklace.

The other thing I'm sure we've all noticed is that bead strings are getting shorter. In this case, I bought two strings, so there are enough beads remaining to make a bracelet and earrings. I'll post more pictures when everything is completed.

To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day, and thanks for looking!