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.