Get Your Credit Card Ready

What? You thought I was kidding about the pay-per-view bead porn?

Listen, people, I have a SERIOUS bead habit that needs to be supported so work with me here.

Oh, and you're also responsible for providing your own drool bibs. I'm not running a charity here ;-)

Sterling silver butterfly charm from Cathy Dailey on Etsy. She really offers a great selection of stuff: Green Girl Studios, Zoa Art, and her own metalwork in silver, bronze and even shibuichi.

She made these silver bead caps, too. And I find her prices to be quite reasonable.

Cute little silver flower link also from Cathy Dailey. I'm picturing this set asymmetrically on the side of a delicate, multi-strand necklace or maybe hanging as a center pendant with dangles coming off the bottom loop.

"Ice Cube" lampwork beads from Kool Kat Klass on Etsy in cheerful shades of pink, yellow, green and white. A friend of mine just made a necklace using a similar set of beads in lavender and aqua with some purple Swaro crystals and silver chain and it is just GORGEOUS. I practially ripped it out of her hand when I saw it LOL! The clear encasing on these beads really gives them a lot of depth and sparkle and then when you add crystals, well, kapow! is all I can say.

I bought a lampwork focal bead a while back in shades of pink, orange white and yellow. Only to realize that I had NO orange beads to go with it. So, I went back to Blue Seraphim on Etsy and grabbed this set of spacers. Don't they look like orange candy?

While I was on her site, I got sucked into buying more of her nugget-style beads. Not only is this aqua-with-iridescence color amazing, but I really like the organic shape of these beads.

More nuggets - in earth tones this time. I did a necklace with a similar set of beads a couple of weeks ago and paired it with antique brass chain and wire and I was really happy with it. And hey, I am not ashamed to take a good idea and run it into the ground ;-)

See? Plus, I thought this was an interesting color mix. It has my favorite aqua and blue colors, but also has some fall-like elements mixed in with the golden yellow and the deep red. Kinda cool.

I was looking ahead to potential Valentine's Day designs when I bought this set of etched disks from HMB Studios on Etsy. Then they arrived and I was...less excited when I saw them in person. NOTHING to do with the beads or vendor. I think my perception just changed. Well, okay, the kidlet changed it for me when he saw the beads on my work table and pronounced "Those look like a BIG owie...all bloody and bruised and stuff."

Thanks, kid.

But, of course, I'd also bought a set of spacers to coordinate with the disks so I'm going to have to get creative and figure out a way to make this work. My original idea for using them in a bracelet (like I've done with past disk beads) is not going to work. I'm going to have to separate these out. Maybe they will be less "owie-looking" if they're not all piled together?

Do you think the rest of the world realizes the terrible design dilemmas that we, as jewelry designers, are forced to contend with on a daily basis?

Makes the whole health care debate kind of pale in significance, doesn't it?

Hope you enjoyed the beads and have a great weekend!

KJ