Jewelry - Oui; Drilling - Non!

Yeah, so, the whole "learn to love power tools" experiment over the weekend was an expensive and dismal failure. I ruined about 10 pieces trying to drill holes in them. I should've known better, though, really. I mean, I'm an ex-sorority girl who wears pearls with everything, loves high heels and gets mani-pedis on a regular basis. Power tools are not my destiny.

The vise works well, though. I can now hold anything I want in place for however long I want.

Go, me.

I think I'll go back to regular jewelry-making where the worst injury I can suffer is arm-strain from holding my pliers too tightly.







I originally made these without the pink jade rounds, but they seemed kind of blah. I felt a jolt of color was in order.

Now, though, I'm afraid the pretty vermeil beads are too covered up. I tried moving the pink beads down to the bottom link but then the line of the earrings looked unbalanced. So, these are probably going to languish in the "to be revised" pile until I get this figured out. I like the color combo, though.

Then, it was time to use one of the many resin pendants I've created over the last couple of weeks. I just love this bird and fruit image and fortunately, it has the exact colors in it that a work friend is looking at using in her wedding - chocolate brown and tangerine. She wants me to design the bridesmaid jewelry so this was a chance to show her those colors in action.

Here's a closeup of the pendant. I want to do some research and find out what kind of bird this is. Yes, I know, I am a total dork, but whatever.

I found these Swaro crystals in a color called "Sun" and it worked just PERFECTLY with the chocolate brown pearls. Obviously, the wedding design would be a lot simpler and not have a pendant or chains, but I think it really helped the bride-to-be get an idea of how the colors would look together and she was able to get out her fabric swatches and everything matches like a dream - which is a miracle because that NEVER happens!

I am in love with this clasp. I wish I'd bought more of them when I was at the Pasadena bead show and of course, I can't remember the name of the vendor!

All in all...pretty happy with this one. Came together very easily and it was one of those "flash" ideas that just came into my head basically done.

Quite refreshing after the whole drilling disaster.

KJ