bead world update

Happy March!  I’m ready for warm weather…I can’t help it.  I’ve officially started planning my garden, both in my head and on paper. I’m organizing thoughts on what I want to work on around the house this spring, mostly its out door projects that I’m getting excited about.  For now all I can really do is think and plan.  I haven’t given up on beads though, in fact I’ve been pretty productive this week.  Here is a pic of my wine bottle bead bracelets, it’s an in progress picture.  There are four bracelets to the left that are mostly done.  They just need clasps.  Then the four to the right are the bracelets that need to be made.  I hand wrapped all the wire and my finger and thumb were bruised for a day!  Silver is a bit harder than copper so even at the 24g it gets tough on the fingers and finger nails!  I used combination of sterling silver and copper wire.  The other beads in each bracelet are either sterling silver, copper, gemstone, or a glass crystal.  I love the way they look together.  I mean they look great individually but I was trying them on w/ two or three and it’s a bit heavy for my taste but they accent each other extremely well.  I love working with the greens and two blues.  Makes me wish I had some more, I know there are several different shades of green that can be found in wine bottles.  And I LOVE the fact that they are recycled. 

For the record, b/c I’ve been asked this several times, I’m not switching to jewelry.  I have very much enjoyed creating bracelets last month, so much so that I’ve gone through a ton of wire and actually gotten some fresh ideas for some different bracelets.  Still this is just for fun for me right now.  I still can’t see myself making jewelry just because, like I do the flowers.  All these bracelets already have some destination set…although which one goes where is still uncertain.  And to prove I’m actually working on flowers here is a snap shot of my work desk at the moment.  The current flowers being worked on are in the tray in the lower right.  There are two flowers in there that have been incubating in my head for over 6 months.  Other things on the desk are a few other in progress flowers that need centers.  You can also see my small bowl of lampwork from Misty.  Both pictures will enlarge if you click on them.  Surprisingly, the work desk is considerably clean.  I did most of my bead work today downstairs so everything moved from the desk into the tray.  I have lots of work to do and more ideas on the way.  Plenty to keep me busy while I wait impatiently for the weather to warm up a bit.

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