Well, finally the last piece of bling-ed out jewellery that I made that I’ll share here is this clear white crystal necklace. This includes beads from Michaels and Beads & Plenty more, along with a toggle clasp from Michaels, and silver leather cord from Suzie Q beads.
Full necklace, with flash.
You might have noticed I’ve done a lot of bling-y projects in the last while. Part of this is my inner magpie shouting out for shiny things, and part of it is just out of availability. Having a nice stash of bright, sparkly beads, means it’s easier to put things together in that theme.. though I have yet to WEAR all of the new pieces I’ve added to my collection!
This necklace was put together partially out of leftovers from other projects…
Blue and green large-hole bead necklace.
I am not normally a super bling-y person… but in the past while I’ve been all over super-bling-y, rhinestone-encrusted, crystal-covered necklaces. (I’ve also been looking for an awesome clear crystal statement ring, with no luck. Size 9 if you’re curious… tee hee)
While in Toronto, I picked up these enormous, super-bling’d out beads. They’re HUGE (well, there are three sizes, and the largest is huge) and totally covered in rhinestones. You can barely make out any of the metal for all of the shine on these babies…
Of course, rather than just looping one on a discreet silver chain and calling it a day, I had to use them all. All together. At once. SUPER BLING OVERLOAD!
I actually toyed with these for a while, trying to figure out what to do with them. Did I want something long and dangly, with lots of mellow black cut glass beads between them? Did I want to go really high-contrast and toss them on some thick black leather cord, with chunky knots to divide them and hold them in place? Did I want a shorter necklace that was just non-stop bling?
Super bling overload – shown on my dressform
While I know that my blogging has been a bit inconsistant, it’s not for lack of craftiness! Although right now I haven’t been sewing a lot, I have been making a few cute accessories that I’ll share soon!
In the meantime, here’s a super blinged out photo of three of my recent projects which I’ll be blogging about soon!
Three new necklaces I recently made – posts about them coming soon!
After looking at the pattern for the inspiration black and red piece (as mentioned in my previous Kumihimo post), I wanted to do a black and red one too – I love black and red together, and it reminds me of the logo colours (and song lyrics) for one of my favorite Finnish metal bands, Turisas.
Disc set up with a 12-strand set; 8 strands of red and 4 of black.
The disc set up is a 12-strand (different than the 8-strand I did for the beaded bracelets) with 8 strands of red and 4 of black. The resulting braided cord is a red cord with a winding black thread. I love it! I’ve ordered a silver Mjölnir from a seller on Etsy which I’ll use with this cord. I’ll have to wait until I can get the pendant before finishing the cord – just in case the hole is only sufficient to accommodate the cord, and not also the end caps. I want to go with a Viking-esque feel because the resulting cord reminds me a bit of Viking knit (which I also want to learn!) and I think the whole effect will be great – plus a substantial pendant deserves a substantial and interesting cord! I might do the reverse (a black cord with a winding red thread) for another, similar project.
The finished black and red cord.
I picked up some beautiful horse-head end caps at Beads & Plenty more (the same place I got the disc and cord) for $.75 each which echo the feeling of a lot of Viking jewellery (torcs) and I think will work great. Hopefully I’ll have a finished project to share soon!
So, I finally finished off the bracelet that I started in the Kumihimo braiding class that I took a while ago, and here it is, along with another I made shortly after!
Finished purple Kumihimo bracelet
(A while back I was in Suzie Q beads and really liked one of the examples in their showcase; kumihimo braiding. Traditionally this is done with silk or cord, but they had done it with vibrant leather cord, and added in lovely bits of sparkle with beads.
I made a mental note to look into Kumihimo braiding (and maybe take a class) but didn’t get much chance, until I saw a class being offered through a Continuing Education catalogue in their craft section. The price was a bit steep (though it did include most of the materials, although not all) but the date was the big problem – the class was set to take place at the same time as a birthday celebration I had committed to attending. I did a quick look online and found out that Beads & Plenty More http://www.beadsandplentymore.ca/classes.html also offered a similar class, so I signed up for it!
A few months ago, while browsing Etsy, I really liked some of the spike bead/charms ( I was looking for something similar…) and thought about ordering some, but ended up passing it by for the time being. Shortly after that I was in Michael’s Craft store and found the new (and apparently short-lived, since I haven’t seen much of it since) Legends line from Bead Landing.
“The Bead Landing™ Legends™ collection is all about rock glam. Come on all you cherry bombs, schools out for summer and it’s time to rock. You’ll find so many great chains, pendants, charms, and embellishments to create the most epic creations ever.” – Michael’s
spiked bracelet
There were a few interesting pieces in the collection, but the only thing I picked up was the chain with those spike bead/charms on it. I bought three cards, and deconstructed one of them to extend the length and add spikes to the other two chains. I shortened one of the spike-decorated chains, and then attached the two together, then adding some of the leftover chain to the ends, and finishing them with a toggle clasp. (Which isn’t a perfect match, but works at least for the time being.) I might wear it for a while, and embellish it a little more later if I think it still needs something….
spiked bracelet
In the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments below!
In February I was in Toronto (a 3,400 km trip to see Finnish Battle Metal giants Turisas along with Firewind and Stolen Babies) and on my last day in Toronto I had the chance to walk along Queen Street in the Fashion District and look at fabric and bead shops. I could have spent hours in the fabric stores if I had more time (and an empty suitcase..) but since I was also with a non-sewing friend, it was harder to spend the time I would have liked. However, the bead stores were fair game for both of us, and we popped into a number of different places.
Rhinestones galore!
I did a few posts a while ago of two necklaces, the silver feathers and the hematite necklace, but didn’t have the chance to get a self-photo.
A while back I did take some photos, but forgot to load them up!
Finally I was going through some photos that I had to still load up, so here they are!
Silver Feathers necklace
Above is the silver feathers necklace, and below is the hematite necklace, along with a band t-shirt I altered. I hopefully will have a post about altering shirts at some point too…
Hematite necklace and a HIM t-shirt I altered
