Multi-Strand Woven Necklace with Agate. Puppy update.

“Celtic Twilight”

This necklace has many fascinating beads with too many stories, so I shall focus only on the amazing agate stone centerpiece which has two sides and two personalities.  I will list all the beads for my readers’ information.

Agate really is just a stone living in volcanic host rocks discovered in the third century on the shore of a river in Sicily…think Mt. Etna.

Most agates are hollow and in the form of a geode.  Slices like this one are cut from the outside of the geode; the inside is called drusy quartz.   This agate is probably Brazilian identified by its brown color interlaced with white and gray with striking layered bands.  This is high end agate; ordinary agate is found as gravel in streams.

 

The stone centerpiece pictured here and above inspired this necklace’s colors:  warm and inviting.

 

It can be worn on either side.

 

This is a woven necklace with four strands started at the bottom.  The threads were pulled through the agate and then four threads were each loaded with beads, looped through a main bead, knotted, and so on, up each side.  The clasp is vermeil (14k gold over sterling silver).

 

Here is a list of my favorite beads in the necklace:  yellow and white “sugar beads”, my name, called crackle glass by other beaders; copal, opaque and beigey, which I have often described as young amber; white vintage Japanese cut glass; small white-striped  Venetian trade beads; semi-precious citrine chips; yellow jade; pale yellow vintage pre-war German pressed glass (three are seen at the clasp).

This necklace measures 21″ plus 7″ for the centerpiece and dangles.  It weighs 6.8 ounces.  It is not heavy to me since it is dispersed over 4 strands. Wear your own gold earrings with it.  $145.

Here is Max, the Labradoodle, now 19 weeks old.  Still a pesky puppy, but doing well in  obedience classes.  He is showing loving traits, follows me everywhere, and loves being outside!

May 1, 2018: AMBER.2.Faux Amber (Resin)

 

“Heaven’s Gate”

One of the treasures I found while revisiting the Amber drawer was some faux amber beads I found in an outdoor market in Bhutan, a landlocked Himalayan nation in South Asia. Its 800,000 citizens are surrounded by India, Tibet and Nepal. They are peaceful Buddhists. Instead of GDP, Bhutan measures Happiness.

I knew the necklace was faux, but I bought it for the memories, not only of scenic Bhutan, but of the last trip Don and I made together before the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease were unleashed. Now, five years after Don’s death, I release these beads into the world. May they be someone’s personal measure of Happiness!

It was a gift of the two-toned resin beads from fellow artist Donna Goes* that made me think of the Bhutanese beads and I think they pair well together.

I added sterling silver beads and a Tibetan centerpiece of copal with pretty silver work.

Ah, copal:  another twist to the Amber story. For 23 years, I have described it as “young amber,” just to make it more understandable to my clients, but always labeled it as copal. Now that I’ve researched it, I was correct: it is tree resin, like amber, but has not completed its fossilization. It is measured in thousands of years; Amber in millions. Copal is softer, opaque, citrine in color.

Weight: 8 ounces

Length: 20”

Price: $79

Size of largest bead: roughly 5/8” from hole to hole by 1” high.  Centerpiece:  1.75″ hole to hole by 1″ high.

Wear your silver earrings.

*Read Donna Goes’ story and see her amazing fused plastic paintings at www.luckylife.com.

 Heads up! Visit us both + 38 other talented artists at Hull Artists’ 23^rd annual Open Studios Art Tour on July 7-8 & August 18-19.