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Carnival Necklace

Mon, 2006-12-04 13:51 — Pat from Canvey

A few weeks ago I came across the first issue of a UK Bead magazine The other mags I've seen have all come from USA so I was glad to see this with it's adverts for all things beading from UK suppliers. I liked the look of this necklace but hadn't made any small beads before so put off starting for a while. I finally took the plunge and decided to use red and green glass in honour of the season. I coated about 5 inches of each mandrel and wound 10 beads on each. The bugbear was cleaning all the beads but I'm looking out for an easier way than cleaning by hand with a reamer. All suggestions gratefully accepted. Here's the result.

Carnival Necklace: Beads made with red and green spectrum waterglass. The beads are 5 and 6mm in size and the links are made with 0.8mm 20 gauge gold-plated hobby wire. I had to make just under 300 jump rings and 200 small beads.Carnival Necklace: Beads made with red and green spectrum waterglass. The beads are 5 and 6mm in size and the links are made with 0.8mm 20 gauge gold-plated hobby wire. I had to make just under 300 jump rings and 200 small beads.

I've also taken a close-up of part of the chain:-

Close up of Carnival NecklaceClose up of Carnival Necklace

The "shaggy loops" of the chain can also be used to make earings of whatever length required, just by adding links to an earwire. I've made myself a pair with silver wire and blue beads.

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Mon, 2006-12-04 18:33 — kat
kat's picture

Woah!

That looks like a lot of effort went into it. I don't know whether I could have kept interested in a project such as this so 'respect is due'. It does look very effective. How long is the final item? Is it a necklace as your muse or a bracelet?

I assume you'll be wearing this one? ;-)

Mon, 2006-12-04 20:57 — Pat from Canvey
Pat from Canvey's picture

Necklace

Check the Title of the post Kat; sorry, couldn't resist. It took about four days of and on so not so much effort. The "Five of Us" panel I made years ago took me three months of almost continuous work. I don't have the energy for those sort of projects these days. The necklace is about 20 inches long. If you're very, very good, I'll make you a pair of earings with the same technique but using silver wire.
Did you get your birthday present yet?

Mon, 2006-12-04 22:32 — kat
kat's picture

Just Checking

I wasn't clear whether you'd copied the idea of 'The Carnival Necklace' from the bead magazine or if you'd made what you were calling a 'Carnival Necklace'. :-P

Yes I did get the present that you sent. Thank you. Was it from New Zealand as well or was that only the key fob?

PS: I've made you some more categories so you have somewhere to stick your bead photos and bead related posts so when someone searches for them they are easily found. :-)

Tue, 2006-12-05 08:37 — Pat from Canvey
Pat from Canvey's picture

Present

The heart on the chain was by Emily Lake of Picton in NZ. Her website is at www.emilylake.com
The rest I made excluding the toggle clasp. I hoped the pinkish beads would not detract from the colours in the heart. We visited her studio and house and chatted for about an hour. Her beads are gorgeous and she teaches too. I particularly liked the way she makes her leaf beads without a leaf press and her pendants with Maori motifs.

Tue, 2006-12-12 12:29 — kat
kat's picture

Pictures Displaying Again

OK - I've at least managed to get the pitures to display again, even if they are huge. I'm still trying to figure out this image thing. Sorry for messing with your post for a day.

EDIT: Nope - haven't managed to fix it :-( I've stuck a link at the top for now for anyone who comes in from Silicon Folly so hopefully they'll be able to see the pics. Grrrrr. This image thing is starting to piss me off!