Friday, March 30, 2012

Pearls and Shells and Beads, Oh, My!



Almost a necklace

The necklace is almost finished.  I want to lacquer the shell with a satin finish to give it some strength and maybe a little more depth of color.  I went out to find some lacquer at WalMart, but I'm not sure I want enough to do a small yacht.  Maybe the hobby shop in town will have enough to do an average sized model of a yacht.  I'll try there next.

Pesky beads and thread
The most difficult part of this was the dangles from the shell.  I wanted them to have some movement and strength, so I used doubled heavy duty thread.

The beads and thread didn't want to cooperate, at all with each other.  The beads kept turning away as I prodded them with the thread, and the thread kept splitting back into its two parts as I tried jamming it into the almost big enough holes.   There was much sighing, groaning, squinting, pursing of lips, tongue biting and shaking of hands.  All of these things eventually worked when I did them just right, as I finally got the beads strung onto the thread.

Now I have to figure out how to  attach the dangles to the shell, and the shell to the necklace.  I have never attached thread to metal wire, and it's taking me too long to figure it out.  I'm sure there's an easy way to accomplish this, and fast, too.  It's just going to take me way into eternity to figure out what the fast and easy way is.

Maybe I need a trip to The Beadin' Path in Freeport.  They always have good ideas there.  A trip there though, usually means I'm going to spend money.  I don't know how it happens.  Just suddenly (after an hour) I'm walking out the door with one of their little green or lavender bags with goodies all neatly wrapped in green or lavender tissue paper and a big grin on my face, scooting off to the car to hurry home and unwrap my treasures.

I'm literally like a kid in a candy store.  The good thing is that there are no calories consumed for the same amount of fun as candy is.  The bad thing is that I spend more than I would on candy.

I've gone three weeks as of Sunday, with no sugar.  I think I deserve a trip to my no calorie candy store.


Both delicious and addictive
And now, because I forgot it was Friday and I needed to write a poem...thank you, Elsie, for this idea, to go along with the theme of my seashell necklace...

Crustacean -
a
true
crate
net
star -
a neat
eat

Check out other poetry related links at My Juicy Little Universe.

5 comments:

  1. It's looking good! It is so frustrating when the beads and stringing material won't cooperate. Looks like the shopping was successful. Fun times ahead for you!

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  2. I don't know a thing to help you, but it looks very beautiful, Donna. It's terrific you're making such a gift. And I'll look up your A to Z poetry challenge. Perhaps I can follow along in your footsteps. This is what we did last year, remember? I'm excited about April, but sad to leave this challenge, too. I love your poem-have to try it later.

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    Replies
    1. I have a few A to Z posts scheduled to go. Have to double check that they are truly ready. Should be a fun, fun month. I do miss the March challenge though! I guess Tuesdays and Fridays will be double posts that go along with A to Z. I'll meet you there! Only one day to go!

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  3. It takes such patience to make jewelry. Poetry is equally difficult. I am just an admirer of both.

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  4. Ooh, that's beautiful! I love necklaces like that, I wish I had the talent to create them

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