Necklaces

necklace-treasureI can remember loving beads and putting them together before I was 5 years old; those Fisher-Price Pop-It beads were a favorite plaything, and I quickly graduated to real beads and stringing necklaces.

Over the years I’ve made hundreds of necklaces using many techniques, and I’m learning more all the time.

Recently I’ve added bead crochet and metal working to my necklace-making skills.

I’m branching out into more bead embroidery and combining it all to make new pieces. With the help of the local Bead Group, I’m learning things like peyote stitch, right angle weave, kumihimo and more.

lucky-treasures-necklaceA great deal of the fun is found in “putting things together” and finding JUST the right bits and pieces. A strand of shells or coral here,some glass leaves there…

There are so many KINDS of beads, and so many colors, that it really is necessary to have quite a few on hand for a full “palette”. A designer needs some choices!

You don’t have to own a warehouse…but a few strands here and there will always be useful eventually!

Collections grow along the way and while it may take a while, interesting things eventually find their right “home” in a project.

It takes a lot of looking and digging through to unearth those little treasures and bring together all the needed elements for collage, costume, and jewelry work.

Here are some of the necklaces that either photographer Bob Grieser  or I have documented over the years. 

Click on a thumbnail image to see the larger version.