This afternoon I went out to Jacci's house to play with her beads and make some jewelry. We had planned to do this last weekend, but I ended up staying home sick. I have my own beads and equipment, but I am an amateur. Jacci, however, knows what she's doing. Before she became a certified gem appraiser, she had her own business making and marketing jewelry. She also has all all the trimming and trappings that are necessary to make a nice piece of jewelry.
The pendant is vintage, and Jacci picked it up at an auction some time ago. She gave it to me a couple of years ago. I've looked at it, and even worn it on a chain, but I wanted to make it a permanent part of necklace. I picked up some of the jasper beads last September when we went to the Marshalltown Bead Bash, and Jacci let me use some of her beads as well.
I've been thinking about how I wanted to put these beads together, so for a change, when I started laying things out on the beading tray, my plan came together pretty quickly.
Then it was time to string the beads. I used a brown stainless steel tiger tail. It was flexible and very easy to work with me. Once I had things together, Jacci helped me tie off the ends. She used gold wire to attached the final bead and pendant.
I am very pleased with my necklace.
