Chain chain chain – Chain for Beads

Forgive me. I had that tune in my head all day.

Not only do I like to buy old jewelry for the beads, but for the chains as well. I do not get to use it a lot as it has not been in my comfort zone. I have a lot of time now devoted just to jewelry so I am trying to stretch my skills and think outside of the box I have been beading in for about two years.

I used this silver chain to add dimension to these turquoise earrings. I have had several people ask me to duplicate these. I will when I find the right beads.

Worth the weight

I used this steel chain to lengthen a stretchy bracelet that I often take on vacation.

I have this massive hunk of necklace to take apart soon. I am eager to find a use for all of this faux wealth.

Big hunk of fake. Do not confuse with a big fake hunk.

The other night I was loving life after a large glass of wine and two mixed drinks. All were consumed within the safety of my living room before I wandered into Beadland. I even had the foresight to hand wash my wine glass before picking up my needlenose pliers.

I pulled out all of the little silver chains I had left from a necklace I long long ago disassembled. I have been ooing and aahing over all the delicate pieces other artists are able to create so I knew I wanted to create something delicate.

The center bead came out of a grab bag.

Complete pistachio and grape necklace

The bead caps all came out of a mixed lot of bead caps.

Bead caps in place

I settled on these purple glass beads after going back and forth for a while on the exact shade that might match the center piece.

Another use of those darn headpins

I let the length of the piece be determined by how much chain I had. I wanted to use it all. That meant my necklace ended up being 23.5 inches long. Hey, I did have three drinks. When the beads start telling you how to arrange them, you just go along, ok?

When I got to the end of the necklace and had attached the cutesy heart toggle, I realized I still had a few tiny matching beads that I had wanted to use. So I added a tiny headpin with the last of the matching beads.

Just a little extra

I pranced across the house to the man cave and my husband oohed and ahhed appropriately. He is good at that.

Successful use of chain

15 minutes later I pranced across the house again to show him the earrings I quickly assembled. These went a lot faster than the necklace. I am becoming pretty quick with the headpins after a lot of practice.

Pistachio and grape colored – not edible

I think I succeeded. Now to find more chain to play with.