Earrings With Inner and Outer Beauty

My most recent beads are my idea of the perfect earring bead:  combining transparent glass with ivory and fine silver.

I had a really strong desire to see these beads made up in that natural, aged metal look that is so romantic and popular.  So i got out my sterling silver wire stash, and zapped off some rustic headpins by using my torch to melt the end of the 22 gauge wire into a ball of silver, then measuring 1.5 inches and snipping it off.

The round dot of color on my beads called for a round ear wire, i decided, so i wrapped 20 gauge sterling wire around one of my son's drum sticks, and snipped off the coils at a point just past the end of each wrap. I carefully filed each end to smooth and round them, and then i used rounded needle nose pliers to loop up one end.

I hard boiled two eggs and while it was still quite hot, i peeled and cut one egg into fourths and put it in a jar.  I then placed all of my silver findings into an open area of the jar and sealed it up.

I then ate the second egg in a salad with red lettuce, avocado, and tomato, cracked black pepper and ranch dressing...  but this is not a necessary step in making the earrings.  :-)

After about 45 minutes the sulfur from the hard boiled egg in the jar had darkened the silver findings to a nice dark patina, so rinsed them off and wiped them down.

When the light catches the domed face of my one of my beads, it positively glows, like moonstone, or like there is a light source within it.  Very fetching little earrings.  Available for purchase in my The Bead You Need etsy shop.

Newest Biz Card

Business cards are fun little pieces of paper advertising.  I enjoy designing them, but the tech stuff always frustrates me since i only know the most basic aspects of Word.  I wanted to make a new card for The Bead You Need, whose purpose is to be free for the picking up at a fundraiser that a customer of mine is involved in.  They will be auctioning (or something) a couple of my "Sock It To Cancer" sock monkey beads.  Good luck!!

So here is my new biz card, but i also want to show one of the neatest cards i have collected: the old tinted photo of the bathing beauties of Neal' Lodges.

Paw Prints Galore

I have been using my paw print beads in my GemBonz jewelry items, but now the loose beads are available in The Bead You Need etsy shop.

I have listed the "Petal Paws" pink version and the "Turquoise Toes" blue version, but i am always happy to work with customers to make beads in the colors that they desire.