Bead Hoarding

Bead Hoarding

I stated in an earlier blog that I joined the Bead Hoarders Blog Hop (Hoard is such a perverse term, I prefer stash, it sounds normal to me... OK, that is the first part of having a problem isn't it?), and if you haven't seen the page, go to Pretty Things Blog and see about the Bead Hoarders Blog Hop and see what it is about. The registration is closed, but when the reveal comes around, you can go to all the blogs and see the amazing designs that these great bead crafty designers came up with!!

OK, so mine is going to be beads, but not bead weaving, the old eyes are still not cooperating very much, I am several types of drops into the therapy, or whatever they will call it, and it isn't much better. The drops are to help with the swelling of my retina, we will see where it goes after that. I can tell the difference in the way my eyes feel. I still  start to type and will get a few minutes into it and I can't see (we'll see how long it takes me to post this! ha) . I can't drive, or shouldn't, but have to get to and from the doctor and pharmacy, and grocery store, but that is my limit. I can't get in the sun, I can't watch tv, can't read, and I haven't done any jewelry really speaking of, for almost a full month..  I am pretty sure that  I am giving up with the notion of crochet, but... saying that...  I found this thread while I was in the work room, looking through the stash,  and I had a flash in my mind of the necklace that I had envisioned when I found the thread. I loved it at first sight, and I touched it....and I knew, It was mine...
 I found this in Penrith at a little charity shop while I was just killing time, waiting for a passing rain shower so we could go explore Penrith Castle. Thankfully the rain subsided quickly and I didn't buy too much!  I did get 6 skeins of this beautiful brown thread, made in England, very soft, and shiny. I envisioned this beautiful Victorian type necklace made with amber crystals and maybe pearls... someday it would be, but...  I say I'm giving up on the idea of a necklace right now, because I can't see to thread the beads onto this, however, if I can get my son to do the stringing......

So the second choice for my design might include this. I found it on sale once and bought some 'cause I love the idea of using the wire mesh to make everything from Christmas ornaments to necklaces... and I have some black and white beads that I really, really need to use. Every Fall, when we go to the football games,  I have people ask me where I get my necklaces or earrings from, and it would be nice to have a few made up ahead of time so I can say... "it just so happens... I have this" and pull out the samples of my wears... sigh....

There are so  many beads that I have that I could use in this... it will be really hard to choose. My first thought when I bought it, the main  thought was white beads or pearls, but... I have purple, pink, green, turquoise, neon green, neon orange that would look great as well... so I just will have to pick which one to use and go with it. Then I can make another with the white and black beads that it was intended for, ha, haha...

I really love this stuff... I have even thought about painting it to change the color, since I only bought black when it was on sale... I bought silver, copper and gold at BeadFest a couple of years ago and I tried heating the copper knit... it didn't ruin it, and it made a nice patina, but I didn't try to do anything else with it, it was kind of expensive. I just can't see paying so much for something so pretty and then ruining it... this mesh, it really wouldn't matter much. because it wasn't expensive... and it is just sitting here...

Then there is this... OK, tell me there is anyone else out there that has gone to Bead Fest and NOT bought something on impulse?
Yes, I said it, impulse.
That has to be the only reason that I bought these.

I don't know what I was thinking. I do love Tiger's Eye, and I have a lot of jewelry made from it, and i just thought the gold dragons were really nice... but... OK, tell me you haven't done this before.

So if that isn't enough to commit me... these might. They were pretty....... and if I don't ever use them for jewelry, I can hang them up in the window, they are that pretty, and yes, I know that it was foolish as well to buy them...but, hey, when I saw them, I was thinking of doing something so different with them, and then... I realized that I was really not ever going to make a wild necklace, so I toned down the idea, and put them away.

Now these, these are pretty, so I can't be blamed for buying them, and I can't say that I have ever regretted the purchase, even though they have been sitting in the drawer with my other nice  stones that I just haven't gotten around to using.

I love blue, I really love blue.. and anytime I find any, especially this color of blue, or the turquoise colors, or  Lapis Lazuli I will buy it. It has to be an illness. Has to be.
I do have a string of Lapis, I just have it already spoken for, so I am not even going to drool over it tonight. These are the candidates for this blog hop, and that is the only project that I will allow myself to think about right now.

 These... I don't even know what they are called, but I really like them, the way they are cut makes them look like they have these tribal designs, and that is why I bought them. I love that look, but I really don't have a lot that will "go" with them, and just don't know what to do with them. Oh, I know what I want to do, but I won't go out and buy anything else to do this project. I will not... see, I don't need therapy... really, I don't.
 Bone and some kind of pearl, maybe a brown, and maybe some wood would look nice with these. I have...somewhere, back in the back of my hoard  stash, a bunch of hand made wooden beads. I'm pretty sure they are what  I was thinking about when I bought these lovely stone beads...The wood beads came from a necklace that I bought one time, way back, at an estate sale. The necklace was dark wood, with  twisted brass wire, and some really pretty beads. Seems like it cost a whole dollar... It was calling my name. Anyway, I bought this handmade necklace, and I came home all inspired. I thought it was such a cool idea, and why can't I do something like that? well...I could and did. But... I had a new baby at the time, and I just didn't have the time or patience to make more than a few handmade beads, so they all got packed away, nice and neat, and it got put in a safe place. You know that place... the "it will never be found again" place? but if that place happens to be found in the next few days, I will for sure use those wooden beads with these.

The reveal is July 20th, and I can hardly wait, but I'll have to decide what I will do, or if possible, maybe two things to make, or three... ha, wish me luck! When decided, there will be updates, it isn't one of those that I have to keep secret what I come up with.