All That Glitters is Not Gold

…but this is.

I thought – since I was wearing it to church today anyway – I’d share some new jewelry that I made a week or so ago. Hmm. You know what’s harder than taking a picture of a hat you’re wearing? Trying to get a good shot of the jewelry you have on. Let’s try again:

Right. Well, as you can see this is a necklace-and-earring  set; chains and findings are gold-plated (cheaper but still nice, shiny, and hypoallergenic) and all the beads are amber. Here’s a shot of one of the earrings:

Amber beads are attached to the 5-loop hoop finding with good ol’ headpins. Of course, the necklace is the piece I’m most excited about, and I finally had to take it off to get a decent shot of it.

Not a great shot, (the sun is not shining on us today) but a decent shot. This it the first piece I’ve ever made with chain and I think it looks great; it was also much easier to make this style of necklace than I’d thought it would be. You just stick an eyepin (or, in my case, a decapitated headpin with one end looped) through a bead and round the other end with your handy-dandy round-nosed pliers: ta-da! You have a beaded link to attach to your chain segments. The two strands were joined with  jump rings, which were then threaded through the loops of the lovely toggle closure. A bit time-consuming, but not difficult.

I’m really pleased with the set; I wanted something formal enough to wear with dresses but casual enough to wear with jeans and a nicer casual shirt.  Bingo! Plus, the colors go really well with brown….and I wear so much brown that Greg makes fun of me for it. Whatever. I think I look nice in warm browns and golds.