School's out well, until tomorrow, the bees are buzzing, the leaves are back on the trees, and the cardinal that likes to sit outside my bedroom window and tweet loudly at 6am is back: summer must be close! This time around I'm all about earthy tones and using materials and colors that reflect my mood for the season. Example:
Exhibit A
This bracelet was made using copper chain and jump rings from a local store, and the beautiful copper-plated pewter charms. When I think of summer, I think of earth tones, animals, and all the irritating insects nature can throw at you (as you can probably tell, I'm not really an "outdoor person"). I also used Artbeads.com's swarovski crystal pendants.
A lot of time went into making the necklace, and I think it ended up with kind of an awesome steampunk feel to it. I twisted the chain a lot, and left some loops at the end to add more texture and character, and I think it worked out really well. I like it a lot better than the chain I was originally going to use. The smaller chain added without overshadowing the charms and crystals like the textured chain would have done.
As for the Artbeads products themselves, I am especially impressed with the charms. I don't usually like copper (I associate it with dirty pennies) but these charms are very cute, very shiny, and very sturdy. The plating seems to be staying on rather well, despite the fact that I wear this thing every chance I get. I'm pretty hard on my jewelry too, so it's important to me to have sturdy, well-made charms like this. I am also head-over-heels in love with the crystal flower pendants. They're so cute, so fashionable, so hard to break, and they just work so nicely with the copper. The only problem I had was getting a small-size ring onto them to attach the charms to the chain.
One last photo (because I want to show off my raku vase):
Isn't it beautiful?
(Let's go ahead and put the legal stuff here, shall we? I am not being paid by Artbeads.com for my opinion on their items. I have received the above pictured items free of charge and am reviewing them honestly. Anything else in these photos was bought and paid for by me from other locations.)
