Hello Everyone as some of you may know I've been busy for the last few weeks creating some new designs which I hope you will all find as exciting as I do.
First a little background. In the past couple of years the popularity of Kumihimo, Viking Knit, and various other rope type necklaces has become increasingly popular.
The size of these ropes means that you either have to make a bail out of beads or find something with a very large hole. As there doesn't seem too be many choices with large holes I decided to make a selection of slides and pendants to accommodate these large cords.
So today I would like to announce my new line of slides, pendants and cones that are made specifically for these large cord designs.
I have the first of them all listed in the shop on my website in the
'New Items' category
For a limited time I am offering an introductory sale price of 10% off the regular price. You will see the sale price in
RED under the regular price and the discount will be applied when you check out. This way you can see what the regular price is and your savings for jumping in early to try out these new pieces.
I have made several that are focal pendants on their own, such as the first photo shown here, as well as some slides that are decorative but also have a hole to make it easy to attach your own pendant to the cord. The first photo shown to the right shows you one of these new designs from the front. In the second photo you can see the large hole that goes through the back of the design.
I also recruited a couple of people to be guinea pigs for this project so I could make sure that they worked the way I envisioned and so that I could show you some beautiful finished pieces. I would like to send out special a Thank You to Jennifer Van Benschoten of
Van Beads and Linda Roberts of
BeadsForever on Etsy for all their time, help and suggestions in this project.
Here is the first of those pieces I have to show you made by Jennifer Van Benschoten. It is a lovely dutch spiral rope utilizing one of the slide sets that I call the 'Long Leafy Slide Set'. She has hung a bead and a Peruvian ceramic leaf off the bottom of it accenting it perfectly. This particular set has the largest hole in the slider of any of the sets and would easily accommodate multi strand designs as well as large ropes such as this one. You can see more shots of this beautiful piece in the gallery on my website. It is the
Leafy Slider Necklace and it will be available for purchase from
Van Beads
This is just one example of the beautiful things you can make with these slides. I will be showing you more project photos as they become available.
Any of you that know me know that I love large bold designs but really hate jewelry that it heavy. So you will find that these slides and pendants while rather large are very lightweight and easy to wear.
Another problem with these large cords are how to finish them off at the end before you attach a clasp. Most of the cones available are too small for the larger cords. So I have also made a variety of cones. Some of the cones will be sold separately in pairs others will be included with a matching slide as part of a complete necklace set. Such as this beautiful round flower set.
One of the problems we encountered in this project was that some of the cones have a very large opening and they don't work as well with the smaller cord types. So I am making all of the fancy cones in an additional smaller size that will work better with the smaller kumihimo cords and other smaller diameter cords. This will make all of these designs even more flexible allowing for greater choices in the types of cords and sizes that you can use with them. I'm anxious to see some multi strand designs in these as well. I guess I'm a bit partial to multi strand pieces but I think they have lots of interest and movement making them lots of fun both to do and to wear.
I have made up a variety of these designs in various colors and styles and I hope that you will embrace them and use them for your holiday necklace designs. Visit the
BEAD SHOP to get your introductory discount.
Hello Everyone here we are with installment two of my New Slide Designs. This gorgeous necklace is the second of the samples that Jennifer Van Benschoten of Van Beads has done. You can see more photos of this wonderful necklace on my website in the gallery Dragonfly Slide Necklace This one has got to be my favorite so far. I can hardly wait to see what she does with the cab she has and the other slide too. I really like the golden colors and they are so perfect for fall too. The seed beads she chose to go with this slide are just totally perfect. This is a perfect example of how these pieces can go together with a nice rope and result in a fabulous necklace.
Here is another of these slides. This one has head pin loops added across the bottom for a fringe. This is an option that I may include on several of the designs if people like it. Let me know what you think. I also have a couple more of these that I still have to photograph.
