It's been a while...

...but, our lovely daughter got married Saturday and I've been a little busy!  I've been documenting the projects I took on for the big day with photos, so you may see some of them soon.  I didn't handcraft much for the wedding because I didn't want to be overwhelmed with projects, but I did do a few things.  Just enough, actually, to enjoy the making without overwhelming myself with things that needed to be made. 

But, that being said, all the planning left me little time to blog.  And, I do have a bead crochet necklace I made a few months ago that I wanted to share. 

I found the ceramic rings at a bead show in February and I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them.  I have to apologize to the artist who makes these rings because I had her card so that I could give her a nod when I posted this necklace, but like many things the last few months, the card has been misplaced!  I hope to have my life revert to what is considered normal for me now that the bride and groom are off starting their new life!  But, I digress!  When I found these rings I thought they would look great on a bead crochet rope made from black beads.  I have a large amount of black size 8 beads left over from some project from long ago and I had been looking for the perfect compliment for using them.  Another bonus to making this necklace was that I got to use my bead spinner for the first time.  I've always made ropes with at least three colors of beads, so that requires counting and the bead spinner doesn't work.  Well, this same color rope gave me the opportunity to try my hand at the bead spinner.  It was fun to use, and my husband and I had some laughs as the beads flew out and all over the kitchen floor!  The hazards of being a new bead spinner!  But, the beads do collect on the thread much more quickly than stringing them individually. 



As I worked on this I was trying to decide how to finish the ends.  I really didn't want to use a metal bead cap.  Shortly after I started working on the necklace I ordered Linda Lehman's book on making bead crochet ropes, Bead Crochet Ropes: Tool, Tips and 15 Projects.  It's a great book for anyone interested in learning how to do bead crochet ropes.   In the book are directions for creating a bead cap using herringbone stitched caps.  That was the perfect solution to my problem of how to finish the rope. 

I ended up with a perfect little bead cap without having to use a metal cap.  I know it's unusual for me not to want to make something with different materials incorporated into it, but I really wanted this to have a clean look to it.  Which then brought me to the clasp!  I didn't have a black, or even a gunmetal, clasp that would hold the weight of the necklace, so I made my own out of black art wire.  I was pleased with the results.

This picture isn't the best, but I made a hook and loop out of 18 gauge black art wire.  I used the method described in Linda's book for attaching a clasp, which made finishing the whole thing very easy. 

I've worn this necklace a lot because it's so basic.  Not really flashy, but bold, which the new bride would say was soooo me!!!

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  I'll try to do better with my posting, but for now I hope you have a good day while I go put my feet up and enjoy the lack of things to be done!