Beading

I made a new necklace today. I am a rock tramp.

I went to the local rock shop to buy a piece of agate to send to Sebastian to take with him when he deploys. I want him to have a little something to remind him of me, and agate is said to be the "ultimate" protective gem, and it certainly can't hurt!

Of course, while I was there, I bought myself a little something too! (Ya I know, so much for my lent sacrifice ...)

So this is my new necklace I just made; the centre piece is Banded Agate, and the beads are Botswana Agate:

I thought while I was at it, I would document a few of my other recent experiments/creations.

This is a lapis lazuli choker I made. Lapis is (usually) from the Khyber pass in Afghanistan ~ you can see why I wanted some. It is associated with friendship, truth, love, self confidence, and intuition. The spacer beads are pewter.

The next one is on a purchased woven silk band; the stone is a polished cabachon of Jasper (I think). Jasper is associated with compassion, completion, relaxation and contentment.

This one is also jasper; and an experiment working boot bands into necklaces. It am not happy with it yet, and I am still playing with the idea.

The last necklace for tonight; this one is crystal, with a simple silver celtic trillium pendant. After I was finnished, I thought I might have been channelling my great-grandma when I made it, it kind of reminds me of her.

Finally, the thing that started it all: when the Wolf and I became a couple, I "stole" a couple of his boot bands and started wearing them as a bracelet. I have worn them ever since (not the same ones, silly, they don't last that long!) I started with olive, and switched to tan when he did. The string of beads on the far left of the photo are rhyolite; not only did they match the olive boot bands well, they are said to moderate emotion, help with working toward goals, and ease lonliness. The middle band, created when the tans went on, is a mix of rhyolite and tiger jasper.

Self control

If anyone knows where I might find some, please let me know ....

I like to support local agriculture, which means finances (and freezer space) are a bit tight this week.  See, my beef person and my lamb persona both killed a few weeks ago, so I have, counting part of a deer, a couple of turkeys, and some fish, close to 300 lbs of meat in my freezer at the moment.  And I should really only be buying essentials until next pay day.

It seems I need to re-define "essentials".

There is an awesome pewter and rock shop near my house, with a great section for beaders - lots of pewter and sterling beads and findings, plus an amazing selection of stones, in many shapes, sizes, and cuts.  I always spend too much money when I am in there. 

I convinced myself I could stop in today and only buy a package of lobster clasps I "needed".

Riiiiight.

I grabbed my lobster clasps, and then thought "Oh, I'll just take a look, get some ideas", and I saw this:

This is "Mookite"  or Mook Jasper, from Mooka Creek in Australia.  I knew nothing about it except I liked it, and was really drawn to it.  When I looked it up (just now!) it is said to have healing and grounding properties, and to be good for "moving on in life".   Hmmmmmm.

I also found these:

They were listed as "fusion goldstone" - fused regular and dyed blue goldstone is my guess.  They are 4mm size.  I bought 2 lengths (about 30" in total).  I think they will look quite nice when combined with a silver triskele that recently came into my keeping.

So much for my "just lobster clasps".

Sigh.

Guess I'm eating a lot of meat between now and payday.