my blog is NOT dead.

Have you heard the rumor that blogging is dead? I guess more and more people are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. I have a facebook account, but, honestly, I never log into it. I'm just not interested in it. I don't have any other social media accounts. I think I would like Pinterest, but I also think I would like it WAY too much, and it would suck up all my free time (or sleep time!). The plain old internet is already addictive enough, I don't need more screen time!

All this to say that, while I have been neglecting my blog (as many others have been too), it's not because I'm busy with other online outlets, and I do not think blogging is dead. I just haven't been making much jewelry lately. I had a BIG push back in May, to make jewelry for the trunk show (see previous post), and I guess I burned myself out. Summer is a busy time of year, and I just couldn't get motivated.
Fall is coming fast. The cooler temps and lower humidity are great weather for jewelry making! And, I actually got my camera out and took some photos!!
So, I apologize for the lapse in posts, and hope you are still reading my blog, when I do post.

Today's post is about something I picked up at Beadfest Philadelphia in August. Craft Fantastic is a vendor that I've seen at Beadfest, I think, since I've been going to Beadfest. I bought some washi paper, and glass tiles from them years ago, but never followed through, for some unknown reason. I guess I never was able to get a seat at their "make and take" table....until this year! For free, they walk you through using their glue/glaze product with their glass tiles. You chose a little paper image and glue it to the tile - simple enough. So simple, in fact, that it's almost too easy! You have the option to buy a bezel and chain for 3 bucks, to make it into a necklace.  $3.00?? no brainer!
While we waited a minute or so for the glue to set, she showed us all the other things you can do! The thing that caught my imagination was making faux druzies with seed beads! At a distance they really look like a druzy! So, I bought a kit, and some extra bezels and tiles!
I had some free time on my hands, so I tried testing my Craft Fantastic stuff. OMG - it's almost as additive as the internet. I glued a couple images to glass tiles and mounted them in bezels. That really took no time at all! Next, I put some seed beads in the bezels. You can see in the photos, they turned out great.

These were made with some cranberry colored vintage (antique) seed beads I got YEARS ago at an auction. They really look like a garnet druzy, if such a thing exists. These tiny bezels are from Panda Hall, maybe 10mm wide.

 

 The black "druzy" components for this necklace and earrings were made with vintage (antique) black seed beads. I just got a whole jar of them recently at an antique store. The square bezel is from Panda Hall. The brass links and bead caps are from Vintaj, as well as the black Arte Metal rolo chain. The fluted black beads are resin but I don't remember where I got them.

 In this close up, you can make out the seed beads....

 These earrings are using the same tiny bezels as the "garnet" earrings above.

 

I also had some vintage green seed beads, to make "peridot" druzy! I paired them with some purple Czech flower beads, with a greenish Picasso finish.

 

 The last pair do not look like druzies. In fact, these were my first attempt at making the faux druzies, and I didn't really like them. They just look like seed beads glued in a bezel! But, when I was making the other "druzies" into earrings, I noticed these looked great with some of my Czech flowers! I would probably never put orange and purple together, but that was what was in the seed bead mix. The larger flowers are opalescent purple, which my photography does not capture - they are very pretty beads.

 

I have some more photos in the queue, so I'll be posting them a little later in the week. Thanks for reading my blog, now that it's ALIVE again.