More Mahjong inspiration

 
After I finished making Sharon's custom necklace (see previous post), I was still feeling the inspiration to make more!

I found some similar beaded beads at.....Walmart, of all places! A new Walmart just opened near me, and I happened upon a little bag of mixed beaded beads, much to my delight.

So, here we have 2 odd "Indonesian" beads, some faceted Czech beads, and more of the love knot connectors that I'm currently smitten with making. Vintaj chain, bead caps, clasp, filigree.

 

 Here's a close up of the beads - they appear to be made by pushing beads into clay or epoxy.

 

Below is another Mahjong necklace, not inspired by the previous one. While circling the bead dept at AC Moore, these Czech beads caught my eye. They are like slag glass - with a mix of yellow, orange, brown and bits of aqua. And they were on clearance!! I thought they'd look great with some of my Mahjong tiles, and they do! Along with the filigree wrap around the tile, I used a little piece of filigree, and one link that's made completely of brass beads, just to mix things up. This necklace is going to a good home on March 6th. I am donating it to "Dining For Women", for a charity raffle. The money will go towards helping impoverished women around the world gain skills and a means to support themselves. I hope it will bring some money in, for a worthy cause.

And lastly, a colorful bird tile. I had a made a similar necklace a while back with these flower beads, but I expanded the color palette in this necklace. I have a stash of Czech glass table-cut flowers in a variety of colors, and just started laying them out until I was happy with the arrangement! I added the filigree leaf, since the bird is sitting on a branch with leaves.

Another angle of the bird tile. This tile is a bit brighter in color than the other two. I'd guess it's not quite as old.

 

 If you're getting sick (and tired) of Mahjong necklaces, not to worry. My next post will show my first ever attempt at Viking knit!!

Thanks for visiting my blog.

 

Another Custom Mahjong Necklace

Time sure flies! I have the best intentions of writing posts for my blog, but somehow never get the photos taken of my new jewelry. So, this past Saturday morning, I went outside and took pictures in the brisk sunlight! I was cold, but I did it anyway! I'll try to space the blog posts out a little....

I received a custom necklace request from a friend of a friend! She had seen one of my Mahjong necklaces on her friend's neck, and wondered if she could get one for herself. So, she & I "talked" through email. She wanted a tile with a red dragon, but I didn't have one in my stash. So, she found one on the internet, and then we finally met in person, for her to give me her red dragon. We chatted about what she'd like in the necklace, and about other things. It was a nice chat!
She also gave me some beads she'd bought here and there, to use or not to use, as I saw fit. Her beads were pretty cool, and I thought they'd be great with the tile. So, here you see the results!

All the beads used were her beads. She had a couple strands of faceted Czech or fire-polished beads in a mix of colors, which were a perfect compliment to her beaded beads. The beaded beads look to be hand made, possibly Indonesian? They are covered with tiny beads that are glued on, or pushed into epoxy. I made some love knot connectors with Vintaj twisted jumprings. Everything else (filigree, bead caps, chain, clasp) is also Vintaj.

 

 Here's a close up of the Red Dragon tile, and Sharon's beads.

 

 Here's another close up of her beads and the love-knot connector I made.

 

 She also was happy to get earrings. She said that they didn't need to be matchy-matchy with the necklace, so I used some of her other beads that I didn't use in the necklace, but made them in a similar way as the connectors in the necklace.

 

We met again last week for me to give Sharon her new necklace and earrings!! She was very happy with them!