The beady stuff so far

I've been busy, with the holidays and birthdays approaching, with the annual gift-making extravaganza. Jewelry, hair pom-poms, scarves. I always make more than I actually give away. What happens is that as the deadline for wrapping and/or sending approaches, I take inventory and pick my favorites and give those. The others are either kept (Gabi never minds this, particularly in regards to bracelets and scarves) or torn apart and their parts recycled. So, a few more things so far...

First, two bracelets. The purple/blue one is all glass beads, the copper/white one mixes metal, bone and glass.





I've been having a blast using, finally, some of the gorgeous beads that I brought back from West Africa. These trader beads were purchased in Ghana and Togo. The "serenity" bracelet was given to Jenny as a birthday present, and Gabi laid claim to the "peace" bracelet before it could be given to anyone else. (That is her prerogative!)





This necklace also uses both glass beads from the local craft store and mixed-glass beads from Togo. Check out the close-up to see the lovely colors of the African bead. There are many varieties of these mixed-glass, matte-finish beads, and they are much less well-known than the trader beads. However, I really like their subtlety.





This three-strand is made of glass and metal beads. I found the finding at one of my favorite bead stores in Duluth. The other beads are locally purchased.



Lastly, I went an uncharacteristically sparkly direction on this one (glass and metal). I was thinking of my niece when I was picking beads... that's why it's so shiny.