"Other Hobby" - Now With 30% More Bling!

Since no outfit or costume is complete without the bling, I've been working on some of that.  Last night I popped Gladiator into the DVD player, sat my butt on the couch with all my jewelry supplies and some recently-delivered loot, and set about making some costume jewelry:





"Emerald" faceted crystal flat-rounds set in pewter, from Michael's.

Green glass teardrop from The Bead Pusher on Etsy
Chain links and twisted bail made with silver wire endpins.

Same faceted crystal set beads from Michael's, in pink ($1 each, by the way), same chain links made from wire. Closure is a round ear wire (the same kind I use to make my nose rings) that hooks into a flat coin-sort of bead component.

I'm wearing these right now.  :) The metal drops were also from The Bead Pusher;  nickel-free silver french ear wires + teal glass seed beads I had sitting around.

These were to replace a nearly identical pair that I used to have (I lost one).  The teal briolettes also came from The Bead Pusher; the filigree bead caps came from Michael's. 

They came in a 6-pack: two each copper, silver, and gold.  The gold and silver pairs I cut apart and made into aguilettes which are the [decorative versions of] the little caps they put on the ends of things like shoelaces and bolo ties.  I wanted some metal ones for costume purposes (ever tried to lace up a shoe with a frayed cord? Try it sometime with a dress with 40 lace holes). 

I tried using some small, plain, flat ones I found at a local bead place, but they were too weak to hold up to being clamped onto the cording I was using;  these guys were prettier anyway, and made of sturdier stuff.   I cut them in half, which made a small aglet out of the top half of the cone.  The bottom half I flattened out, split in half lengthwise, and then re-rolled into two smaller versions of itself.  So, each pair of bead caps ended up making SIX aglets!  Not bad for a buck per pair!

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