The photograph on the Fire Mountain website still showed plenty of inclusions though, so I wasn't worried. When my package arrived in the mail I tore into it, excited to start making my necklace.... until I saw the actual beads. Maybe 1 out of 5 had any visible ruby at all. I felt jipped, but there was nothing I could do. The site *does* warn that your beads are not the ones pictures. I tried to figure out a way to salvage the project, but I was just too disappointed. The beads sat in a box until a week ago, when I decided to see if there was anything I could do. After some experimentation I had a necklace, and I am quite happy with the results! I sorted through the ruby in zoisite and made sure that all of the beads with visible ruby inclusions were in the front. I alternated those with gemstone chips (I'm pretty sure they are garnet, but they might be a very dark amethyst) and accented with 8 silver cones. In the middle is a moonstone pendant which my mother in law gave me for Yule. I quite like that I managed to add the gemstone that governs my zodiac sign (Cancer) to my birthday necklace! All told, this necklace is much nicer than the one I had in my head last year.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Birthday Necklace
For years, I have been frustrated by not having any jewelry in my birthstone. Those who share July as a birth month will be familiar with my plight -- it's very difficult to have jewelry made with an actual ruby, since it's so darn expensive (April babies has a similar problem, cursed with the diamond). And while I am not that fond of the color red, sometimes I do wish I had something in my birthstone. So last year I had an idea; I would get myself some ruby zoisite beads! Those are predominantly green and black with inclusions of rich wine colored ruby, which is both more affordable and more wearable than straight up ruby. They are still a bit expensive though, so I went with a lower grade when I placed my order. 
The photograph on the Fire Mountain website still showed plenty of inclusions though, so I wasn't worried. When my package arrived in the mail I tore into it, excited to start making my necklace.... until I saw the actual beads. Maybe 1 out of 5 had any visible ruby at all. I felt jipped, but there was nothing I could do. The site *does* warn that your beads are not the ones pictures. I tried to figure out a way to salvage the project, but I was just too disappointed. The beads sat in a box until a week ago, when I decided to see if there was anything I could do. After some experimentation I had a necklace, and I am quite happy with the results! I sorted through the ruby in zoisite and made sure that all of the beads with visible ruby inclusions were in the front. I alternated those with gemstone chips (I'm pretty sure they are garnet, but they might be a very dark amethyst) and accented with 8 silver cones. In the middle is a moonstone pendant which my mother in law gave me for Yule. I quite like that I managed to add the gemstone that governs my zodiac sign (Cancer) to my birthday necklace! All told, this necklace is much nicer than the one I had in my head last year.
The photograph on the Fire Mountain website still showed plenty of inclusions though, so I wasn't worried. When my package arrived in the mail I tore into it, excited to start making my necklace.... until I saw the actual beads. Maybe 1 out of 5 had any visible ruby at all. I felt jipped, but there was nothing I could do. The site *does* warn that your beads are not the ones pictures. I tried to figure out a way to salvage the project, but I was just too disappointed. The beads sat in a box until a week ago, when I decided to see if there was anything I could do. After some experimentation I had a necklace, and I am quite happy with the results! I sorted through the ruby in zoisite and made sure that all of the beads with visible ruby inclusions were in the front. I alternated those with gemstone chips (I'm pretty sure they are garnet, but they might be a very dark amethyst) and accented with 8 silver cones. In the middle is a moonstone pendant which my mother in law gave me for Yule. I quite like that I managed to add the gemstone that governs my zodiac sign (Cancer) to my birthday necklace! All told, this necklace is much nicer than the one I had in my head last year.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
pin cushion FAIL
I have wanted a new pin cushion for years. Mine was given to me by my mother many years ago, and while it is my favorite color (green!), it isn't my style at at. It's perfectly functional though, so I replacing it has never appeared at the top of my to-do list. However, when I saw this adorable tutorial for turning a jar into a pin cushion, I had to give it a try. This project would kill two birds with one stone, since I also needed a jar to store the buttons I've been collecting for crazy quilting. Plus, I already had a jar for it. As soon as I had some free time I set to work.The tutorial instructs you to cut a circle of fabric by measuring the lid insert and increasing the radius of the circle by 1 inch. When I cut my fabric I misremembered it as increasing the diameter by 1 inch. That makes a bit of a difference; I had wondered why I had so much trouble getting the fabric around the stuffing when assembling it. I didn't realize my mistake until I had already hot glued it together.
Rather than give up or start again, I decided that even if there wasn't enough stuffing for it to work as a pin cushion, it could still serve as a decorative jar for my buttons, so I pressed onwards. I decided to cover the rim of the lid with beads. Since the rim is a curved surface I had to do this very slowly, covering one small section with glue at a time, letting it dry, then rotating a bit and starting again. After a few days of intermittent turning and gluing, I had the rim covered. It was done! All I had to do now was screw the lid onto the jar and admire my handiwork.
I put the lid on and twisted it. And twisted. And twisted. Nothing was happening; the threads weren't catching. When I glued the cardstock on to cover up the fabric folded under the lid I must have covered the threads just enough that they won't screw on! I am not happy about this development -- you can see from the picture above how cute it would have been had it worked -- but I haven't quite given up yet. I will try to prey the cardstock off (I didn't glue it on all that well, thankfully), and shall hope that fixes the problem.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I'm back!
I have been crafting during my long absence.
The Super Secret Project
The Super Secret project is now out of my hands and being finished by my partner in crime. From what I've heard about her progress it is proceeding very nicely. I hope to be able to reveal its glory in a month or so.
Crazy Quilt Purse
I am perhaps halfway through with crazy quilting the front of this purse. I hope to do a more thorough post on my progress later, with pictures and full explanation. Since the front is taking me so long I no longer have any illusions about crazy quilting the back, but I do intend to do so for the strap. I fully expect this project to take forever, especially since I will have to halt progress on it eventually in order to make a crazy quilted Yule stocking for my mom. I'll want to leave myself plenty of time for that.
Other
I hope to blog about a failed craft project soon. I figure it's only fair to share the ill-fated projects along with the my successes. :-) And I've got a number of other projects in the works, including a baby bib for a friend and new items for my etsy store. Also, I will be continuing to fiddle with the colors and layout of this blog, as I'm still not happy with them.
The Super Secret Project
The Super Secret project is now out of my hands and being finished by my partner in crime. From what I've heard about her progress it is proceeding very nicely. I hope to be able to reveal its glory in a month or so.
Crazy Quilt Purse
I am perhaps halfway through with crazy quilting the front of this purse. I hope to do a more thorough post on my progress later, with pictures and full explanation. Since the front is taking me so long I no longer have any illusions about crazy quilting the back, but I do intend to do so for the strap. I fully expect this project to take forever, especially since I will have to halt progress on it eventually in order to make a crazy quilted Yule stocking for my mom. I'll want to leave myself plenty of time for that.
Other
I hope to blog about a failed craft project soon. I figure it's only fair to share the ill-fated projects along with the my successes. :-) And I've got a number of other projects in the works, including a baby bib for a friend and new items for my etsy store. Also, I will be continuing to fiddle with the colors and layout of this blog, as I'm still not happy with them.
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