Applying For Membership-----

[pattye]

Thank you so much each and all for your kind comments, Karin, Ramona, BAS, GemGeek and Caitlin!

BAS, I've been knotting seriously for 3+ years. Now wishing I had kept track of the number of items, and it is far too late to reconstruct. Lots of great coaches here at P-G for anyone wanting to learn to knot, an excellent tutorial by PearlDreams, too.

The bride was very pleased and the bracelet fit perfectly. (Oh Oh, I forgot to take the check to the bank today, lol.)

 

[newberry]

Patty, what a lucky bride to be wearing your designs.

 

[pattye]

Thank You, Newberry! Always a delight to meet a young woman who loves pearls and knows a bit about them, as this bride did!

 

[juliebeth]

oh that is a lovely set! i have some chocolate drop pearls i'm not sure what to do with, but you may have just inspired me a bit...

 

[maiakity]

A lovely set indeed! Oh how I wish I had had such lovely pearl jewelry to wear on my wedding day!

 

[maiakity]

My mom has been kind enough to help us out with some interim daycare for our new baby, and I felt weird about offering her money for doing this for us, but felt that a gift to show our gratitude would be appropriate. I just finished this tonight for her (after having to restring it 3 TIMES!), I hope she likes it! I used pastel tahitian pearls and very pretty sparkly untreated pyrite beads from DruzyDesign. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, I like the contrast between the silvery pearls and the vermeil/gold filled spacers and findings I used.

 

[pattye]

That's just beautiful! Bet your Mother will be thrilled! Such a thoughtful gift, too.

 

[pattye]

Maiakity, I wore a huge triple strand of faux moss green pearls on my wedding day! (Wish I had been making jewelry back then!)

Juliebeth, I think your chocolate pearls would make gorgeous earrings! Go for it!

 

[GemGeek]

A chocolate set is a great idea, and wow, that's a very special necklace - something I would wear in a heartbeat!

 

[juliebeth]

maiakitty, wow! love it! definitely an appropriate (and lovely) gift.

 

[BAS]

maiakity -- what a thoughtful, lovely gift! The pearls are balanced and spaced so nicely! I bet she'll be thrilled.

 

[pattye]

A versatile piece with rainbow petal pearls~a collaboration with a customer~40 inches with 3 inch detachable tassel~the tassel was serendipity, as the client preferred to keep the necklace at 40 inches.

Some interesting math figuring out how much chain, estimating how much wirewrapping adds to length, I erred on the long side with 1 inch chain lengths between. So the 5 leftover pearls seemed perfect for a tassel.

 

[Caitlin]

I love that combo. Do you have another photo showing the tassles better?

 

[pattye]

Thanks much, Caitlin! Here's a better pic of the tassel and clip on enhancer~


Chinese Kasumi-like knotted pearls for the same client~using Beaders Secret thread, which is much stronger than silk, slightly less strong than power pro, but comes in many colors.

 

[GemGeek]

Fabulous! I would never have thought of that type of pearls on chain - great idea! And the other necklace is lovely - lucky client!

 

[Michela11]

Dear Pattye, you are a complete and absolute inspiration! I have so enjoyed looking through this thread of yours, at your work, and back to the days before you knotted!

The pearls and chain are gorgeous, such an artistic and modern way of displaying them, such beautiful work

 

[maiakity]

Wow, I love both of those!!! The colors on the petal pearls are fabulous, I bet that necklace will look amazing on! And those chinese Kasumi's are lovely too

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Very nice Pattye-- love the ones on chain!

 

[pattye]

Michela, Maiakity, PD,

Thank YOU ALL for your nice comments! Yes, it's fun to look back and see the progress over the years~I am eternally grateful to those who have taught, coached, mentored, encouraged and sometimes prodded me!

 

[pattye]

A Tale of Two Bracelets

A Tale of Two Bracelets

You all know I love these big, funky pearls~so made these bracelets to wear together using huge ringed pearls from John Tu, about 12-14mm wide.

Plan #1. First I strung them on 49 strand wire spaced with tiny black sterling beads and finished each with an extremely strong magnetic clasp, which held beautifully. However, as I was wearing them I kept noticing the magnets were picking up paperclips and pins and such!

Plan #2. Next I changed out the clasps for for sturdy large sterling figure 8 lobster clasps. I wanted the bracelets to fit snugly without much drape as they are so large. Well, I'm usually pretty good at working the clasps, but it was darn near impossible to get these on; there just wasn't enough play. Plus when I did get them hooked, the pearls were so heavy the clasps rolled to the top, which drives me nuts.

Enter Plan #3. Researched various kinds of stretch elastic, decided to go with .80 PowerCord elastic. It was fairly easy to string through the holes; only had to ream out a couple of pearls. The tiny silver spacers allow for plenty of flexibility with such a variety of sizes. Would have loved a third hand to help me tie knots though, lol. I did have to restring one to tighten the elastic. But I feel they are now fitting properly, fun to wear and not going to come loose at the grocery store, well, hopefully!

I'm looking forward to making more stretch bracelets.