Black and White Lampwork Necklace

Who doesn't love black and white? Stark, graphic - dramatic! It is one of my favorite combinations to work with AND to wear!

This necklace was designed around 3 black and white lampwork glass beads, handmade by a talented Etsy glass artisan. I added sterling silver beadcaps, onyx rounds and chips, small white howlite rounds, and black seed beads, resulting in a simple, yet elegant, adjustable length necklace which goes well with so many different looks!

And it's available on Etsy! (This necklace is now on sale - listed price is 35% off!)

Black and White Herringbone

This is a very graphic black and white herringbone bracelet - it uses 4mm cubes and 6/0 rounds:

 Herringbone detail

My super-secret button stash came through, again:

Just for me - again

I liked the blue and purple version so much, I made a stunning black and opal/crystal AB bracelet:

The only black drops I had on hand were matte; all the other black beads in this bracelet are shiny. I found these gorgeous "opal" colored 11/0s in my stash, and purchased the black twisted bugles at Michael's. Crystal AB 4 and 6 mm firepolish round out the beads - and a pretty glass button for closure.

Love it!

(This is one of Smadar's patterns - I just added the beads and the stitching!)

Simply Dotty

These black and white polka dotted beads started out as a "stretchy" bracelet I saw at Target - one of those beads-on-elastic cheapie things that never fit well, then stretch out, and then break. I hate elastic jewelry!

But I love black and white, and I love polka dots, so I bought the bracelet, took it apart (OK, cut the elastic) - and remade them into several pairs of earrings by adding a white bead and a dangle of jet Czech firepolish.

They sold pretty quickly, and now I wish I had kept a pair for me!

I'm intentionally not using the words "repurposed" or "upcycled" here - for a couple of reasons. One, those words are used to death, in my opinion, and two, they are so often used incorrectly! I don't see what I did as particularly "green," - I just saw something I liked (the black and white bead) and turned it into something I would wear. Nothing noble going on here - just jewelry design!

Start your Engines

Reflecting my love for black and white, I designed this black and white checkerboard bracelet in peyote - and then realized how much it reminds me of the old days, living in Indianapolis, in May - looks like the checkered flag, right?

I love the way the silver button closure goes with the bracelet perfectly!

Ladies (and gentlemen), Start your engines!

Long Kazuri Necklace

I bought some black and white Kazuri beads (hand-painted ceramic beads from Kenya) at a bead show about 4 years ago and squirreled them away in my stash . . . and hoarded them, and hoarded them, and finally decided what to do with them!

The Kazuri beads have nice-sized holes, so I created a multistrand necklace with thousands of size 11 black seed beads, and a few 3 mm cube-shaped onyx beads. I hand-strung all the seed beads, 'cause that's the way I roll. This probably would have been the perfect project for one of those bead spinner thingies, but I don't have one, and it really didn't take too terribly long to get all these beads strung.

I used 5 different Kazuri beads - 4 have black and white patterns, and one is solid black. I like the symmetrical asymmetry (that's a thing, right?) The necklace is a delicious 44 inches long, and I've worn it long, but it can also be doubled up, like on the mannequin above, so it's very versatile, and goes with a lot of stuff.

I don't often string this many seed beads - I am a beadweaver at heart, sewing each little seed bead individually into intricate patterns, so I'll probably never invest in a Bead Spinner. Anyone out there have experience with one?