Paul wanted to go to the tip shop the other day, after a friend said there were some vintage cameras there. I tagged along, and found myself trying to untangle some necklaces. I wanted some of them for the beads, but boy were they tangled! I wound up buying a fistful of beaded strands because it was easier than separating them. That and a beaded bracelet cost me $2.

Once home, I washed everything, pulled apart the bracelet and untangled the necklaces. Turned out that the reason half of the strands of beads wouldn’t separate was because they were joined with a small circle of beads to make one necklace. I liberated them, but got to thinking about how they, and two other strands, went really well together.

So I started exploring how I could hold them together. I tried this snap clip first:

Works, but is a bit ‘industrial’. What I wanted was a ring that could open and close. The next morning, as I was putting the clip away, I noticed my bag of old buckles. Particularly a fancy one I’d always wanted to try incorporating into jewellery. So tried it:

It works and looks better than I expected. The tongue is not inclined to hinge open, even when there’s no pressure from the strands holding it down.

The whole exercise has had me thinking about jewellery-making again. I did a pile of it around this time last year. First I had a critical look at the costume jewellery I have already, finding a few pieces in my collection I wanted to cull or alter. Then I looked in my supplies case, reminding myself about projects I didn’t get around to last year.

So I got playing, and had some winners:

This is a re-de-refashion, or something. I liked the original bracelet…

…but the crimps holding the beads in place were scratchy. So a couple of years ago I did this instead:

But I never really liked the result. I preferred the look of the first bracelet better. So this time I remade it using beads instead of crimps, threading the tiger tail through them twice to keep them from moving:

I made this a couple of years ago:

Then later made a matching bracelet using a washer for the closure. I didn’t love it, and I was going to simply cull the necklace. But looking at the washer closure gave me an idea:

I’ve also tweaked two more necklaces – including one that must be 15 years old. The ideas are flowing. The visual diary has some new sketches in it. Looks like I’ve tipped over into one of those short-term craft obsessions again. That’s fine. It never lasts more than a month or so, and I’m having fun.