Birthstone Gifts

Birthstone Gifts

 

 

One of the things people like to give as gifts is jewelry with birthstones. It is a more personal gift and usually very appreciated.

If you do a "Google" search for Birthstones, you will get many choices. With in the choices you will find some disagreement in what specific Birthstone that fits each month. To simplify things, I chose the list of Swarovski crystals. That fits better into my jewelry making anyhow. Most months are pretty much the same in each list. April isn’t a diamond but (clear) crystal. October has a few choices as does December and June. Other choices for October are Opal, Light Rose and Green Tourmaline. For December other choices are Turquoise and Light Sapphire. For June, Pearl is another choice.
 

 

Most chain maille jewelry can have Swarovski crystals added to make a birthstone piece. Of course you can make a bracelet or necklace of just Swarovski crystals with some spacers

Another idea is Family, Grandmother or Mother's bracelets. Having the color of each birth month of each child. Here is an example of one with the child's name and October birthstone, sapphire.

 

Think of the people on your gift list. Would someone appreciate birthstone jewelry? You can design one of your own that will be special to the recipient.

You can see some suggestions of Angel Birthstones on my website. Actually, almost any angel will make a good gift. Do consider birthstones as gifts.

 

Let me know what you want to design for your gift(s).

 

Until next week,

Bev

 

New Video Magatama Kumihimo

New Video

Magatama Kumihimo

 

If you have been following my posts, you probably know what I mean by Magatama Kumihimo.

 

But if it is new to you: Magatama is a type of seed bead. Seed beads usually are small beads (seed like) Magatamas are not your normal seed bead.

 

 

 

 

They have a very distinctive shape. The holes are slanted rather that going straight through the bead. There are smaller magatama beads, too, however.

These are 4 x 7mm in size.

 

 

   

 

 

And they come in hundreds of different colors. It is great fun trying different arrangements of the magatama beads as well as using different colors. They can be strung all in one direction to have a "pine cone" effect or in a random fashion. Then you can add other seed beads and come up with an entirely different look. And of course, the colors can be in a pattern or completely mixed.

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I made a video of the various Magatama Kumihimo bracelets I've made. It shows the different patterns that can be made and many of the different colors and color patterns. As you watch the video, see if you can pick out the ones that are the "pine cone" pattern (strung in all one direction) or the ones with random stringing. You've seen them all before but having them all in one place may help understanding how they really look. (Unless you have seen them in person, it really isn't clear.) This doesn't even touch the many variations that can be made.

 

 

 

 

 

The Kumihimo part is how the magatama beads are woven together. Kumihimo is Japanese braiding using (in my case) a foam disk. This is a picture of the disk and how it looks in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

Fibers and not beads are shown here - in case you are looking closely. But the idea is the same.

 

  

So, click on the picture below or here to view the video. Enjoy. (I really like the music that I was able to add even though it stopped before the end of the video.)

 

 

 

You can purchase or find more information on these Magatama and other Kumihimo bracelets on my website by clicking here.

 

You can feel like a "Devil Woman"  while watching   ;-)