I've had these black beads for ages now. I bought them purely because I liked the shape and the cut. And they were black. I like black. However, the shape has put me off using them for all this time. They are what's known as a Briolette, it's a pear shape with the hole drilled near the top. This means it wouldn't really work with a normal head pin, it needed something to make it a bit neater.
So I had a bit of an experiment with wire wrapping. Using some silver wire I made a loop at the top as per usual but gave myself loads of wire spare. This end was then just wrapped downwards so it covered the bottom of the loop and the top of the bead, keeping the hole out of sight too. I tried it out with a couple of different thicknesses of wire, the first I used was a bit thin and flimsy looking so I moved up a gauge. And again. Once I was happy with the wire (and that it actually looked good!) I set about wrapping the rest of them, it was quite relaxing once I'd got going!
Here they are half way through.
Then it was designing time! Black beads always make me think of Jet and that Victorian style jewellery, a bit gothic, a bit sombre. That's where I went with the first necklace I made. More black beads and a simple choker style.
Photographed outside where the blazing sunshine doesn't quite fit with the inspiration...
I then made a lighter, more delicate looking necklace and some matching earrings. Using a fine silver chain, I made a cluster of the beads and then graduated them out. I then used more of the fine chain to finish off the pendant. For the earrings, I cut 3 different lengths of chain and attached the beads the the ends, and then the chains to an earring hook.
Now I really want a day trip to Whitby to peer at the amazing jet jewellery there...
