Fall Colors for Caramel's Claws Necklace in Sage

 Three different people have recently requested kits for the original colors of the Caramel's Claws Necklace.  I have Berries and Honey, but Cinnamon and Sage have been sold out for quite a while.  So I decided it was time to try and make a final few more of each colorway.

The SAGE kits are done, and will be posted in my Etsy shop tomorrow, March 8th at noon.  It's a challenge finding respectable focal beads, as the Red Creek Jasper vein appears to have been mined out, but I am happy with my choices, and hope you will be too.  So without further ado...

I love the markings on focal A.  Those slash marks have their own highlights!

Dark and dreamy.  And it looks as though it has been dipped in chocolate.  

Would really feature the bezel nicely, as do all those with darker markings.

Focal C has two interesting curved markings and they mesh nicely with the bezel curves.  

Each focal has two sides, and sometimes I like both, despite mild pitting.  

Which side to use is always your choice.

Similar to focal C, this D focal has a dark ground with lighter shadowy markings, 

so also simpatico with the bezel.

Focal E is soft, milky green-grey, with warm caramel.  An interesting stone.

Focal F has three distinct zones, and the warm chocolate brown relates nicely to the wood beads.

If only I had turned the G stone the other way, you might have seen a Mocha Frappuccino with a hint of mint! And this mocha also compliments the beads, and the hints of gold 

in the bezel edge of Oceanic Metallic 15/0 beads.

I also have a final set of Cinnamon kits underway.  I am waiting on a few final beads, 

and I'll keep you posted.

Find this listing at the link I will post here tomorrow.  For now, it's just a link to my Etsy shop.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HauteIceBeadwork

Vintage Jasper Kits on the Way

 I am slowly working on getting the materials I have in my studio into kits.  Here are the last of the Vintage Jasper Cabochon sets, in the original size, done in the silver colorway, with a few descriptive words.  They will be in my Etsy shop on Saturday, October 8th, around noon (Central Daylight Time), for those of you who like to pre-consider your purchases and get exactly what you like.

Set A is a soft sage green with hints of warm salmon and a slash of gold glow.

Set B is very typical Red Creek Jasper with hints of green and gold, and an umber arc.

Particularly vibrant patterning with lots of sandy fawn and deep sunset pinks.

For me the most pictoral of the group.  There's even a partially occluded moon in the autumn sky!

Nicely patterned with lots of color variety.  Flaming treetops against a stormy sky?

And here are images of the sets themselves, because I have them to show you...  Keep in mind you can choose any orientation for this cabs that you prefer.  Some are beautiful more than one way up!

Here's a link to my Etsy shop, which I will point at this listing after I get them up.

As always, digital e-tutorial sold separately at this link.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Autumn!!!

Vintage Jasper - Copper Patina Cabochon Sets

There are only 6 of these sets.  The setting is dark, and allows the drama of the stones to be featured.  Each has some green patina markings.  I do not see landscapes in this set as much as pattern and contrast. I will let them speak for themselves.  At the end of the post is my own copper necklace, which I made with the set of dark green cabs that I used initially to test this idea and work out my pattern.  I think any of these cabs is better suited to the colorway, because of the mostly monochromatic nature of it.  It features pattern well, but is a little mundane with simplicity.

So, remember, I said I thought my sample necklace for the Copper colorway was a little mundane?  This colorway is really suited to the patterns in the cab sets I chose for it.  It's simple, although it includes some of my all time favorite beads and colors. Matte Copper finish on the GemDuo beads.  Miyuki #462 Metallic Gold Iris for the drops and some edgings, with little flashes of purple and teal.  Toho #329 Dark Hyacinth Gold Luster in the bezel.  They make a great supporting cast framework in this case, not a starring character.  I tried using colors in my original mockup, but they were a little parti-colored, and while nice with my simple dark green cabs, they overwhelmed the patterns in the stones. As the saying goes "Sue me." 

But I wanted to save the best of the new cab sets for YOU!

Tomorrow, Verdigris!

Vintage Jasper - Antique Bronze Cabochon Sets

In this set of Antique Bronze cabochon set photos, I have placed the rectangle cabochon on top of my sample necklace, and the barrels and oval at the side for your viewing purposes.  Releasing Saturday, September 1st at noon CST.  Sorry, to be fair to all, I just cannot reserve sets for anyone.

A looks like a desert sunset scene to me.

B and C are almost twins, probably cut at the same time, surely from the same slab.  

There were no matching twin barrel sets though, so they are 

distinguished from each other by the company they keep.  

Do you have a best friend, or sister, and need a gift to share?  

D and E are Halloween Scene sets in my mind.  D is a lone tree on a path lit by the golden glow of a street lamp at dusk.  It might be a little foggy out, eh?  I can almost hear footsteps.

And E has a Van Gogh quality.  That might be a dark moon in the swirly sky, and the tree is maybe bending in the wind... or moving without any wind at all.  Delightfully creepy!

F has landscape-esque markings and colors as well. 

And I love the contrasting clarity of the simple barrels.  

And this one!  I made a choice to use some of these sets with a particular bezel colorway. 

But G stood up and clearly said, "I will be framed in bronze."  For those who love golden tones.

Also, an FYI, the tutorial text corrections I mentioned in the previous post involve Row 5 of the large cabochon bezel, the Double Link Connection, thread length for the Toggle, and some miscellaneous spelling and grammar.  As usual, the diagrams are correct.  I really struggle with text editing, sorry about that!  There seems to be a current problem with Etsy downloading new additions to digital files, and if you want the current version of the tutorial with the text corrected and the new colorway,  Convo me from your purchase invoice, and I will e-mail you the corrected document.  

Vintage Jasper

Well, I still have work to do, but tomorrow at noon CST, I will release the kits for my new project, Vintage Jasper.  I want to use this post to just quickly introduce you to the two colorways, and the 14 available cabochon sets.  You get to choose your own.  You might want time to think about it.

Here is a quick peek at the two colorways.  You will also notice that it is possible to put either one or two links between the large cabochon and the smaller ones.  If you are taller and plan to make a longer necklace (the kit accommodates up to 22") you might prefer two links, and if you are shorter like me, one link might be your choice.  Both are given in the tutorial, and a chart for number of links needed for sizes 17" -  22" are given.  FYI, I have to double check all my numbers and calculations, but I think these kits will be $75. Actually... $73.  Here's a link. 

So without further ado, here are the yummy Red Creek Jasper cabochon sets for your perusal!  You'll notice I used a GemDuo with color variation and hints of warmth in the Heirloom Silver group, with a link to those here. And the bezel is my favorite of all the Aiko colors.  It's called Oceanic Metallic, and is a mix of silvers, with bits of gold and dots of copper.  Here's a closeup for reference. The bezel embellishment really adds color and merges the cabs with the GemDuos.

I did the same with the GemDuos in the Antique Bronze group, and some are almost coppery.  Again, for reference, here is a closeup.  The bezel is simple Bronze Metallic, because most of these cabs have dramatic patterning and I did not want to distract.  Here's a link for the kits.

Enjoy!