Diamonds on the soles of her shoes

I promised my mom (Amma) a few weeks ago that I'd post more pictures of my jewelry projects. Here are a couple of recent ones. You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version, since some of the details are hard to see.

We just finished Book 7 of Harry Potter. I can't believe it's over. J.K. Rowling tied everything up nicely, but now I'm just really sad there's no more.

But a few weeks ago, I made this necklace out of labradorite (a grey, iridescent stone) and Swarovski crystals, and it seems sort of Harry Potter-ish. Maybe something Luna Lovegood would wear:



My cousin Sangi turned 21 in June, so I made her a birthday necklace of green aventurine beads from India, sterling silver "disco ball" beads, and pearls:



Mom's birthday was in August (TJ's mom = Mom, not to be confused with Amma) so I made her this simple necklace out of 8mm sodalite beads, Czech glass and a silver pendant made by a hill tribe from Thailand:



I found some really gorgeous Czech glass beads on sale at the Ben Franklin craft store near my house, so I wanted to make a long necklace that reminded me of the Caribbean sea. Or maybe Hawaii. I also used the first beads I ever bought, from our trip to Ashland, OR where Dave and Lisa got married. The necklace is intended to be long and free-flowing. The clear faceted squares are diamond quartz and were irresistable to me because they're so sparkly:



Yeah, I know I seem to gravitate towards a blue-green color palette. I need to make more with red-orange-yellow tones. I've got some really nice garnet beads I've been saving until I'm truly inspired.

My next class is on Thursday at beadclub, Wirewrapping 102. I love taking classes because they're:
1. Dedicated project time for me to practice
2. A chance to get step by step instruction on complex techniques, which are quite difficult to pick up from books or the Internet.

The class I'm really, truly, jumping up and down excited about starts at the end of this month - Metalsmithing I at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. It's 8 weeks long, every Sunday for 4 hours, and I'll learn how to solder and use sheet metal, power tools and chemicals. Woo hoo! I can't wait!