BLACK AND SILVER SMOKEY EYE

SOLD. Glass "coral" African trade beads; turquoise/green ceramic focal & cubes; Thai Hill Tribes fine silver handmade flower beads; ss daisy spacers & beads; ss Bali s-clasp

African trade beads from a bead show in Fort Worth - wish I could remember the vendor; ceramic beads from Beads on Parade, Fredericksburg, VA

Have always been fascinated with African trade beads, especially the very old ones. Love their look and colors! When i pick up a strand, wish they could tell the story of who made them and what hands they had passed through. What stories they would be! Unfortunately, really nice old trade beads can be VERY expensive, so I have to stick with the newer ones (although the vendor said he thought these were around 100 years old). One of these days . . .

When I saw these imitation coral glass African trade beads at a show, they were mine! It is unusual to find a strand where the beads are so closely matched. In doing some research I found out the beads probably come from Nigeria, made from a secret mix of silica and other components. The red color represents royalty and wealth. Faux coral necklaces are very popular with the the people of West Africa.

I named the necklace BAJA SUNSET because of the fabulous sunsets that can be seen in the Baja region: orange for the sunset; turquoise for the ocean.

Have very multi-ethnic thing going with this necklace: African trade beads, Thai silver, Bali silver and a name from Mexico!

I was sooo proud of this I couldn't wait to show it to my Plurky friends, but I have finished it properly now and thought it was about time I put something new up here!

At the moment i am not intending to sell any of my silversmithed pieces, to be honest there are so many fantastic and innovative artists out there I am not sure I have a unique style that would find any niche, so these are just for friends and family and of course.. myself. I still love wire-wrapping.

I have been going to a class but it is very slow and having spent two hours this week simply making a bezel and not even soldering it I decided to go home and go the whole hog myself. I couldn't have done it without the lessons but I also know enough to get this far on my own. I am sure my teacher will find lots wrong with it, but I was very pleased and I wear it all the time.

Hopefully this weekend I will have a go at some earrings and some more copper-silver jewellery. I'm raring to go, now, where's my torch?