Temporarily

I have been hinting at the fact that my jewelry desk is begging to be used the past few days. I lay in bed at night are hear it calling "Kerry... oh Kerry, come play with some wire...". It has been especially loud since getting back from teaching. While in VA, Cindy of Sweet Bead Studio, shared a necklace that she made out of different wire links. She said she wanted a way to showcase her wire work. The necklace was gorgeous!!

One link in particular jumped out at me. It was an empty "caged" bead link. I teach how to make caged beads all the time in my Totally Twisted wire working classes. Cindy found the link tutorial HERE. I make the cage completely different then in this tutorial, but it'll give you a good idea of how it is done. The thing that struck me was leaving the cage empty. I have always used a small gauge wire and trapped a bead inside. Since seeing a cage with nothing inside, I have had loads of ideas on things to do with them.




I have had at least 3 ideas that just would get out of my head. So since today was a really lazy day. And since Lauren is home it means I can't make beads... I figured I would get a bunch of empty cages ready it use when I can get around to making the beads. I made about two dozen of them... then tumbled them... then tried unjumbling them about a million times!! This design gets twisted up with each other a LOT. So I grabbed a piece of silk cording off my desk and strung the cages on just to keep them from getting stuck together. Thinking I would keep them there "Temporarily"... THEN... TA DA... a cool new necklace.

Sometimes I think the simpler, the better. And I think that is pretty obvious in a lot of my designs. If the wire work is fancy, the beads are basic... if the beads are busy, the wire work is subtle. What I think is really cool about this design is that it so easy to do in any color (this one is dark navy). I have about 20 different colors of silk cording and the silver just rocks with every one of them. So it is super easy to match whatever you are wearing. I took a quick pic of what it looks like on for you too. I know seeing things flat can sometimes look weird. It doesn't need a clasp, I just tie a loose bow in the back... easy on, easy off.

Now don't worry... I won't stop here... I'll make those other ideas in my head too. But in the meantime... raise your hand if you want one of these!!