Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

This week I rummaged around my largest jewellery box that seems to collect lots of seed bead work hiding in the corners. I chose this flat netted bracelet on black with a red poppy embellishment (Poppy design by Kerrie Slade in Bead Magazine). I loved this bracelet when I first made it and still do, but I rarely wear black anymore especially in the summer. My first thought was to give it to somebody who will love it (I can't bear the thought of frogging that Poppy!), but after further thought I have decided that I really want to keep it and will start wearing it with jeans and a white t-shirt so that I can get more use out of it.

Have you dug through your jewellery stash this week? We'd love to see what you have come up with, email your pics to OTTBS@hotmail.com

Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It

This week's WWIOFI is a pendant that I dug out from the depths of one of my jewellery boxes. I think I wore it just the once after I'd made it and then it was never heard from again. What did I like about it? I was happy with the polymer clay pendant I made, the swirls of black, white and grey remind me of the milky way and the glitter adds to that effect. I learned a valuable lesson using the coarse glitter which isn't really suitable for clay work, it was originally green but sanding the pendant took the surface off it and I ended up with silver! I also love the Crystal Vitrail Swarovski bicones which are a gorgeous shade.


What I didn't like about it was my wirework (you can't really see it in the photo but believe me, it's rubbish!) and the ribbon, which was too wide. So I've frogged it a little, redoing my dodgy wirework and making a black and silver chain from random lengths connected with jump rings. Now I'm really happy and it's something I'll be bringing out a little more often!


We'd love to see what pieces you dig out and if you alter them or reuse the materials for something else. You can email pictures to ottbs@hotmail.com.uk

Wednesdays Wear It Or Frog It.

This week I dug through one of my jewellery cases and came up with this spiral rope bracelet. I made this using a size 11 bead soup mix of creams and beige and some cream dancing pearls. I think I wore it once and then put it it the case, never to be seen again until today. Having looked at it again, I think it's a lovely bracelet, just not the right colours for me, I tend to wear cool colours such as purple, teal, black and white. I would certainly make this style of bracelet again in those sorts of colours but this one is not for me! I have a friend who wears lots of browns and natural colours so I will offer it to her. If she doesn't want it, you may well see it frogged at a later date!

Have you dug through the jewellery stash to unearth any lost treasures this week? Please tell us all about them, you can e-mail us at ottbs@hotmail.co.uk .

Wednesday's Wear It Or Frog It.

Before After

I have been beading for about eight years now and in that time I have built up quite a collection of jewellery. I have beaded many necklaces and bracelets, though not too many earrings, which is odd because they are the item of jewellery that I wear the most.

So, what happens to those necklaces and bracelets that have had so many hours invested in them, not just in the time spent making the piece, but the hours pouring over pictures and techniques in magazines for inspiration, the rummaging in the bead box for the perfect focal point and searching on the web for the vital missing ingredient?

I give some pieces to friends and family as gifts for birthdays and Christmas, sell some but more often than not I keep them for myself. Usually I wear them constantly for a few days, until the next bright shiny objects comes along and then I pop them into one of my many jewellery boxes. Once consigned to a jewellery box, many of these items never see the light of day again, which is such a waste of the materials and the time I invested in making them.

So, not only do I have a stash of beads that have been waiting to be made into pretty jewellery, but I also have a huge stash of pretty jewellery waiting forlornly in a box for the day I might once again choose to wear it.

Starting this week, I will be rummaging through my jewellery stash to pick out a piece that I rarely wear, I will be wearing it for a day to see if I still like it, if there is something that I can do improve it so that I will wear it more often or if the piece needs to be frogged so that the beads can be used to make something else. I will post my results on Wednesday's.

This week's piece is a bracelet that I made 2 years ago with a huge stash of leftover beads, it took quite a long time and I do love it and wear it on rare occasions. However, it is a bit huge and could probably be quite deadly to animals and small children if I bumped into them with it, so I am limited to wearing it, also it is a total pain knocking against the desk when I am typing in work. I really didn't want to take it apart but the beads are so pretty it was really wasteful to just leave them hidden away. In my continued quest for a statement necklace I had a bit of a brain wave, snipped a bit of chain to the right length, added a jump ring, attached the bracelet to either side of the chain and viola, I now have a lovely chunky bright necklace that I can wear without the fear of causing any harm to my office furniture!

Do you have a huge stash of jewellery that is languishing away in drawers, boxes or cupboards? I'd love to see what pieces you dig out and if you alter them or reuse the materials for something else. You can email pictures to ottbs@hotmail.com.uk