Jewelry Exchange - The Story Unfolds

I love to make stories for my beads and jewelry, and make jewelry with a story. How fun to tell the story of some jewelry and how it grew! This is about Gaea's jewelry exchange idea and how it all came about in pictures.


Gaea started it all, it was her idea and we agreed it would be fun. What would several jewelry designer beadmaker types do with a work-in-progress. Sounds like a good time! Here's the story to date. This is a photo of how it started out, and then it headed to have some more special touches added by Lorelei.

She changed the wire, added beads and the beginnings of a dangle, and a word stick to match the little heart key emblem on the focal bead. Next, Joelle added a special touch like this.

Very neat second strand added, some length, color - the exchange is showcasing various work and yet complimenting the style of all involved. Next to Mary, who put a special spin on the next stage like so:

See the cool toggle, the fiber chain and the bird bead. Neat additions, lots of texture and new colors. Many hands, one spirit, on next to Jennifer to add her special flavor to the mix.

The dangle got some new friends with a stick pearl, brass dangle stick and stamped charm on chain, very kinetic and lots of movement. Next it traveled to me, and I added some length to get it almost to the finish line.

I added an orchid bead and one of my pierced stick chain links with hand forged jump rings, connected by darkened steel wire, to add length and play on the love notes theme, metallic textures and violet colors of some of Gaea's ceramic beads.




Here's an arial view of where it was when I sent it off to Stef, to add the next touches before it goes back to Gaea for the last word and the finishing touches.

And a bit of a closeup, to show all the neat colors and fun stuff.

I can't wait to see what the finished piece will look like, and boy, was it hard to see it go out the door in that package to Stef, it's one great necklace right there! And I know Gaea has some special plans for its future, so keep posted on her blog to find out the rest of the story.

Anybody else want to do an exchange, maybe a charm or bead exchange? That was way too fun not to do it again. If five or six of us got together and made six of the same bead, charm or component, we could do a swap! and get six new cool things - then collaborate to use the charms in a bracelet, earrings or something.

Want to???