What a Difference a Color Makes

What a difference a color makes! This is the same focal bead as in the June 1,2007 entry but with a new braid. I had intended to mirror the focal's colors: turquoise, dark amber, and black, in a braid. Unfortunately the result was busy, busy, busy. So, let's put things away and play another day.

I love this bead. It was hand made by Tim from The Beaded Lily in Italy. It's gorgeous: all blue, warm orangey honey, cream, and black; even a couple spots of goldstone inclusions. I happened to take it with me to a bead show. It was a good excuse to go to the show (if we really need an excuse) hoping to find some other beads and finish that necklace. A very nice saleslady from http://www.kazuribeadseast.com/ helped me pick out some nice warm caramel colored beads to bring out the amber in the focal.

Next: how to bring everything together? Better braid colors!!! What goes better with caramel than chocolate? And: just a little flash of a brighter orange (paprika, actually).

And of course, every time I look at it I get a really bad craving for chocolate. Isn't it a good thing this is for sale? (Yup, you guessed it! I am selling something, my secret is out. And if I can figure out how to get the address of my Etsy shop in the conversation, you'll be the first to know!)

Jewelry: Tonight's Burning Question

Tonight's burning question is: why is your favorite piece of jewelry your favorite?

As I was poking around my Kirengeshoma (Hah! Got something personal about me in before the end of the first paragraph. Don't you just hate hearing about personal stuff that has nothing to do with you? Now you have to go and look up "kirengeshoma". Hah again!) I was thinking about an important question all jewelry designers ask: what makes a piece of jewelry your favorite? You get 30 seconds to think before I tell you about my personal favorite, and more importantly, WHY?

This is my favorite necklace: kumihimo, of course, done with traditional Japanese silk, and some large holed turquoise-look beads.

But the hardest thing is to figure out why it's my favorite. Well, first, it has some of my favorite colors: blue, black, green, and gold. Blue and gold is a killer combination. Next: it's perfect to wear with a black turtleneck. Black is the perfect color to show off any piece of jewelry (remember all those black velvet boxes with diamonds in the at the jeweler's store?).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it suits my face shape (rather broad and...fat). The length draws your attention away from my face and directs it toward this gorgeous necklace, thereby creating a more beautiful me. What more could you ask for?

In a nutshell, jewelry designers ask this question every time they create jewelry for potential customers. Find the answer and they have a guaranteed sale.

Oh, something you will never hear: "Be honest, do these diamonds make me look fat?"