Rhodochrosite is the National Stone of Argentina

[jesse_the_k]

…and since I love pink I love it a lot! These lantern-shaped beads feature pink stripes as well as zigzags of grey, white, and black — they remind me of Florentine marble endpapers. (A "lantern" shape is a thick flat oval where both ends are truncated perpendicular to the stringing axis.)

I'm posting these because at some point I have to send them out into the world. I love feedback and please don't feel obliged to comment.

30" necklace (or tripled as a bracelet) of 14 lantern-shaped rhodochrosite beads on chain of matte Czech beads in pink, gray, and matte metallic tones. With sturdy snap clasp.

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17" choker features a single lantern-shaped rhodochrosite bead centered on chain of Czech beads in matte pink, gray, and metallic tones.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Very nice!

[jesse_the_k]

<3

[cosmolinguist]

How lovely! That choker is particularly striking.

[jesse_the_k]

Why thank you!

[sovay]

These lantern-shaped beads feature pink stripes as well as zigzags of grey, white, and black — they remind me of Florentine marble endpapers.

I see why you say that. They look very organic to me, but not in a bad way.

[jesse_the_k]

Fractality is my bliss.

[sasha_feather]

Awesome!

[jesse_the_k]

Aw-shucks.

[worlds_of_smoke]

I love your jewelry so much. <3

[jesse_the_k]

How kind of you to say so.

[isis]

Those are super pretty! (Though the top one's a bit out of focus.) The stones do look kind of like Florentine endpapers, you're right.

I actually also really like the bead pattern (that is, the pattern of long beads, diamond beads, and metal(?) spacers) in the lower necklace.

[jesse_the_k]

You're right, thank you very much!

[jesse_the_k]

....edited to add a less blurry picture.

The lower necklace is all glass -- the beads have "matte metalic aurora borealis" surface treatments, which I adore.

[green_knight]

Super pretty. I like all of your beading so far, but the necklace above is exceptional.

[jesse_the_k]

*blushes* thanks so much!

[boxofdelights]

Lovely! I see what you mean about the endpapers, but to me, the colors, the shape, and the shine say "candy".

[jesse_the_k]

Mmm — something more subtle than cherry, though. Pink lemonade?

[esteefee]

really nice! i love the pale jaggy stripe between the deeper pink and jade. nature is freaking amazing and now someone can wear it!!

Thanks

[jesse_the_k]

I was mesmerized by the beads and I still just want to somehow wallpaper my bedroom with them.

Re: Thanks

[esteefee]

so purty and it's giving me a weird sense memory (maybe from back when I used to collect rocks? not sure). You did a great job with the matching neutral shades and the pops of color right by the big bead.

Re: Thanks

[jesse_the_k]

turns out that randomly collecting beads in my favorite colors for 15 years results in me having just the right ones to match the stones.

[starshipfox]

They're so pretty! I love the grey and pink colour combinations.

[jesse_the_k]

<3 Thanks!

[bibliofile]

On the larger necklace, those stones really are gorgeous. Also, I like the way you graduated the bead sizes, because it makes the necklace look like an organic piece from farther away (the full shot).

Such pretty! So stone!

[bibliofile]

I wonder what one of those stones would look like framed with still smaller beads, like the ones at the top of the choker. Would the big stone look too big? Would it hang oddly? (I only know that physics exists, not how heavy the big or small beads happen to be.)

[jesse_the_k]

I'll take some pix next time as I string and restring and restring and restring.

I avoid putting a very small bead next to a hand-cut stone, especially one that's an unusual shape. It's rare for the hole to be drilled perfectly on center, so a small bead next to the end of one of these lanterns highlights the imperfection of the stone cutting.

[bibliofile]

Re: adjacent bead sizing

Oh sure, that makes lots of sense. I was thinking more if you replaced all the Czech beads (pink/grey/metallic) with the smaller ones, so that the overall impression was of smaller beads with the one big one.

swaggers with gratitude

[jesse_the_k]

In fact, that's one of my design assessment techniques: I hang the maybe-finished work on the wall and step back. If I can't see the individual beads, then I decide I'm done.