Black, white and silver is classy.  Elegant.  But just black, white and silver is cold.  The answer?  The color of life itself: deep, rich crimson.

Admittedly, I've yet to identify these stones.  They're heavy, high-gloss, and look to be to be very close to obsidian... but don't quote me on that.  The red stones are jade dyed deep blood red, and I adore them.  They have this incredible layered shimmer to them and the occasional black band that works beautifully.  All of the wire and the clasp itself are all pure sterling silver.  It can be worn with the stylized "leaves" on the silver beads visible, or flipped over so that they're just plain red.  Either way, gorgeous.

(For Sale)

I had a very clear image in my head as I put this necklace together; it seems something of a piece of ritual jewelry that a priestess would wear, keeping her constantly reminded of the circle of life, as it were.  Life and death, joy and sorrow, ugliness and beauty; sides opposite but necessary, and always truly connected.

The centerpiece is red obsidian, looking to me like it represents a drop of blood in blank whiteness--but we're going for a theme here, see?  It's set in hand-hammered and formed rose copper.  Surrounding that are green snake/snakeskin agate beads, wooden beads hand-painted with flowers, and finally one of my favorite old finds, hand-carved wooden skull beads (with quartz beads supporting them).  All of this hangs on a cord made of six strands of high-quality cotton embroidery floss, crocheted together for strength and stability.  And a nice, rough look, I think.  That also gives the necklace a comfy bit of stretch.

I've actually been waiting to put these beads together for... a while.  Nice to see it all worked out so well.

(For Sale)

Who wouldn't love a tiny little Tachikoma looking out for them? I did not plan this. I know I say that a lot, but I mean it every time. I just saw the back bead, which happened to be next to the round bead, and... yeah. I refuse to try and explain how much of a pain it was to get the wire to work exactly like I wanted it to, but I succeeded and it's over now and that seems really important. And, well, Tachikoma!

So I had the little Tachikoma, right? Surely that was over and i could get back to other things. ...And then somehow the idea of making a whole necklace for it happened, and... I don't know. I went through my beads, and there was this utterly gorgeous blue agate that worked perfectly. So. Yes. That's several more hours of my life, putting that thing together. I do hope it's worthy of the Major herself.

(Ghost in the Shell and Tachikomas belong to Masamune Shirow, Production I.G, and probably a lot more people and companies that I fail to realize. Some day I will have a Motoko action figure. Some day.)

(For Sale)

A promise is a promise, even if it's from a force rather than a person. I will not rest until the sky falls down around me...

Do enlarge this. The sheer amount of color is incredibly worthwhile. No, really. I have no idea why this came to be, exactly. Too many chocobos, not enough cutting myself with wire? Anyway, it just kind of happened. All wire is sterling silver. That gorgeous bottom bead is blue tiger's eye/hawk's eye, the top bead is dichroic glass, and the middle bead off to the left there is liquid crystal. Color-changing. Otherwise known as a "mood bead"; it changes color with temperature. Because my body temperature is lower than most people and clearly I must be a lizard, it's pretty much always blue when I touch it. It shifts into greens, purples, and even sunset golds and rusts. That little "flare" below it is a starburst of Swarovski crystals, but of course. All of the other beads are glass.

As for the title, it's a lyric from "Want" by Recoil. A very... personal song, you could say.

(For Sale)

It's said that Lady Luck is remarkably fickle. One moment she's smiling at you with her hand resting on your shoulder, and the next she's pushing you away in disgust. It's not known exactly how one goes about getting Lady Luck to look one's way, but maybe something devastatingly sparkly is the way to her fickle heart.

The color combination of red, black and copper was suggested to me recently, and while I can't blame the suggester, I hope he won't mind me thanking him a little bit. *grin* I'd actually set out to make a simple necklace. Again. I failed so hard at that. 51 Swarovski crystals, a few seed beads, and the typically insane urge to make little tiny links out of thin copper wire. Yeah, that's all me. All mine. I'm going to take a couple of days off now, thank you.

(For Sale)

I found gorgeous cherry red freshwater pearls. I bought them. I made happiness with them. *grin*

I do love their color, though. Very hard to fully grab it with pictures, but I think I was mostly successful. Something playful and fun and shiny and definitely not quite traditional.

(Sold)

I saw a painted shell at the craft store, in greyscale. This is basically what I actually saw in the shell when I first looked at it--and found out after I bought it that it was supposed to be a parrot. ...I wanted it to be a very stylized peacock, and so here we are. A real shell painted with vibrant red, green and copper iridescent pigment mixed into high gloss varnish for a super-shiny effect.

As for the necklace itself, it's a semi-shiny strand of yarn mixed with a "fuzzy" strand, both crocheted together. Soft and comfy and stretchy, and adjustable.

(For Sale)

And so two fascinations come together: prayer beads and Final Fantasy 7. ...No, I didn't think the connection existed before now, either. It was all because of Pray for the Planet's beads that I got this idea in the first place. These particular beads are black and beautifully textured, with tiny silver "cracks" running through them. Much more beautiful in person. So is the rainbow obsidian "black materia", which actually manages to have a silver glowing accent to it. Awesome.

And in case you're interested in the symbolism... Three groups of ten beads represent the three pillars/columns/"the three lines", and the ten steps/branches of the Sephirot. The black materia is just that--but the drop from it represents the "11th step/branch" which represents the abyss (but it's kind of blasphemous, ha ha, but then so am I). It seemed... appropriate for Sephiroth's symbol to rest on the edge of the abyss.

The original is sold, but I can take commissions for more.