Beader's Block: Double Connection

One of my friends asked if she could bring someone over to meet me, and have a run through my jewelry designs. Apparently she had seen my work on Etsy and wanted to meet me. Wow. Sure! 


Her friend had a string of watermelon tourmaline already strung with the stones grouped by color. 'This is how I want the colors' she informed me. Well ok then. I guess she knows what she wants! Tourmaline is one of my favorite stones. I love how it looks (right) like a real slice of watermelon.  She wanted a necklace with a connector large enough to hang her glasses from, but also a second connector she could use if she wanted to doubled it up. That was a new one for me, and I really wasn't sure how I was going to do that?    

I pulled out a pile of my beading magazines to flip through. I stuffed a couple in my bag to study on my daily 1-hr train ride. I went searching online, but nothing was calling out to me.  I decided to put the project away. Several weeks went by before it hit me. Actually as silly as it sounds, it came to me in a dream. Yes I dream about beads. 

I realized that I wanted a pattern that could loop through from one connector to the next. I decided that my existing toggles, loops, connectors, etc ... just were not going to be what she was looking for. Sigh.
I decided to create my own out of hammered silver. I cut a few inches of 16 gauge silver and pulled out my Wiggig.  Love that thing.  Before I picked up this little device I was forever hunting through the house for a tube or pen that I could bend the wire around.  My designs always came out a little too 'free form' (yes the air quotes indicate the amateurish outcome). But now with my Wiggig I love to create silver charms. With just a couple of whacks with a chasing hammer, charms become a simple and fun way to customize a pattern.  She did really like the design, and the pattern gave her the versatility she was looking for. This time she showed up with another bag, and so I'm on to my next project for her.