Merry Christmas

…And Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Sunreturn, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and whatever else anyone wants to celebrate. In the dark times of the year, we all need a little joy and sparkle.

Which is why I took this two-year-old necklace, the first piece I made when I got back into right-angle-weave beadwork:

And reworked it into this:

Because I wasn’t happy with the first round: the flanking tubes were awkward, the toggle closure too tight, and I worried the exposed edges of the ruby CZ pendant might chip. I kept the body of the necklace, the central tube element, the toggle, and the CZ pendant. I made new flanking tubes in peyote stitch with bronze metallic and red-purple rocaille glass seed beads. Joined them with a short loop of ruby glass ovals and cut bronze-glass rounds. Then wrapped the CZ pendant in a peyote-stitch bezel and bail of bronze and iridescent red glass seed beads.

Now I have holiday bling to wear today.

There’s a lesson in here about being willing to revise ruthlessly, I suspect, but I have a date with Red Dragon’s Chinese food and Pratchett’s Hogfather on DVD.