fossil beads - leilani handmade

Come Tour My Jewelry Box: Fossils & Slabs

Posted on August 30, 2010July 18, 2017 by Leilani — 1 Comment

It’s no secret, to anyone who knows me, I love rocks. I was ecstatic to find out my now-husband likes rocks too. Between buying beads, minerals and specimens we can do some major damage at a Gem & Mineral Show. Eventually we both want to get into rock hounding & lapidary. For now we leave that to the experts and simply admire.

These pieces from my jewelry box, are what I call my homage to the Gem Show: Slabs. 🙂

Above is an orthoceras, a common fossil. Both this slab & the one below were set into pendants by a Nova Scotian artist. These were purchased at the Parrsboro Gem & Mineral Show about 7 years ago. Paired with fossil beads (dyed black) and snowflake obsidian chip beads.

The above slab pendant, by the same artist, is paired with bull’s eye agate & flower jade beads, as well as milky quartz chip beads.

This pendant was from the LBS (local bead store). I loved the patterning of the agate & felt it went well with my collection. So I added this to the jewelry box a couple of years ago. 🙂

My style ranges from the big & bold to the sweet & dainty. But everything has meaning. 🙂

Check out my girls’ toddler bracelets also from my jewelry box.

100 Days of Creativity: Day 56

Posted on March 2, 2009August 5, 2017 by Leilani — 3 Comments

I am happy to report that I was able to make another 3 pieces today…bringing me pretty close to my goal of 100 pieces in my Etsy Shop. Here’s what I came up with:

I only had a handful of these pretty jade beads left, & they are very special to me as they were purchased during a trip to India a good friend of mine took. So I came up with this bracelet, and then a matching pair of earrings with the final last two beads. These 9mm beads are really pretty, I hope these pieces go to a loving home. 🙂 Jade is also the mystical stone for those born in the month of March so it was very appropriate to make these pieces & list them this month.

The third piece, a bracelet, is comprised of 10mm denim fossil beads. I love these beads as they are a blue/black mottled colour that really do live up to their name. I wanted to make a versatile piece as usual, that will go with many outfits. I already had a pair of earrings listed, so a matching bracelet seemed like a natural choice.

I can;t wait for tomorrow & see if I can break the 100 item mark in my Etsy Shop! 🙂

100 Days of Creativity: Day 55

Posted on March 1, 2009August 5, 2017 by Leilani — Leave a comment

Today I really wanted to work on something slightly more challenging than earrings. I am getting rather sick of making earrings. Well, that is harsh. More like, feeling uninspired to make earrings now. So I decided today was all about the cuff:

This hematite cuff was hard to photograph. In fact, I would like to try & get more shots of it if there is time & adequate lighting in the next few days. It is has such a nice, shiny lustre however that makes it hard to get a good photo without glare/blur. This angle seemed to come out okay. When I started out to make this piece, I really saw it as a earthy, wear it to dress up your jeans type of piece. But it really is shiny & bold, I think it would make a statement with whatever you wore it with…

These two are very similar, using the same materials. This was my way of using up these green tube fossil beads. I paired them with South Seashell beads. South Sea shell beads are man-made. Mollusk Shells are pulverized to a powder, an iridescent pigment added, and shaped into beads. I thought this was a clever way to transform discarded shells into beads. Fossil beads are formed from limestone, a sedimentary rock which is formed by the skeletons of tiny marine organisms (calcium carbonate). Since limestone is so porous, it is ideal for making into beads since it will easily take on dye. Get a closer look at these pieces on Etsy…

Well, that was fun. Now I have to think what to do tomorrow…I am sort of running out of creative steam since I have made so many things in the past little while. But tomorrow is a new day and a new set of thoughts. Until then…

100 Days of Creativity: Day 39

Posted on February 14, 2009August 6, 2017 by Leilani — Leave a comment

I still felt like playing in hematite & those peacock blue fossil beads, but this time a slight variation. This piece emerged, and felt very earthy to me. I added it to my “down to earth” section of the Etsy Shop.

Despite the earthy quality, the hematite is still very shiny, so this piece would really add to any outfit. The hematite is 10x10mm two-holed beads; the dyed fossil beads are 4mm. Find out more about this piece in its Etsy listing….

100 Days of Creativity: Day 38

Posted on February 13, 2009August 6, 2017 by Leilani — Leave a comment

Um yeah…so I was doing the math today as today is exactly 34 weeks …there is no way I will make 100 days consecutively. I hope that I can at least get 100 pieces in my Etsy Shop before this baby arrives! We shall see…I’m over half way there now!

Today’s creation: I was feeling like adding more to my “eye candy” section. I just love these hematite donuts & think they look awesome with these peacock blue dyed fossil beads:

I added quartz to the piece to amplify some good energy!

I find fossil beads really interesting. They are formed from limestone, a sedimentary rock which is formed by the skeletons of tiny marine organisms (calcium carbonate). Since limestone is so porous, it is ideal for making into beads since it will easily take on dye. A very affordable way to add colour to my pieces.

Check out more about this piece in my shop…