Green aventurine – “Sweet autumn”

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I bought a string of green aventurine gemstone chips a very long time ago, and have never used them until now. I felt like they would make for very nice tree leaves, so I wanted to make a tree of life. Seems people like to add things to their trees of life (as seen in a quick Google search!) such as flat discs for moons, bird charms, and flowers. I used some red glass beads to resemble apples!

Firstly, I made a ring for the frame, and then tied lots of thin wrapping wire to the bottom of the frame. A handy bottle of cordial was used to keep the frame circular, don’t mind the strangeness of the image haha…

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Bright kumihimo bracelet

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Here is a quick thing I worked on recently. I bought some red, orange and yellow rattail cord a while ago to make a bracelet on request. Like a fiery/sunny pattern!

In this bracelet, I used four threads of orange, and two of red and yellow. I alternated the red and yellow patterns.

I opted to not use any bracelet ends, and tied off the ends with knots. You tie it with a square knot on the non-braided part.

By the way, I found a useful tip online for finishing bracelet ends! You can apply PVA glue to the cord ends to stop them from fraying, but you can also apply a dab of superglue to the inside of the knot to stop them from coming undone. Sounds simple, but very effective!

Materials used: red, orange and yellow satin rattail cord

Modular – Selene Sonobe

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Here is another model from the Zen Origami book, the Selene Sonobe.

Now, Sonobe models don’t have to be made with 30 units… I was about to make a 30-unit model, but I realised that the colours wouldn’t align well by itself. I should have made it with different colours from the start…

So instead I made a smaller 12-unit model. And it is very small compared to a 30-unit model. I added a Sonobe cube and some green glass beads to the string to decorate.

The flaps need to be curled slightly, so some contrast might be nice here!

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Pink kanzashi flower clip

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I have made my first foray into kanzashi flower crafting!

A kanzashi is a traditional hair piece, often floral, used in Japanese hairstyles. These days, the term can refer to folded fabric flowers.

Here is a handy link to the tutorial that I used. Thanks, Crafty Angels! It’s great for starters like me.

I’d start with a very wide ribbon so you can get used to the steps. My mauve-coloured ribbon here is 5cm wide.

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Blue goldstone – “Stellar light”

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Goldstone is a manmade stone with differently coloured specks of cobalt and manganese suspended in the stone to create a sparkle effect.

This version uses blue goldstone – a red goldstone is just as common and has flecks of copper. Some people like to call it ‘starstone’ instead.

I wrapped this using sterling silver wire and nothing else as I wanted to leave the stone mostly unobstructed by wires and other crystals.

Materials used: blue goldstone cabochon, 0.80mm and 0.40mm sterling silver wire