my lockdown necklace.
i have to explain that i am in my home, not in my workshop which is a drive away from here.
my kids strictly required me, being over 70 and at risk, to conform to the guidelines so like many others in central London i am not going out. they don't want their children to lose a granny!
before the restrictions were enforced i did manage to pick up and bring home a large sackful of mixed up sweepings, particularly findings etc and set myself the task of sorting it all out so i have ingredients and materials for when i can teach again.
so now at home i have sacks full of sorted-out clasps, split rings, jump rings, callottes, bits of gimp etc. etc. ethnic S-hooks, earring bits, all can be reused. the most problematic were the halves of screw clasps that no longer had their partners- just did not have many actual beads.

the other equipment that would be helpful of course is not only all the good beads but my extensive reference library as i'm writing something else again on the general subject of beads and not everything online is accurate by any means...
hoping the image comes across...

Keeping my fingers crossed, I've tried to post these about six times! Tech hates me..... Aaaaaand nope.

So I'll post a link to them on my Facebook page instead:

https://www.facebook.com/LuannMUdell/posts/10158034167793145

These are artifacts I made last week. The foxes are selling as fast as I can make them! (In necklaces....)

Also, I have a bunch of new work on my website:
https://www.luannudell.com/works

I'm actually lovin' the SIP thing! And I found a way to augment my production process, (new headphones and the perfect music) so I've been working non-stop.

Ancient eye agate bead set on gold ring in old Egyptian style.
The bead is 9 mm long.
Needs just the final polishing (with sand from de Argelian Sahara)

Really a very nice design and the agate is great. Well composed.

Looks fabulous! Did you make the ring yourself?

...I am not a goldsmith, not even a student.
My primary care specialist is routinely in charge of those preliminary steps requiring a true professional (i.e. melting)and does help with any problem I encounter in the process,but due to the current situation this particular project needed my almost unassisted attention for several weeks.
More than anything else, I dig losing myself into leisurely filing a piece of good metal, with a backing of, say, South Indian vocal music or the Kanon Pokajanen of Arvo Pärt...

It is going to be FAT, but final form TBD

Over the previous five months I have been buying antique (and not-so-antique) Chinese cloisonné beads, featuring dragons and phoenixes. I have several projects in the works.

Here is a presentation of the best beads, organized as I will probably use them. But they will be added to an ensemble of antique red Chinese amber beads, to create an incredible necklace.

The single bead is one of three round tabular openwork cloisonné beads, featuring a turquoise-blue dragon on a gilded ground.

I have been showing these beads at FaceBook since I began acquiring them.

J.

And for something very different.....a seed bead project I just finished.

Just gorgeous!!

I'm assuming it's a work of art for display, rather than wearing. Is it meant to be displayed vertically or horizontally? If vertically, I'm curious to know how you'll mount or hang it.

Social distancing and a closed gallery has allowed us to complete a number of beading projects and although not a really recent reconstruction, this necklace is still one of my favorites so thought I would share. This necklace was restrung after we copied one of the blue faience terminals that is shaped in the form of a blue lotus blossom.

All components in this necklace date to the Amarna Period of Egypt's 18th dynasty, (ca. 1353-1336 BCE) and is a durable version of the elaborate perishable floral collars worn by banquet guests during this time.

Individually made in molds, the beads here display a row of white lotus petals with yellow and blue tips; a row of red dates with yellow tips, and a row of yellow mandrake fruits. These rows are joined by strands of small ring beads, the composition ending with triangular faience terminals incised with blue lotus blossoms. 

It is highly possible the jewelry elements depicting fruit, and flowers had an amuletic significance since all growing plants were inherently symbolic of new life and some flowers actually open each morning, reconfirming the idea of resurrection. 

Length: 8 3/4 inches (22.25 cm), Width: 8 1/4 inches (21 cm)

Does the necklace drape across one's shoulders without a clasp? Or do the terminals form a clasp and how do they do that?

At the end of each terminal is a hole to allow stringing for attachment. At the most basic form, the necklace would then be tied around the neck. Attached is a picture of the terminal prior to stringing. The gold jump ring at the top was removed of course because it was modern.

However, this setup would sometimes mean the necklace did not sit properly so in some cases, a counterweight (menet) assembled from beads or manufactured from faience was introduced at the back as well. Attached is another necklace that shows a plain blue glazed faience counterweight to a ring bead necklace.

The small beads - are they really discs or rings, where the hole is rather wide in relation to the main diameter?

These are ring beads, they small and quite thick comparatively speaking. The disk beads are much flatter. The holes themselves are quite large, primarily due to the manufacturing process whereby the faience paste was wrapped around a reed, stalk or some other type of organic matter. It was left to semi harden, cut into sizes, then fired which burnt off the organic interior.

The first pic shows a few unstrung ring beads; these are quite thick so easy to see but I have examples of ring beads that are less than half a mm in thickness! Such technical skill is extraordinary; I have no idea how it was done.

The second pic is a necklace of disk beads, the blue and green faience examples are ancient but the white examples are much later (50 - 100 years old).