Re: I'm stumped

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com (Lee S. Billings) :

]Does anyone have ideas for what to do with these strands, or ]links to pictures of interesting things that someone else has done with them?

is there a picture, so i can get a clearer idea of what they look like?

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

Send me a picture of them. I love challenges. Keeps my brain cells working. Shirley

In article , Lee S. Billings writes

They're basic flat discs, center-pierced, about 2-3mm thick and graduated in size from about 4mm on the ends to 12-14mm in the center. Think heishe, but with rounded edges.

Celine

See my response to vj for a basic description. "Single center disc" means that the one in the middle of the strand is the largest, clearly intended to be the center focus. If there were 2 central discs of equal size, then I could hang a pendant between them and *it* would be the center focus.

Celine

Ah, I see - Can you perhaps hang a pendant below the biggest one - or make it part of a pendant some how? Kind of hard to imagine - I am such a visual person, so it's hard to describe what I am thinking in words. LOL Maybe use the biggest one like a donut and embellish it with seed beads somehow. Of course 12mm isn't that large....so....hmmmmmm. I can see where you'd be stumped!

This may look good or horrid. I can't tell until I actually sting alot of times. But think double strand by using the center section as one strand and the ends to create the second strand with a focal bead in the center between the two sections. These strands would be short so they would either need to be spaced with other beads or hook to a loop that continues either in a chain or other beaded section.

Susan W

But you just gave me an idea! Maybe I could create a wire bail that would hang from *both* sides of the central bead -- like a "rabbit-ear" bail, but larger, with the central bead framed in it. That might work...

Celine

Disks lend themselves to stacking. Consider combining two or more graduated strands together, stacking the colors in different combinations and separating the stacks with a contrasting shape / size bead such as tiny round onyx or GF.

• TL *

Now that sounds very nice. Are you thinking of a simple drop, or something wire wrapped?

Tina

Are you referring to what I think of as 'barrel' beads? If so, I really like the shape, too -- but like you, don't come up with breathtakingly obvious ideas for how to embellish them.

Deirdre

Do you do wirework at all?

If so, how about making a V-shaped wire bail, suspended from eyes that could go around the beading wire on either side of the central bead, with something suitably dramatic hanging from the point of the V? Maybe a drilled pendant, or a donut of the same material as the disc beads themselves?

Deirdre

Dunno. It'll have to wait until the right pendant makes itself known to me.

Celine

No, it's sort of the opposite of barrel beads. Barrels are drilled thru the long axis, discs are drilled thru the short axis. (If you drill discs thru the long axis, they become coin beads.)

Celine

Ha! We had very similar ideas about this, Kandice. Since I love your design sense, that makes me feel good.

Deirdre

OK, I think i'm visualizing this accurately now, no matter what terminology applies...

Deirdre

Oooh, good idea!!

Celine I don't have a web place to show photos, but I will email you a jpg of a set I just finished for an idea, if you like. I made a necklace set for my sister from sandblasted and seaglass discs and beads of varying sizes. I used some very old looking silver beads (look like they came up from a sunken treasure) and also some shiny glass ovals (bubbles). The second strand is detachable so she can wear it as a double necklace or wear either one as a single. I made earrings to match. She's had some devastating times and losses recently in her personal life and doesn't know this is on its way via postal priority. The whole thing is in shades of aqua, turquoise and deep teal - very beachy. Turned out pretty nicely. The flat cheerio kind of discs you speak of are stacked in groups of three here, and one or two there...

live and be well, Christy

Ooh, yes, I'd like to see that! Thanks...

Celine