A Dream Catcher Pendant (Sort of)

[Dennis]

I decided to make a new kind of pendant using 3.0mm pink tourmaline beads, along the lines of a dream catcher, but avoiding the spider’s web. The beads were strung with clear fishing line and knotted in between, across a frame of strip silver. The 0.5mm holes in the frame were made with a ball bur dipped in a little oil, to reduce the risk of breakage.

At first I tried to tighten the knots, with mixed results, using the point of a mounted needle. Finally I had more success using the eye, with the end cut off, so creating a two pronged fork.

The outer ring was expanded to fit around the inner one and has a washer-like rim, made from 2.0mm square wire. Once soldered on, the rim was filed down to be much thinner. The purpose was to hide the gap and hopefully this way of making it reduced the amount of waste. The shine is a tribute to MicroMesh and a Sunshine cloth.

The necklace has homemade ends for 1.2mm snake chain and there is a linked adjustment chain, ending in a little charm to repeat the theme.

Am I pleased with the result? Well not entirely. The stringing is not very even and reduced me to the rank of an abject beginner. On the plus side the parts are only held together by the friction of the knots, so it will be possible to revise it if the sight of it annoys me later. Dennis.

[eirish]

Oh, I like that, Dennis. The frame is an excellent idea, such a clean look, and I like the grid set at an angle like that. Not surprised you had trouble knotting fishing line, that stuff is a pain. The rather 'organic' look is nice against the stark geometry, actually.

[SilverBouillon]

Am I pleased with the result? Well not entirely.

Dennis, that's beautiful!
I see what you are talking about: your work is so professional, and only one sign of amateur beading upsets you.
You could use nylon coated sterling silver thread instead, like this one http://www.beadalon.com/19str925.asp, perhaps Cooksongold sell the similar.

How about making the inner frame thick enough to drill the kind of grooves with ball bur to hide a tiny crimps there? Using strong metal wire thread, and secure threads with crimps will give you good thread tension, imo.

Anyway, I like your necklace very much!

[medusa]

that is about a zillion times better than a regular dreamcatcher necklace. In fact it insults the piece to have the very word dreamcatcher near it.


<<<< has irrational hatred of dreamcatchers.

[Patstone]

I must have had a very sheltered upbringing, I have no idea what a dreamcatcher necklace is.

[trialuser]

same here - I'll google it.

[eirish]

Proper Native American artisan-crafted dreamcatchers, which did not originate as jewellery, can be quite lovely. Naff derivatives are, well, naff (and a quick search for dreamcatcher necklaces reveals a lot of naffness...). I don't know that I'd apply the term dreamcatcher to Dennis's gorgeous pendant, but only because it's not really accurate - dreamcatchers have specific elements with particular meanings.

[Katia]

Ooh, I love this a lot! Beadalon do make fantastic stringing products indeed ( I have been making seed bead jewellery for a while and I just love their huge range of beading threads.)

[Dennis]

Thank you all for your comments and advice. Cooksons do stock a bewildering range of beading threads and wires, including Beadalon, but in this case I decided to use what I already had.

I have wondered though whether there is a better tool for making knots than my modified needle.

[SilverBouillon]

in this case I decided to use what I already had.
I have wondered though whether there is a better tool for making knots than my modified needle.

Clear thread will always stretch. If you want good tension, it's either wire, or coated metal thread.
As for tool, perhaps pearl knotter?
http://www.cooksongold.com/Beads/Kno...prcode-999-AMB

I've never used it, but you can ask around.

eta: Thank you for bringing up this issue. I spent some time yesterday searching and designing reliable beading closure. Mass market gives very little of that, so hiding thread ends professionally is the problem.