Mom is a maker, too!

I thought I’d take the opportunity to show off some of my mother’s work. In addition to scrapbooking, beading, and Christmas ornament-making, she has also taken up kumihimo and lapidary. (Yes, it runs in the family – why do you ask? 🙂 ) Lately she’s been making necklaces with beaded kumihimo braids and large pendant stones, many of which she grinds/shapes or wire-wraps herself. Here is some of her work.

First up are the half-dodecahedrons built out of beads. Mom is a retired X-ray crystallographer, so has an interest in crystal forms. For awhile she was building larger beads out of smaller ones. She figured out how to build dodecahedrons last year (“it isn’t that hard once you understand how it works,” says mom), and created some half dodecahedrons as pendants.

In this next set, the focus is on the beaded braid and the perfectly matching stone:

Mom likes Murano glass, too. Here is a necklace with some blown-glass beads:

Here’s one where she not only did the beaded braid, but wire-wrapped the stone herself:

And here is a perfectly lovely seashell with beaded cord and bail. I think this one is my favorite!

And here are two where she cut the stone herself:

And, a blast from the past – twenty years or so ago, she was making Chinese knot pendants. Here is a pendant surrounded by four pan chang knots:

What’s she up to now? Here’s the work in progress:

I’m very proud to have such a talented mom!