Nooooooo !!!

Catastrophe has struck and I am still reeling in shock from it.  When I went to attach the fluorite flower that I had worked so hard to enhance, taking it from bland to beautiful,  I could not get the beading needle to go through the drill hole.  Somehow the epoxy resin that I used to coat the back of the stone flower had filled the center of the hole.  I thought I had cleared all the resin out with a toothpick after I had coated it but either I did not do a good enough job or more seeped in afterwards.
All I know is that I had to try to ream the hardened resin out of the drill hole in order to attach the flower to the bail.   I used a small, diamond coated reaming tool and was being gentle but ... well as they say "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Picture below - how it looked before the accident.

 

 

Picture below - how it looks after the accident.

 

I have thought and thought but haven't come up with any solution to the problem.  I can't try to reattach the broken piece as that would just seal up the dill hole again (but I am thinking about maybe doing that and then using the flower later on in a wire work piece - maybe!)  So now I'm in the process of trying to locate another carved fluorite flower.

 

I had also came up with a pattern that I thought would look nice with the center piece of the necklace.

Photo above and below - I like the rich, old world look of the capped  Amazonite and large  (Lab created) Amethyst beads interspersed with smaller, natural Amethyst beads.

Photo below - Got these little clamps at a home improvement store and at the time they were almost 3 for a dollar.  I find I use them all of the time and wish I had bought more of them.

If anyone runs across a site that sells similar fluorite carved flowers (about 40 mm in size) please let me know.   All I can find, so far, are small little 15 mm fluorite flower beads.



Bollywood and Back-Burner Projects

 Making some Christmas gifts have been on my back burner for awhile now.  A few weeks ago I took a Kumihimo class to learn how to braid these lovely, embellished Bangle Bracelets.  It was a class that started at 10 AM and lasted until 3 PM and I went away with a partially completed bangle.  I'm sad to say that first bangle came apart on me and I had to make it over, but by then I had learned a few tricks and knew what I was trying to accomplish.  My second attempt came out stronger and prettier.  The class teacher called this bangle, "Bollyood" as she said it reminded her of the lush, vivid colors popular in India.  I have to concur.

 

 

I haven't yet decided if this "Bollywood" bangle is going to my daughter, Kathy, or my granddaughter-in-law, Marci.  I have another bangle almost done, its colors are in yellow-gold and peridot green.  The third bangle is still a pile of beads and a skein of silk cord. 

Are any of you involved in creating Christmas gifts at the moment ?