Hippie Beads & Butterflies

I know I've been a bad blogger...but I've been busy with a swap & some new creations for my Artfire Studio Shop.  Now I've gotta get caught up.

The swap was the one I hosted for the Red Lead Paperworks Yahoo Group.  The theme this time was Altered Patina Art Charms and my original post about it is here.  It was a wonderful swap, and as hostess I was able to see all of the charms before I swapped them out.  I love hosting swaps!

Each swap we do with the Red Lead Paperworks group includes a goodie bag that is sent along with the swap returns.  Since it seems that most people have received their swap packages, I'm sharing what I made with the goodies this time.  It's this necklace made with the Hippie beads I supplied for the goodie bags & the awesome Filigree Patina Butterfly charm provided by the girls at Red Lead. 

I love patina on brass & other metals, so the butterfly & other patina charms sold at Red Lead are just my cup of tea.  To seal the charms so the patina doesn't wear off, I used some MicroGlaze by JudiKins.  It works really well & seems to be sealing the charm nicely.  I have also used the Golden Glazing Liquid or Fluid Gel to seal the charms, but with the detail on the butterfly, the MicroGlaze seemed like my best choice.

I took my strand of Hippie beads (yes, I did wear beads like this back in the late 60s & early 70s) and strung them on thin beading wire with a looped crimp end attached.  You can see that end in the first pic with the detail.  I strung the beads randomly, adding a few others from my stash & ended with another crimp end.  The second crimp end is a "challenge" to get onto the wire & still keep the beads on it & not have the strand too loose so that there is a big gap between beads...but with some trial & error...and a lot of swearing... I was finally successful.  It was worth the "pain" as I really like how this looks.  Then I used some antiqued brass jump rings to attach the butterfly to the beads & ended up with this necklace. 

That's all for today...I'll be busy taking pix of my new creations for Artfire...I'll be sure to let y'all know when they're available.  Have a great day & be creative!