Ice flake quartz

Once upon a time, I came across a funky vintage store in California. It smelled like stale musk an old feet but it had some pretty nifty jewelry, so I just breathed through the mouth. Tucked in the back of a display case was a once-lovely multi-strand necklace. I say "once" because this particular necklace was crusted in muck, broken and poorly "fixed" with fishing line, and at least half of the beads were chipped, fractured, or otherwise wonky.

I do love a challenge.

I managed to talk the seller down from $50 (for a horribly dirty and  broken necklace? are you freakin' kiddin me??), and walked away with images of re-purposed jewelry swimming in my head. The friend that I was with thought I was nuts (which, I am).

Fortunately the "muck" was pretty easy to clean off-some piping hot water, soap, and a good scrub for every bead did the trick. A fair amount of the beads crumbled when handled, making the task of separating beads from  bits a drawn-out process. Fortunately, it's one easily done while watching Burn Notice.

The broken bits were tossed into some potting mix for some lovely cyclamens, and the remaining beads spent a couple of days hanging out on a cloth to fully dry. Then, they sat in a bead case for about a year, until I finally decided I wanted to do something with them.

Finally, finally, I started using these lovelies! So far there are three different variations on earrings, and this pair is the first up for sale:

I'm a huge fan of the black marbling on these. Ice flake quartz gets that nifty "ice crystal" look from being heated, then rapidly cooled. The interior of the quartz fractures, resulting in the crackled-ice effect. Awesome, no?

I had the itch to make something really simple, with a little splash of color. I love how these dangle off the earlobes, but are short and light so they're not at all in the way. Great for running errands, chasing dogs, and doing adult-like things, with a little splash. After I finished these, a friend pointed out the color is just in time for Autumn. Happy accident! I'm terrible, and do not follow fashion trends, or what "this season's color" is. I should be ashamed, I know. I'm totally not.

Swing by my etsy shop for more photos (or, just to buy a pair!).