Charmed Bracelets

Prayer Beads With Vintage Glass Frog

Beads can do all sorts of powerful things:

Keep you safe. Mark boundaries. Give you something to hold onto in the dark of night or the glare of a fluorescent (medical) environment.

I have been using beads—and charms, and wire, and cord—to make jewelry for more than two years now. But only recently did I come to realize what I was really doing.

I started buying old factory floor-sweepings from my friend Cynthia in Colorado. Then I put them together into one-of-a-kind necklaces and bracelets.

 Each bead I added to a strand was a prayer.

Then I made a prayer bead necklace for myself, just as the brain tumor chapter of my life was beginning. And I wore it to my dates with the cyberknife machine, and kept it wrapped around my hand at night as I slept. Now that I'm in remission, I keep it on my bedside table. 

The beads are floor sweepings from those old factories in what is now the Czech Republic. The little glass frog was also made in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s. The charm is valued at about $70.

Glass animals--cats, frogs, various breeds of dogs--were made as charms to go in Christmas crackers. You know, the kind you pull and the prizes fall out. They are slightly less than an inch in size. Some are translucent, like this frog, some are opaque. 

They probably cost a few cents in the 1920s, but they are collector's items now. I get them from Sandy's site: Sandy's Vintage Charms

I made two more strands of prayer beads/worry beads with Czech glass animals, one a pale green cat, the other the cutest little French bulldog. One of these was sold, the other went to a friend as a gift.

See also: More Prayer Beads

Price for the frog bracelet: $150, which includes postage, insurance, and so on. 

Photos: @ Monica Strasen 2011. 

@ Jeanne Sather 2011. 

My Favorite Frog: SOLD

I've had this vintage sterling silver frog for some time, just waiting for design inspiration. 

And now, here he is. 

I used five strands of gemstone beads: one of beautiful natural turquoise beads in a small tube shape, and four strands of Chinese chrysocola in various shapes: round, square, and small rondelles. The Chinese chrysocola is a mottled blue that goes perfectly with turquoise. The lighter areas of the beads are turquoise in color and the rest are a deeper blue. 

The strands are gathered into cones of hammered sterling silver, and the toggle clasp is adjustable to fit wrists from about 6 to 7 inches.

The bracelet is $160, which reflects the value and quality of the charm (plus the "cuteness factor," of course. 

Price: $160, this includes postage, insurance, and so on. 

The Child Jeanne and Frogs

I grew up in a small town, playing with frogs. 

In the 1960s in Hoquiam, Washington, we had tree frogs in the yard, and bigger frogs and bullfrogs in the swamp at the end of our street. Hoquiam is at sea level (altitude: 0), and is only a few miles from the rainiest spot in the continental United States--a pretty good environment for the little guys with webbed toes. 

My sons grew up in Seattle, and, sadly, it's pretty hard to find a frog inside the city limits (I know one or two places where they can be found, but I'm not telling). We used to have to go to the zoo to see frogs. And the boys had projects at their grade school where they hatched tadpoles and then released them in Ravenna Park near our house, but the frogs did not survive. Environmental change.  

Not only did I play with frogs as a child in Hoquiam, I also played with ladybugs, beetles, tadpoles, bumble bees, baby trout in the rivers, grasshoppers, banana slugs in the woods ... but NOT the sick bat that attached itself to the porch of our house one year. I successfully raised a few birds that fell out of their nests while learning to fly.

I never played with ants, that was Becky, my youngest sister. 

So I have an affection for frogs that has now spilled over into my jewelry. 

More frog pieces to come. 

Photos: @ Monica Strasen 2011. 

@ Jeanne Sather 2011.