Oldies but Goodies - Lariats

What is a lariat necklace?
A lariat is a very long rope without a clasp. It can be from chain, it can be wire, it can be beaded, and most important of all it can be worn in different ways. You can tie it, knot it, loop it, wear it long, or drape it around your neck a few times. There can be small embellishments all along the rope or just on the ends, but there can also be some kind of connector which allows one end to be pulled through it, like in a lasso for example.
When I looked around, I found several Y-chains being called lariats, too. Y-chains, however, usually have a clasp and can only be worn one way. They are chains with a long rope hanging down from the middle of the rope that goes around the neck.

It seems that the Jewelry Artisans Community has not embraced the lariat style yet, for this week's Oldies but Goodies Challenge we only got entries from three people. Who knows, maybe it's going to turn into one of our monthly challenges eventually to make a lariat. I think that could be fun.
I hope you enjoy the entries I do have to show you.

1 and 5 Violetmoon's Corner
2 and 3 MC Stoneworks
4 and 6 Cat's Wire

Stop the thief! ;-)

Do you remember the Slouchies? I told you about them here. What you don't know yet is that one of them moved into my house where he has been standing on my desk, leaning at my box of business cards, smiling at me.

This is what Cleody told the world before I adopted my Slouchy:

"This little Slouchy has been naughty.
Apparently on their home planet, this little one got into the habit of stealing pretty trinkets from other Slouchies. After coming through the portal, we decided to give him another chance. However, it was apparent that his love for shiny things was too great. He began running around in a frenzy, giggling and hopping around, rolling in my jewelry and plucking shiny accessories from other Slouchies.
This little one is no danger to others, so he is allowed to function as any other Slouchy would. However, to keep him from stealing, he sleeps in a tiny jail cell made of popsicle sticks and he empties his little pockets every night before going into the cell. It's a pretty good system so far.
I hope whoever adopts this little one doesn't mind the occasional piece of jewelry going missing.
He's a little thief, but who could resist that little smirk?"

Yeah, now tell me it's not as if I haven't been warned, but it's true, I couldn't resist that little smirk and the little fellow makes me smile each time I look at him. Sometimes I discuss new designs or photos with him and he has been very helpful so far.

For some reason I started calling him Ben.

Well, today I had a look over there to the box and Ben was gone, but not alone. He had grabbed some of my unlisted pieces and made a run for it. I finally found him in my library where he tried to blend in. Too bad that brown wood and a jailbird outfit don't blend too well. Around his neck he wore three long lariats, wire crochet ropes, all of them with lampwork beads by Deronda Designs. 

He didn't hesitate to give them back to me, though, and he made my heart melt, so I let him wear the pair of earrings that I finished today, gunmetal colored hoops with sparkly Swarovskis all around.

I'm glad he hadn't seen my last two listed items, a bracelet and earrings, also both with lampwork beads by two of my favorite "fire" girls, from Pink Beach Studios and Melissa Vess.

Wire crochet rope bracelet with lampwork bead

Wire crochet rope hoops with lampwork beads

I guess now that Ben has licked blood, I'll have to have an extra eye on him. I don't even want to think about what will happen when he teams up with Ponder, my other master thief! ;-)

What do you do when ideas won't turn out the way you want them to ....

Easy enough. You calm down, relax, have a cool drink and try again.
Huh? That might go for others, but not for me. I don't calm down, but jump around like Rumplestiltskin. Then I throw everything on the floor (if I am sure it will not break ;-)) and after lots of swearing and cussing I might turn to that cool drink and afterwards calm down. A little. Sometimes I try again and sometimes I decide the whole idea was dumb anyway.
You wonder why I am elaborating on this subject? That's why:



To my defense, I did not throw it on the floor and also didn't jump around on it. It was just that I wasn't totally happy and still am not, but ideas from friends how to improve it are already rolling in. More experimenting will keep me from thinking about things that happened the last few weeks. There's a whole lot of trouble going on in my circles it seems and like I wrote a friend in an email today, it feels as if I should be scared to look around corners because the next bad surprise might already wait there.
Oops, no, the surprise is waiting inside my keyboard and it's called cat hair. The little guys should by right be naked now, but the way it looks and feels they are still pretty much covered. I think the shedding has become worse, does that mean spring is finally around the corner?? Please, let it be so, although I don't mind rain usually, I am getting to the point where I want to change my mind about that.
The snoring behind me - in black and white and very furry - is telling me I start to get boring, so I'll call it a day now.