Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A Beautiful Finish


To my mind, when designing a piece of jewelry, selecting a clasp is as important as, and in some cases more important than, designing the focal (and, of course, in some cases the clasp is the focal). I'm always looking for unusual clasps and ways to finish my pieces. I thought I'd share a few beautiful finds, all made by the lovely folks at Green Girl Studios.

If you are a beader (and if you aren't, I hope you feel entirely welcome, but - how in the world did you find me?), you have probably already heard of Green Girl Studios and, chances are, you may already have a number of their beads in your collection. However, if you are like me, when you visit their booth at a show or surf their on-line catalog, your palms sweat, your vision blurs and you are so completely overcome by the sheer volume of beautiful beads in front of you that, inevitably, the circuits in your brain overload and you miss a few things. If so, might I suggest adding a few of these beautiful shibuichi clasps to your list, for the next time you shop with Green Girl Studios?

I love all of these - they are perfectly thought out, beautifully executed (not to mention just plain beautiful) and supremely functional, all at the same time. (Expect to see these in my finished jewelry in the near future.) They make my fingers itch to bead. In fact, I think I'll go get my beading board right now...

6 comments:

Summer said...

I just love Green Girl studios. Too often I neglect the clasp - it tends, for me, to be a "thank god I'm done, quick, attach the clasp so I can wear it" thing, lol. Her stuff is so lovely, though, I bet I could change my mind:-D

Andrew Thornton said...

Wonderful! Thank you for spotlighting some of our clasps. Cynthia's been working on some new ones, but it's a lot more work than say a stand alone bead. The main reason being is that she particularly doesn't like to sell anything that's not absolutely functional and works beautifully.

There's a little box in her studio filled with all the would-be clasps that never quite made it for one reason or another.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Summer - I think you should! They are really beautiful and incredibly well-made.

Hey Andrew, Any time! I love them. I take them out and croon over them periodically. You've got me all curious as to what's in Cynthia's little box, though...

Anonymous said...

I just love everything Green Girl studios turns out - can never get enough. I think my biggest problem is I don't want to let go of any of their pieces! And every time I design something using one of them, someone simply must have it. Which is good, in one way, and yet...

I did not know, however, that they also made clasps (oh boy, I'm really in trouble now....

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

Hi! The most fun about their clasps is that they can be used for other functions: I have used parts of them on charm bracelets or necklaces,for example. I remember clearly being very happy when I discovered and chose to use a little part of a flower clasp on my Gigi charm bracelet in my book, Links! I wrapped a pearl from it! Whee! FUN!

jean

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Lisa, Glad to be your enabler on this (cackle, cackle). Seriously, they have beautiful clasps!

Jean, I completely forgot about that project! That's a great point - thanks for bringing it up.