Bikini Top in 550 Paracord

I had the idea to make one of these for a long time...  It was on the old mental list of things to do and one day, not too long ago, I made a paracord bikini top.  I had never seen one before and I thought it would be such a conversation piece at some shows.  We had it out, looked at it, passed it around and giggled!

I did not use a pattern for this, but worked through it myself.  I can tell you that there is over 115' of cord in the project.  I made the one triangle and then the other.  There is one piece of cord woven through the bottom to tie it and I anchored long pieces folded in half for the top straps.  Those were the only two pieces that I removed the inner strands from.  This top is heavy due to the amount of cord and it's also thick.  Seriously armour without the scale male!

So, before someone else rolls one of these babies out... I will claim it as my wild creation!  That is until someone else figures out how to make one!  Good luck out there and hope you have a LOT of cord!!!

Wire Wrapped Herkimer Diamond and Tiger Eye Ring Pendants

I say ring pendants because these can be worn as rings or hung from a cord and worn like a necklace.  The stones are rather large and I found the ring design is a great way to show them off a couple of different ways.

Herkimer diamonds are actual quartz crystals mined near Herkimer, New York.  In many specimens you will notice a point at each end which is also referred to as double terminated.  Herkimer diamonds are found clear, cloudy, smokey and may have impurities that look like dark spots or inclusions.  I have some stones where you can see crystal formations and little chips, rainbow prisms inside and sometimes crystals right on top of another.  I can't speak for everyone, but I'm a bit of a rock and mineral hound and love interesting things nature produces.  

The other ring pendants were made with some large tiger eye beads I had.  I have always loved the colors of tiger eye.  It's nice to know you can make rings and not have to use a blow torch and create a bezel and because the stones are drilled, you can do so many things with them.  Fun!