Beadin Path - Design Partner October Challenge

Today was one of those overcast cool fall days that made me want to stay in my jimjam's and bake cookies all day. My pantry was empty and I needed to go to the store so I made jewelry instead!

I worked on several pieces today made from vintage lucite from Beadin Path. I have the delightful honor of being one of their design partners. Beadin Path is so gracious to send me a sampling of their beads and in return I review the products on my blog.

What is vintage lucite I hear you say? To quote Heather DeSimone, Bead Diva of Beadin Path:

"DuPont Corp. introduced lucite in 1937. Since it was more cost effective to produce than the currently used bakelite, lucite was used in production of costume jewelry as early as 1940. The most easily recognized form of lucite is the “moonglow” style that is used in the popular “jelly belly” jewelry which was produced in the 1950’s & is now highly collected. During WWII, many other colors were introduced including marbleized opaques, jewel tones in transparent stripes, and other styles.

Our collection was the contents of a warehouse that stopped producing beads & jewelry components in the 1970’s. Most of the stock was overages from production in the 50’s & 60’s for companies such as Trifari, Coro, Monet, Avon& Napier. All of our stock is new & uncirculated so it is in pristine condition.

What makes our beads different is the quality you’ll find in lucite vs. other plastics. It is a heavier material & the beads that were produced lend themselves nicely to mixing with heavier beads like stone & glass. Most of these beads are also “lathe-turned” carved from a long tube of lucite, vs. press-molded & therefore you won’t see seams. We hope you like the old lucite beads as much as we do & we’re happy to help you start growing your palette of lucite."

Now that you know a little more about lucite, let me show you what I made today!

I didn't intend for this to come out as a set - it is just how the beads lead me. I combined both -
LUC4759RD - Vintage Italian Lucie Marbled Red w/ White - 12mm rounds and LUC4725RD - Vintage Lucite Transparent Siam Ovals - 10 x 12mm along with freshwater pearls, faceted opalite, sterling barrels and wooden beads from my supplies. I want a bulky multilayer look. I brought it all together with a fun chain off of an old re puposed necklace.




The bracelet is a great accent using the middle strand of the necklace as the guideline and finishing it off with some more of the re purposed chain.



I separated a couple of the links of the necklace and used the links as accents in the earrings.

We are going out tonite with friends - I am gonna take this bad boy for a test drive :)



Going a little on the lighter side, I wanted a longer style but still a layered look. I think it would look great over a sweater. I added swarovski crystals and some vintage crystals I have from a necklace of my grandmothers.



I love the side drilled beads. I love how they 'cluster'.






I had a little bit of left over chain, so I thought why not! A little something for him too!