love these

anthropologie's cinched quartz drops. Lovely, aren't they? $128 for brass and quartz, with a gold-filled earwire. Do you see what I see? Look closely; you can make out where these pieces of quartz were drilled. That's right, these are quartz point beads; a strand can be bought for approximately $30. Now, the challenge is - do I have any quartz points that are short enough to recreate this style? Would it be too tacky if the quartz crystals were longer? They could be masked - to some extent - by the brass. Oh, that reminds me - I forgot to share my little quartz point necklace that I made. I'll have to do that.

So, how to do the brass? I'll get a hollow tube of brass from the hardware store, cut two lengths, pound flat on the anvil and smooth the edges with a file.

How to affix the crystal to the metal? I'll use a heavy-duty epoxy glue; rough up the back of the metal with the file to help ensure adhesion. Probably superglue, whatever the hardware store has.

I may not find oversized jump rings made from a square wire like this, but I'll find heavy duty jump rings of some kind or another.

Definitely not $128 of materials is what I'm saying. Anthro, challenge accepted. (Besides, wouldn't they make really pretty gifts at the holidays, even for my friends who are less outlandish in their dress as I am? Yes, I do actually realize that not everyone goes around with taxidermied starling wings on their head.)

ok, I have GOT to go finish my Halloween costume so I can get started on this.