Charmed Brass Book Necklaces - WIP

Okay, I finished these last week for a festival, but I don't have pictures of the finished necklaces.  I sold a few, but I will get some photos of the remaining necklaces and post them later.  Until then, here is a look at them in progress.

Here are the charms that hang over the cover of the books.  I used antiqued brass filigrees from aka Lula Beads, vintage West German stackable flower beads from Lee Bell, and resin cabachons from aka Lula Beads.  I put these together using my secret weapon, a scrapbooking brad.  Yup, that's right.  Works a lot better than a head pin, but a lot of times I have to increase the size of the hole in my components with a small diamond file so the brad fits through.  These were attached to small jump rings.

Here is a picture of the books without embellishments, and one of the crazy way I went about sorting them and keeping them separate.  The brass covers are made from blanks that came with a few sets of vintage brass stencils that I had.  I cut them with metal snips and sanded them for a smooth edge.  I used 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper for the pages.  Each book has about 24 sheets.

Pretty books all in a row, waiting for their embellishments.

And the assembled pendants ready for soldering (of the handmade jump rings), then chain.