I’m a fan of big briolettes.

To turn them into jewelry, I prefer straightforward stringing to the drudgery of wrapped loops. (One or two wrapped loops isn't bad, but for some reason, anything more than that seems like a lot of work.) For the January cover story, I simply strung the aqua quartz briolettes and attached each end to a chain. Voila! the busy girl's accessory.

The necklace I actually ended up wearing, though, is the clear quartz version (instructions are in the issue). Right now, I'm wearing more gold than silver and I like the organic-looking gold wire wraps. Plus, this version is more lightweight and wearable.

In another fit of big-bead mania, I found these zebra jasper flat teardrops (also called "fans") at a Rings & Things cash-and-carry sale. The $9 strand had ten 35 mm pieces, all the same size and shape. When strung, though, the effect is still very 3-D and biblike. The necklace works well with all the black and gray I've been wearing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the January issue. We had a lot of fun putting it together!