I have lost count of how many bracelets brought to me for restringing that someone else made.  So I chose to not make stretch bracelets because of this.  It may have been type of material they used, I don't really know, but each one broke because the stringing material stretche to the breaking point. 

Janine, I agree completely!  With great anticipation I went to my local Michaels store, but ended up sort of deflated after coming to the same conculsions you did.  I guess if you are a hobby beader, or don't mind not knowing what sort of metals or the quality of glass is in your pieces, this is a great place.

I've since tried them and I really like them!  The only problem is which color combo to choose!

I like them!  Colorful and unique!

Here's how I do this: I figure the cost of my piece using my normal formula.  Figure the sales tax amount and add that to the cost, then round up to the nearest round number-usually to the next $5 or $10 mark. After it sells, I track my sales in an excel spreadsheet.  I include the name of the piece and other info, ...

All of my photos are in Photobucket.  If you hover your mouse over the image you want, a set of choices appear.  I click on the last one (IMG Code), do a right click, and then choose 'copy'.  Paste the photo here in the reply box.  Photobucket is all I use, so I can't tell you how the others work. Alice

This will be going a different direction, but how about getting one of these base metal filligree pieces (or something similar) and folding the edges over the cabochon.  There might be such a thing in sterling---I don't know.  Then you would have something to attach a jump ring to for a chain or ...

Has anyone used this patina product from Cool Tools?  I've been wanting to learn how to oxidize silver and came across this gel. http://www.cooltools.us/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=POL%2D800Parent&CartID=0 Also, as far as the finished piece, does the black patina transfer to skin and/or clothing? Any tips or good resources ...

Thanks Krina!  I got mine in the mail just this week.  It's black, and I'm not sure I'm happy with it.  It looks a little too plastic to me.  I guess it's time to learn how to use liver of sulfer.  Alice