Key Crystal, Aquas KC22-5219

Overall length:  approx 12 1/2 inches

Old and Antique Keys are one of my favorite things in the world.  Many years ago, I got a box of old skeleton keys from my mother's house.  I wanted to use them for something pretty, so...I hung beads and crystals on them.  A variation of the age old "suncatcher".  They were immensely popular, and I've made many through the years.  

Keys are usually an old OR antique skeleton key, but I find some oddballs I can't readily identify too.  Sometimes I get my s/o to buff them out so they look like "new", sometimes I leave them all old & dark.  They are wrapped with artwire, and I make a set of 3 or 5 beads, using a hollow bead as the focal.  Crystals are Austrian.  Accent beads are mostly Czech almond table cuts.  The tops are macramed around a soldered jump ring, and the cords are, of course, macrame.  They can hang inside or out, but remember, the keys are old metal and will eventually rust or turn dark.