I took Friday off to relax, and managed to stay away from the computer by making some jewelry. 
My first attempt at chaining: 20 gauge silver-plated copper wire and red and black Indian glass beads. The glass beads are from a kit i bought on eBay in summer 2003. My wire-wrapped loops were done by reference to a cheap necklace i bought when i left the Franklin Institute. I am not quite as facile as these instructions suggest.
Something i’ve wanted to experiment with is making a stained glass like effect with Golden’s regular gel (gloss) medium, suitably tinted. The blue looped earings have the acrylic medium suspended by the wire loops. I think i added too much pigment, but the translucency is there. I ordered a jig today and when that arrives i’ll develop some more intricate designs. (The difference between these too earrings helped me appreciate why a jig will be very useful.)
After a visit to the bead shop, i returned to make earrings to match a bracelet I had bought for Christine in Texas a year or so ago. I couldn’t quite find matching beads, but these are close enough — the distance between wrist and ears is far enough to mask the difference. Studying the bracelet led to the structuring technique. A long head pin of 20 gauge wire, then the beads strung on 22 gauge, looped around to make the ring of beads.
When i went to the bead store, i found the antique German glass beads on sale. I bought a strand of elongated tetrahedral green beads and some grey-brown glass disks. I found a pair of lampwork beads that seemed a good complement to the other beads and the earrings were completed last night.
I worked on the matching necklace, but, wehn i handed it to Christine to show off, the cable came loose. Hrmph.