nuts

tagua nuts.  These make strangely cute jewelry.  I currently have several necklaces and a ring made of out of this materal.  It sort of looks and feels like plastic and can come in a huge array of colors.

I found a shop on etsy that makes amazing work out of these nuts: http://www.etsy.com/shop/veronicarileymartens#

Before getting lazy and just ordering a necklace (see below), my plan was to get crafty and order some "potato chip beads" online (http://taguanutivory.com/tagua-nut-beads-tagua-nut-chip-beads-tagua-nut-large-center-hole-irregular-potato-chip-bead.html).  I am curious how easy they would be work with.  They appear to be pre-drilled.  Tempted.

What I really want to do is find a place in town that sells them so that I can feel and see them before purchasing them.  I am also battling my crafty-rule that I am not allowed to just buy materials unless I have a specific project in mind.  Oh, there is a good reason for this rule, since I have many other tubes of beads, yards of cool fabric, random zippers and yarn skeins.  One can only have so many containers of these things.