The big bling project

This is the big bling necklace I mentioned in an earlier post - my first major project finished this year. This was the most complicated piece of jewellery I have designed and executed from scratch, particularly in terms of construction. It's not obvious from the photo but the necklace has been shaped to ensure that if fits nicely around the neckline and that all of the components and strands sit flat.

The materials in this necklace include:

• three 27mm Swarovski rivolis (all 'purple haze')
• two 18 mm rivolis
• two 14 mm rivolis
• one triangular crystal
• small Czech dagger beads
• copper delicas
• various seed beads in shades of copper and purple (garnet/amethyst)
• droplet beads, mostly in amethyst
• 2mm garnet round beads that I bought in Bali a few years ago
• Czech faceted rondelles
• Copper Size 8o beads and copper size 15o charlottes.

I started by making all of the components and then figuring out how to put them together. I was actually inspired by a Miriam Haskell necklace in the book 'Fabulous Fakes' by Carol Tanenbaum [http://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-Fakes-Passion-Carole-Tanenbaum/dp/1579652921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266279989&sr=8-1], which I had borrowed from a friend. My necklace doesn't look much like the one in the book, which was made with pearls, but it gave me the idea to use the rondelles to connect the components.

What did I learn from this project?

1. I had some fun embellishing the rivolis and learnt a lot about what you can and can't do. I will use a different method for connecting dagger beads next time, because I only used one thread and the beads move so much I've already had to mend it a couple of times.
2. If you're connecting pieces it's a good idea to determine connection points and actually add the connector elements while you're doing the initial bezelling and embellishment. If you don't, you run the risk of trying to do too many thread passes through the beads and breaking them. On these components I ended up adding loops at the back and using the loops to secure the connecting strings of beads, rather than connecting them directly to the rivoli bezel.
3. I learnt a lot about shaping a necklace and how each section needs to be different in order to achieve the shape. There are three strands of beads between the front components and the clasp, and each one had to be a different length to get them to sit flat. Even the strings between the components at the front of the necklace had to be different lengths. It was usually only one or two beads each way, but it took a long time to figure out the correct number of beads for each section!


4. I have an unfortunate love of Swarovski crystal, particularly the larger rivolis. I say unfortunate because I love looking at them but not wearing them (except for very rare evenings out), so why I make things with them I really don't know!

I'm very happy with the way this one turned out, even though it's so over the top I may never be game to wear it. I've been toying with the idea of submitting it to the Bead Dreams Competition this year. We'll see ...