From the Archives

For your perusal, the latest installment of "From the Archives" where I share some well-loved jewelry that hasn't seen the light of day for a while.

The theme for this installment is Simple. "WHAAAAAAT?!" you exclaim? "Simple? Really? But I thought your style was asymmetrical, free form and the-more-beads-the-better." Well, you are right. I do like throwing beads in a bowl and caution to the wind and just string.

But sometimes it's different. Sometimes you look at a strand of beads and think WOW. Those are so pretty that they just need to stand on their own. The challenge with a necklace like that, (at least for me) is to keep the design clean and uncluttered with just the right amount of enhancement to keep it from being dull. (Insert technical note here: All necklaces are strung on SoftFlex beading wire. .014 for the tourmaline and .019 for the turquoise. I don't use any other nylon coated beading wire brand. I have been using SoftFlex since it came out and it is the BEST.)

I have a couple of necklaces that I think fit into that description.

A simple strand of color-graduated tourmaline. The quality of these gemstone beads were really nice, so I wanted to let the beads stand alone. This is actually two strands that I combined and kept them in color order.

I used a simple toggle clasp and embellished the loop with some wire wrapped freshwater pearls. Also note the finishing detail at the end of the strands. I like my necklaces to have a nice touch at the end and I think this ties everything together. Add a jewelry tag and it's ready to go. I can wear it long or doubled around the neck. I usually wear it doubled with the clasp in front.

When I saw this strand I thought it was the PERFECT strand of turquoise. Graduated, some matrix, great color range. I wanted the strand to really stand out so I had to be careful about what I added to it. I wanted it to be interesting and have whatever I added to it feel like it was a natural extension of the stones.

I had this lampworked bead that I made from my series that resembled rocks. I thought it fit in nicely. The clasp also features a lampworked cabochon that I made. I used a simple brass spacer between each bead. The lampworked bead has a couple of silver daisy spacers around it. Perfect.

So there you have it. Simple and lovely and both are happy to see the light of day.