The Pearl Necklace Trend

by Kim

Today's post is written by guest poster Samantha Carter of the Bead Unique Column: Vintique.

Hello everyone, thanks for inviting me!  I love my introduction on the sidebar at the left, but I must say that some of the pieces to my current project are even older than my Grandma. I had these items with which to work. The pearls and the glasses came from an antique store.  I cannot explain it, but I am so attracted to old cat eye glasses.  Some little girl, sometime, somewhere, wore these.  The buttons are from my Great Grandmother's button box. Yeah, I know. So cool.  And the photo is of my Great Grandma (center), my Grandma (left), and her sister Pearl.


You probably already know that pearls are very trendy right now. With a twist, of course. The classic, genteel pearl is being paired with big, gaudy, contemporary pieces. The pearl strands are long.



So long, they can be doubled, or worn long like a flapper wore hers.


This is my finished piece. I am not telling you how. You will have to wait for the magazine to hit the stands for the instructions. But, I will share with you some things I learned in the process.



  • I try to test jewelry pieces before sending them off to the editor, just in case.  Boy, good thing I wore this one.  Long strands are very cool....and they seem to get in the way of everything. Wear them long only when you are not doing anything involving bending or carrying.  I shoveled snow with this on. Yes, what you see is the re-do.
  • When you make a long strand, especially when you add oversized focals, the strand becomes heavier than normal. Anyplace you crimp, add two crimp beads instead of one.
  • Long multi strands are the cat's meow these days. My necklace has three strands: pearls, chain, seed beads. I made them separately and hooked then together behind the neck with a big jump ring. I can take them apart to wear with other things. Makes them versatile.
  • Have fun! It is crazy to use a pair of glasses as a focal piece, but women wear glasses around their necks on chains all the time. I just made a slight leap from function to fashion.
  • Put rhinestones and pearls together, the trend supports it. I don't know about you, but I want rhinestones with everything.
Hope I inspired you to use vintage materials in a new way,
Sam

Posted by Kim at 3:54 PM
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