Another first necklace - would you call this a collar?

[GemGeek]

If you read my torsade and gemfaire threads, you know I had some clasp management problems. Finally getting the new clasps home, I spent the entire weekend looking for the matching cones to no avail!

I promised to donate a necklace for the City Ballet of San Diego for their annual Nutcracker fundraiser silent auction. This was for a friend of my Mom, so Mom decided that I should make the same torsade necklace because she wanted bragging rights and she thought the torsade was a sure thing.

No cones! I took out all kinds of beautiful pearls and crystals, but just couldn't make something complex on the spot. The stress!

So, I sacrificed the best pearls from my Gem Faire visit and used some lavender buttons I had on-hand. Here is the unmade strand...



I have never bought double-drilled pearls for the very reason that by their nature, they restrict what you can do with them. On the other hand, these were a sure thing beauty-wise, so I got to work.

I had to knot through glass beads to get the gimp/french coil onto the clasp because I only had thicker silk thread, but I think it looks kind of "antiquey".



Look at the colors...



Here's the whole thing...



As I was making it, the colors shimmering in the incandescent light made me swoon. Here you can see the gleaming surface in a side view, but at night, you could literally see right into the pearls.



I can see that one looks crooked, but I tried it both ways and neither one looked right. I didn't have a lot of time to keep putting them on and taking them off, although I was forced to do it many times before I finished. Time constraint won out over perfectionism!

So is it a collar? It lies flat. I'm not sure if that has another name.

I can't take credit for the pearls, that's for sure. Nature is the ultimate artist!

 

[Cathybear]

OH! It's beautiful! You did a lovely job!

 

[Raisondetre]

Beautiful. Perfectionism pays off!

 

[knotty panda]

No, it's not a collar. A collar encircles the neck. If it sits at the collarbone and encircles just below the neck, it's a choker. Are you going to call this "a study in graduation?" I love double-drilled pearls. I found some pearls in Kenya (what am I doing surfing in Kenya!) a few months ago which are double-drilled, but not horizontally. The drill holes cross each other. Never saw that before. Definitely solves pearl lace knotting problems. Collar or choker. It's beautiful.

 

[GemGeek]

I know there must be a word for it. It doesn't stand up and it's not short, so it's not a choker or collar then. Hmmm...

Valeria will know... Muah hah ha!

Thanks for the compliments. I was worried that it looked hand-made in the negative kind of way.

 

[knotty panda]

Could it be a necklace?

 

[GemGeek]

Could it be a necklace?

LOL!!! You may be right!

 

[Sueki]

That's beautiful, Blaire, absolutely beautiful.
And it looks like a chain of office, so that's what I dub it !

 

[GemGeek]

That's beautiful, Blaire, absolutely beautiful.
And it looks like a chain of office, so that's what I dub it !

How about a sheath dress, for that matter?!! Or a purse covered in them... Too bad there was only one strand left. I have a few pearls left over to fool around with when I get a chance.

 

[Mandy]

How lovely! I think those were my favorite pearls I saw from your other thread.

 

[GemGeek]

How lovely! I think those were my favorite pearls I saw from your other thread.

They were my favorites, too, and I was thinking in the back of my mind that I would keep them somehow. That's why I had to pay a fortune in sales tax last year -- keeping the inventory and gifting it as gifts means making it up to the state of California.

But they got me off the hook because I knew I could make the necklace in an evening and the beauty of the pearls would make up for any assembly glitches. And the City Ballet should make some decent money. If I had seen those pearls before I was in the business, I would have bid on them for sure.

Anyway, thanks Mandy. You know I love to share photos.

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

No, it's not a collar. A collar encircles the neck. If it sits at the collarbone and encircles just below the neck, it's a choker. Are you going to call this "a study in graduation?" I love double-drilled pearls. I found some pearls in Kenya (what am I doing surfing in Kenya!) a few months ago which are double-drilled, but not horizontally. The drill holes cross each other. Never saw that before. Definitely solves pearl lace knotting problems. Collar or choker. It's beautiful.

A collar also can be much bigger with many layers than this I would not put it in the choker category because it does lie flat Chokers also are about teh neck and generally do nto lie flat... Or so I was always told by my Grandmother. Its a necklace plain and simple IMHO..

Very Nice piece...

Hi Sueki,

Love teh Corolatuion between this pieces and Chains of office... I have made several chains of office. None however with many pearls... HMMMMM

Cheers
Ash

 

[Sueki]

Hi Ash,
Have a look here. There are quite a few chains of office, some using pearls. And plenty more pearl jewellery, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/noise/?programme=tudors

 

[GemGeek]

I got his name wrong, but you can't forget his face -- Jonathan Rhys Meyers! <sigh>

 

[Caitlin]

I know there must be a word for it

It's a collier. (collie-ay)

 

[KAC]

wow, I just caught this thread and while I usually don't like the type of pearl you've used I think it looks great! Very Nice job, the whole thing just works beautifully.

 

[GemGeek]

It's a collier. (collie-ay)

Thanks Caitlin! I knew there was another word, but I couldn't remember it.

 

[Caitlin]

How did you come to associate the stick pearls with hippies?

 

[GemGeek]

How did you come to associate the stick pearls with hippies?

They are usually drilled in the middle and give a frothy wild-child look that I associate with the bohemian freeness of dress in the hippie days. I played my first game of spin-the-bottle in 1968, so I was around to see it first-hand.

By the way, my parents met and fell in love while attending university in Berkeley. I have always thought it was a beautiful town. (Caitlin hails from Berkeley)

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Hi Ash,
Have a look here. There are quite a few chains of office, some using pearls. And plenty more pearl jewellery, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/noise/?programme=tudors

Hi Seuki,

That was the start of the Era of pearls in the early 1500's but that verrsion is "Sooo Hollywoodized.... " at lest this version has a cute Henry VIII .... bad garb Just like in Elizabeth the Golden age and in THAT movie she barely wore pearls at all.. One of her Nicknames was The pearl Queen after all. I must say thoguht Cate Blanchette makes a great Queen Elizabeth I though...

Anyway I know there are a few extant pieces and portraits with Chains of office with pearls in them. I was only stating I have never made any with many pearls.... None of my comissions wanted them.. But I just may someday make one for myself for my garb... Oh boy there I go making my "someday I ought to do this or that" list Even bigger... ROFLMAO. I ought to Quit thinking and getting Ideas..

cheers

Happy Halloween!

Ash