A Necklace Ten Years in the Making

This is a project that was inspired by a mixed-media necklace Mom and I saw in Michaels (?) maybe 20 years ago (no really, it's been at least that long!), and started 10 years ago when I made the little needle felted monsters.

I finished the felted beads around the time I bought the book Making Mixed-Media Art Charms and Jewelry by Peggy Krzyzewski and Christine Hansen (©2010). I thought I'd done a blog post about those, and the other charms I made for this necklace... apparently I did not (oops). Anyway, I seriously love the book and highly recommend it if you like quirky little charm beads in a variety of media and levels of difficulty, with easy to follow photo instruction. (Looks like it's out of print, which means you'll have to find it used, or at your library.) The charms, all 31 of them (one for each day of October, naturally!), have been decorating this weird little wire tree and just sort of existing in limbo waiting for me to DO something with them. So today, that is my plan.

Getting started

Background inspiration while I work.

It's a cute little tree. I might have to make more charms when I'm done...

I have been amassing supplies for this project for awhile. This morning, when I went to the basement to gather everything together, I kept adding more to my pile. I may make my Fitbit steps today running up and down the stairs, because I forgot something else. [I did not.]

Sept. 14th

Since it was indecision that kept me from this project for so long, it's not a surprise that I didn't complete it in one go.

I got the foundation completed. It consists of a long braided main piece with recycled sari silk ribbon in deep orange and black, and orange ombré cotton floss, itself braided and worked with glass beads. I had a short piece of Hallowe'en lace that I stitched to the bottom of the sari braid. A thick, fuzzy I-cord of bright orange eyelash yarn and black ombré feather yarn join the sides as a central drape. Finally, a beaded upper drape consisting mainly of plastic beads (to keep the weight down) spelling out "JOYFUL SAMHAIN" on one side. The two drapes, plus the bottom arc of the necklace and sides, will give more anchoring points for the 31 charms without crowding them to the point they can't be seen individually. At least, that's the plan...

Before I had to stop work because mom and wife caught up with me, I had worked my way through five of the eight movies in the box set, and only attached six charms.

Just a few charms in place. Not much to show for hours of work.

Sept. 15th

Saturday mornings are when we have our comic discussion group. I got up early with the intention of getting a little done but got derailed with other things and lost most of the morning. ::shrug:: I'm not getting paid by the hour... or at all... on this personal project, so it's not like I can't take an easy morning.

This afternoon, I got them placed where I wanted them, after a great deal of fiddling. One of the bead-charms needed a little more work, so it has some fabric glue drying on it, anchoring the half-hitch knots of floss in place. As I to a photo of the placement/work-in-progress, it occurred to me that I should have a photo of each of the bead charms and how they were made (and from whom the beads were purchased, where applicable), but unfortunately some are already attached, and I don't want to mess up my placement. I'll finish the necklace, and then take photos of the charms in situ, as a separate post, an addendum, to this one.

Other than the ones I attached yesterday,
everything is just sitting on the table waiting to be attached.

I did spend a lot of time with the placement, because I wanted to consider the balance, color, physical and visual weight of the charms on the necklace. I didn't want two ghost charms right next to one another, or two orange ones. Freeform and random placement is something that I can admire when other artists do it, but it's something I can't quite make myself do.

After a little more rearranging, I started attaching the charms, and that went pretty quickly. Everything attached, it looks like this, laying flat on the table: 

And here's what it looks like worn:

Sept. 16th

After some consideration, I decided that the large metal cage ball and the chandelier drop charms need to switch places (see the finished photo above, the middle and bottom tiers, center charms). The metal ball is just too heavy for that I-cord and it sags too much. While that does make the chandelier charm hang down much lower than I would prefer, it is still an improvement, physical weight-wise.

Overall, I am satisfied with this. I accomplished what I intended to, but I'm not sure I fulfilled my vision, since my vision was never quite clear enough to begin with. I think I'd like to do another necklace like this (not Hallowe'en, necessarily) and give it another go.

It doesn't look anything like the thing I sketched so long ago, but designs evolve, just like people do. Frankly, I'm just happy that I was able to finish this thing that's been in my head for so very long!