Family love for our designs

A few weeks ago, Hillary posted about a family necklace that she re-purposed. Hillary's aunt had given her a broken crystal neckalce and suggested she re-string it for another family member. Here is that aunt's response to the pictures of the creation made from those crystals:

Hill

I am in awe. Your great grandmother would be so pleased. You vision left Grandma Nina's crystals in a creation that is timeless and that she herself would have worn. Soooo pleased with your work.

Our family certainly is lucky to have such talent.

Love and Miss you
Aunt G

She also told Hillary that it would be fine to use the leftover crystal for a necklace for herself. Be on the lookout for a future post on that piece as Hillary will post it here as soon as she is done with it.

Restoration/re-purposing an old family necklace

Hillary wanted to share with you the process that she went through to revive a broken crystal necklace:

A while back, my aunt sent me a bag full of family jewelry with little notes about whose it was and what she thought I should do with it. In the bag was this:



Her suggestion was that I re-string it and give it to my mom.

I contemplated simply re-stringing it or at least creating something somewhat true to the era. Ultimately I decided to go with more modern styling because my mother is always highly complimentary of the pieces she gets from me, which are generally more contemporary, and she always says how much she likes my wire-wrapping work. I realize that in many families this would be considered blasphemy, but in mine, the focus has always been on doing things your own way, and everyone seems to enjoy my style. Not to mention, if anyone in my family would prefer something different than what I've created, I can always undo it and re-string it--that's the great thing about jewelry.

There aren't any photos of the work in progress because I take my own photos and I generally don't stop once I start on a piece of jewelry--I sit down with it and don't get up until it's finished. However, I will explain a little bit about what I did:

I strung the crystals on 49 strand jewelry wire and then added a sterling drop chain with a wire wrapped pendant on it.



The pendant was carefully hand-wrapped by me in sterling silver. It is one of the larger crystals from the original necklace. In fact, all beads used in this piece were from the original necklace.



As you can see below, I made a toggle clasp assembly with the crystals rather than using a regular clasp. I originally did this because I didn't have any sterling silver clasps, but in the end, I think it made the necklace look much more elegant.



I made a pair of matching earrings by attaching crystals to surgical steel ear wires. I decided to keep the earrings simple since the necklace itself was large and elaborate.

This was a fun project that kept me up much later than I intended to let it. When I give it to my mother, I will try to get some pictures of her with it and let you know what she thought. Also, when I was done, there was one medium sized crystal left, so it might become a necklace for me if my family is agreeable. If I make that, I'll post it here, too.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this project as much as I enjoyed making it.

Materials and future pieces

Materials we like and why:
We thought we would share with you some of the materials we like to work with. All of the beads pictured are materials we currently have on hand and would like to use in pieces in the near future.



Semi Precious Gems - We like them because they have natural beauty and come in a lot of great colors. They're also generally durable (depending on the specific stone), and if well cut and polished, don't break easily. Pictured here are rose quartz (clear pink), sodalite (dark blue), tigerseye (golden brown), and lapidolite (purple), among others. Semi-precious gems are a good combination of quality and price as they are generally very affordable.



Freshwater Pearls - We like them because they have a shiny, soft and almost silky appearance. They look elegant without being boring or stuffy. Pictured here are white rice pearls (center) and mauve potato pearls (center). Pearls can range in price quite a bit depending on size and quality. The pearls pictured here are very affordable.



Swarovski Crystal - We like it because it's sparkly and fiery but still has a very clean appearance. Lines and shapes of crystal beads appear very well defined because of the way they refract light. In addition, Swarosvki is an instantly recognizable name, and they have earned their reputation by producing high quality lead crystals for over a century. Crystal is more expensive than some other materials, but it has a similar sparkle and apperance to high quality, well cut precious gems, and is much lower in price.




Czech Fire Glass - We like it because it's sparkly, soft in appearance, and more affordable than crystal. It also contains no lead.



Above is a comparison of Czech glass and crystal. The top, blue bead, is Czech glass and the bottom, pink bead, is crystal. Both of these beads have an aurora borealis finish.
As you can see, they both have their own unique qualities and, as a result, have unique applications. In some instances, they can be substituted for each other depending on preference and budget, but certain situations call for one over the other.
If you're looking for maximum flash and refraction, crystal is the way to go, but if you are trying for a nice sparkle without sharpness, then Czech glass is great for that. Czech glass goes better with stones with a more "natural" look such as freshwater pearls or semi-precious gems. Crystal, on the other hand, goes well with other beads with clean lines like saltwater cultured pearls and Swarovski crystal pearls.

Examples of Work with These Materials:
All of the materials we talked about today make exceptionally nice prom, anniversary wedding and family jewelry.


Above is a necklace set Hillary made for a bride. The two stones are the bride and groom's birthstone.







Above are a pair of earrings and a matching pendant made from Czech glass. They were Christmas presents on two separate years from a husband to his wife. The colors chosen represent the birthstones of the mother, father and child.

Materials we would like to obtain in the future:
High quality precious gems. They are beautiful, very sparkly, and highly desired by many. They provide clean lines, and unique, natural colors.

South Sea and Cultured Saltwater Pearls. They have the same shiny, silky appearance as the freshwater pearls above, but the lines are cleaner, they perfectly round, and they are uniform in appearance.