New Year's Eve Necklace and Earrings: December Pretty Palette Challenge

I've been majorly slacking on blogging this year. But I've still been creating jewelry; I just keep up better with Instagram than blogging--you can usually see my newest creations there long before they make the blog (I'm @everyday_bijoux1 if you want to follow along).

Anyway, when the December Pretty Palette Challenge theme was announced at the end of November, I immediately knew I wanted to participate. Champagne? Old Hollywood glamour? Um, heck yeah. Sparkles and metallics and fancy. Be still my jewelry-loving heart.

Right from the beginning I knew I wanted some sort of lustery metallic as my inspired-by-champagne bit, 'fancy' beads that sparkled as my inspired-by-'glamour' bit, and a black and white color scheme as the inspired-by-old-Hollywood bit (think old black and white movies). So, I rounded up all of my 'fancy' (read: faceted) black, white, and silver luster glass beads and played around with some ideas. I used all the beads pictured above in my necklace and earrings, all of which (except for the large faceted black onyx rounds on the left) are Halcraft beads I found at Michaels.

I also decided to use copper wire to contemporize my design a bit. Even though the silver beads are luster glass and not actual metal, pairing their silver luster with the copper wire feels a bit like mixing metals.

I created three wire focal elements, two matching connectors to be used on either side of the necklace, two earring frames, and a toggle clasp using 20-gauge wire for all of the frames and wrapping them each with 26-gauge wire and copper-colored glass seed beads. (Click here for a how-to on creating wire focal elements.)

Next up, I embellished all of my frames with pretty black onyx and glass beads that were prefect for sparkling and reflecting light off their faceted surfaces. (Click here for a how-to on embellishing wire frames with beads.)

With the wire focal elements finished all that was left was to add some beautiful, sparkling white and silver glass beads and some embellished chain links, and then put everything together. I love, love, love how this piece turned out. It always amazes me when something actually turns out the way I've envisioned it in my head.

Here are some close-up detail shots of the necklace and earrings:

I think this set would be really fun for a fancy New Year's Eve party (or any night on the town, really)--bubbly required, of course. [Or, since this necklace is sort of a party all by itself, maybe I'll just stay home and wear it with my pajamas and watch Holiday Inn, and then I can say I was at a party anyway without having to embarrass myself by falling asleep at 10:30pm on someone else's couch during their New Year's party.]

 

What do you think, would you wear this to a New Year's event? Do you like the bright copper wire paired with the silver luster glass? I'd love to know.