Marimekko-Inspired Necklace: July Pretty Palette Challenge

I confess: when I saw the inspiration for Halcraft's July Pretty Palette Challenge, I was a little unsure where to go with it. The inspiration for the challenge was this fabric designed by Marimekko, and the coordinating color palette is shown below.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time then you probably know that I LOVE COLOR. Bold colors do not scare me at all. However, this bold palette was not a group of colors that I would generally gravitate toward, nor think to put together in one one piece (at least not in these particular hues). And to be honest, I'm not a huge Marimekko fan. Don't get me wrong, as a former design student and art historian I can certainly appreciate the hallmarks of the Marimekko design house: bold colors, simple lines, repeating patterns, and two-dimensionality. But when it comes down to it, sometimes I just prefer a little more depth to the design.

That said, I relish assignments like these: to translate a concept or design style into a physical piece of jewelry (blame it on my architecture/art history nerd brain), so I knew I still wanted to give it a shot. And I'm so glad I did! I ended up creating a piece that I never would have dreamed up before, and I really love how it came together.

When the July challenge was posted I had already begun work on another idea, and coincidentally it involved flowers. I had been wanting to create some dimensional flowers as earrings, then decided instead to make a necklace, and already had all of the wires cut to create the flower frames. I hemmed and hawed about how I could rework the design and eventually came up with something that somewhat fit the Marimekko inspiration.

Now I know that these 'flowers', being 3-D and having scroll-y, ornate edges, are pretty much the opposite of what I just listed above as being typical of Marimekko. But hey, I did have the 'bold color scheme' going on. So I figured I would also try to focus on the 'flatness' and 'simplicity of design' qualities instead and refrained from any of my usual ombre or plethora-of-colors within each flower, and the only sparkle in the entire piece is from the crystal beads in the centers of the flowers.

[Note: you can click on the 'Tutorials' tab above for links to how I create my wire frames and embellish them with beads.]

In similar fashion I tried to keep the side connectors and toggle clasp as simple as I could (but you know I couldn't leave them completely devoid of color, so there are some tiny agate and bamboo coral beads). All of the wire focal elements, side connectors, chain, and toggle clasp are completely handmade using German style wire.

The flowers feature aventurine, bamboo coral, quartzite, jade, and crystal beads. The color palette we were given didn't include white, but the original inspiration fabric had sprays of white dotted flowers scattered throughout and I really wanted to include that detail, so I created the fringes made of glass pearls and more quartzite. For the blue of the color palette I used some beautiful (reconstituted) lapis beads around the sides of the necklace. All of the beads except the agate beads on the toggle, the tiny green crystals (around the outer edges of the green flower), and the glass pearls are Halcraft beads from Michaels.

  

This necklace may not embody the whole spirit of Marimekko, but I'd like to think it's a nice tribute to the inspiration fabric if nothing else. I also think it would be really fabulous recreated as a bridal necklace with pearls and fancy crystals (and maybe some pyrite for the slightly edgier bride? Or a few colorful accents in the bride's wedding colors...?). Hmmm, maybe my next project?

What do you like about Marimekko designs? Would you pair these colors all together in one piece of jewelry? Any interest in seeing a bridal version? I'd love to know.

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.

Update: Queen Anne's Lace Earrings and Bracelet

Back in February I participated in the Halcraft Pretty Palette Challenge and created the Queen Anne's Lace necklace and earrings set below:

I was quite happy with how the necklace turned out, but (as I mentioned in the original post) I wasn't really satisfied with the earrings--they were just too big to be easily wearable, and I knew I wanted to remake them. I thought perhaps I could create new, smaller earrings and instead use the large wire-wrapped frames from the original earrings to create a bracelet. And I finally did!

I took the two original earring frames and remade them into one central focal element (an exact replica of the focal components in the matching necklace) for the bracelet, and then added several chains of glass pearls on each side to connect to a handmade toggle clasp.

I created a pair of earrings to match the set, although they do not directly mimic the focal elements of the necklace and bracelet. They are much more wearable--lighter and smaller--though I'm not sure I feel that their design meshes with the necklace and bracelet well enough. I really don't want to remake them AGAIN though, so this is how they'll stay.

The wire components are all handmade with German style copper wire, and the beads are a mix of quartzite, shell, agate, crystal, freshwater pearls, and glass pearls.

I think my favorite part is the freshwater-pearl-and-jewel-encrusted toggle clasp on the bracelet! It's the finishing details that can really make a piece special, like handmade clasps and artistic earwires. Overall, I think these new pieces will create a really beautiful set when paired with the original necklace:

A set perfect for a bride with a pink-themed wedding, or maybe the honoree at a sweet quinceanera celebration. Until then, I will happily find every occasion to wear these fancy pieces in everyday life for no reason at all.

Do you enjoy wearing matching jewelry sets? What do you think about the earrings not perfectly mimicking the necklace? I'd love to know.

Halcraft Pretty Pallette Challenge: Queen Anne's Lace Necklace and Earrings

You might have noticed a major lack of blog posts over the last few months. I confess: I've been in a major creative slump. About four months ago my husband and I moved from New Mexico to Southern California, and it took awhile for the moving chaos to die down and my jewelry supplies to be unpacked. And if you happen to be a long-time reader of this blog, you might remember that I struggle with autoimmune disease, and major stress events (i.e. an interstate move) are a huge trigger for me. When my autoimmune issues flare up I feel pretty awful, and the last thing I want to do with my very limited energy is be creative when I have a million other necessary things that need to be done. That said, I'm finally feeling back to my old self, and when I saw that the theme of Halcraft's February Pretty Palette Challenge was 'lace', I was really inspired.

I often compare the wire focal elements that I create to lacy designs, so I figured this challenge would fit perfectly with my style. I'm not generally a huge pink person--at least not the pale pink this challenge included--but with Valentine's Day being a prominent holiday this month I decided to take the plunge. Of course I added in some brighter and darker pinks because, well, me.

I used a variety of beads in shades of pink including agate, quartzite, and bamboo coral, as well as glass crystals and glass pearls. All of the beads I used excepting the glass peals are Bead Gallery beads (Halcraft) from Michaels. The glass pearls (shown above on the upper right) are Crystazzi brand, also from Michaels. I used glass pearls in 6mm and 8mm sizes in the necklace, and in 4mm size in the earrings. I also used tiny freshwater pearls (Bead Gallery/Halcraft) on the toggle clasp, which are not pictured above. I forewent my usual mixed metal signature style and stuck with all copper wire for this project, as I felt the rosy copper color really paired nicely with all of the shades of pink and kept the whole piece feeling very feminine and rosy.

These are the lace images that I took my design ideas from:

(source)

(source)

I liked the idea of swirling shapes connected  by simple geometric lines, and thought it would translate nicely to wire. In an ode to Valentine's Day I incorporated a heart shape in the design of the wire focal elements, a shape I generally don't gravitate toward but thought added a sweet touch. 

 

I created my wire focals the same way I always do (you can find the tutorial here), hammering and wrapping them for stability.

For these focals it was easiest and most efficient to create smaller wire shapes and then wrap them together (like a mirror image), rather than to create one large shape. 

 

Once I had my three large focal elements and each side connector created I laid them out and played around with the color scheme and beads I wanted to use.

(This was my original design, although you'll  notice a few changes in the final product.)

(You can find the tutorial for how I embellish my wire focals with beads here.) I was pleased with how these large focals turned out. I don't usually work on such a large scale because it's difficult to keep symmetry of shape, but I think these turned out pretty well. (You can see another large focal element made of multiple wire shapes wrapped together here...as much as I love that older piece, I think these turned out much better!)

Once the focals were finished it was fairly smooth sailing--just wrapping together the strands of pearls and fussing over how many to use in each strand to get the focals to drape just right. The photos above were my original version, but I didn't like where the pearls were positioned or the heavy feeling of the coral beads on the sides. On a side note, isn't it amazing how different the colors look on a white background vs. a black background? I find this often since I use a lot of translucent beads, but the drastic difference still always amazes me. It's like getting two necklaces in one!

This is the final product, and I think I made the right choice in switching the placement of the pearl strands and switching out the coral beads. This one feels just right! It turned out feeling quite a bit more lavish and extravagant than my usual creations, so I decided some big, bold, extravagant matching earrings were in order.

These actually turned out quite large, although not heavy at all. The only element of any weight is the coral stone bead dangle in the center, so the earrings do not really weigh down the lobes much. 

I first started out with a traditional chandelier (above left), but it felt sort of boring to me compared to the necklace. So, I flipped it upside down (above right) and added another layer of draped pearls to better echo the design of the necklace. I really like this funkier version but these are definitely big, even for me (again, if you're a longtime blog follower than you also know I have great love for big earrings). These are the sort of earrings you'd wear for a really lavish event, like a fancy wedding or a quinceanera...in fact, I'm thinking that if I decide to list this set in my Etsy shop, then to make the set a little more appealing I'll likely turn these earrings into a cuff bracelet, and create a slightly smaller set of earrings to match (but still with the same design).

At this point there was still one detail left...

 

If you've read through many of my other jewelry posts you'll know my one store-bought concession for my necklaces is usually a toggle clasp. There are so many beautiful, pre-fab toggles out there, and while creating my own toggle clasps has been on my to-do list for a LONG time, I always feel like anything I might come up with couldn't be as pretty as the gorgeous, machine sculpted toggles I can buy. However, this necklace was made entirely of bright copper wire, and the only copper toggles I had on hand were patinaed and very industrial looking, and this piece was just too ornate for that--it would have been a total mismatch. So--you guessed it--I finally decided to try my hand at creating a toggle. If you look closely at the photos above you'll see that there are two different toggle bars pictured...I had to make a couple of attempts before I got it somewhat right.

After making the toggle's frames I hammered and wrapped them to reflect a style similar to the necklace's focal elements.

This is the final product. Definitely more ornate than I'd create for everyday jewelry, but I figured this necklace was already over the top, so why not just keep going?? I'm pretty happy with how the clasp turned out, and now I have a basic strategy for making simple toggles for my less fancy jewelry. (Now I can say my pieces are completely, entirely handmade, and not 'all handmade except for the clasp'!)

Below are some more detailed shots of the pieces.

I also took a couple of photos of the pieces in action, so you can get a better feel for their size and scale. (Please forgive the tacky bra lines!)

I think these pieces would make a really fabulous bridal or quinceanera set! Bold yet delicate, lavish-looking yet still simple in materials, feminine yet contemporary--such a perfect way to showcase a bride or birthday girl on her big day! (Especially if I create a matching bracelet!)

Where would you wear jewelry this bold or extravagant? Do you love big earrings too? Have you ever made your own clasps? I'd love to know.