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.

Industrial Glam Wired Statement Necklace and Earrings

I just can't put my German copper wire down lately. It's like WIRE CHAINS BEADS all the time around here. It's so nice to be keeping my hands busy with pretty projects, although I'm sorry you're stuck seeing similar necklace after similar necklace right now. [No worries, one of the next pieces on my list is a little different, so hopefully that will make up for the last month's obsession.]

I don't think pictures do this necklace justice. It's so much prettier in person! The faceted round large crystal beads are amazingly gorgeous, and the contrast of the antique bronze, copper and silver is so much more noticeable when you're face-to-face with them. I've dubbed it 'Industrial Glam' because of the mix of the industrial copper, bronze, and silver metals paired with the chic glamor of the pearls and crystals.

Yes, I'm still working with the same wire shape in my focal components. And of course this necklace uses more glass pearls in 8mm and 12mm sizes (I'm totally enamored with pearls right now!). It also features some gorgeous faceted 10mm rock crystal beads (the ones that look like little disco balls) that have a slight AB coating and some smaller Swarovski faceted round and bicone crystals (the smaller crystals attached to the wire components).

I used German copper wire in antique bronze for the main wire components, copper wire to string the crystal disco ball beads and for several inches of handmade chain links, and silver tone wire to create the side connector elements.

I added some store-bought fine gauge silver tone chain in a draped effect behind the beads and wire components to add a little extra texture and visual interest.

As for the actual design, I had an exact picture in my head before I started, and I'm pretty happy with how close this came to matching it; the only difference is in the wire focal pieces.

I created the wire forms using the same process as with my Twilight Skies necklace. Originally I'd planned for their large bottom loops to each contain a vintage rhinestone navette dangle, but because the dangles only attached at the top (and not top and bottom like the crystal trio above), as the wire forms climbed the side of the necklace the rhinestone navettes hung pretty haphazardly and just looked sloppy. I replaced them with the wired Swarovski crystal trios, which work so much better! I was also going to add two layers of draped silver chain, but I feel like one layer already looks busy enough...?

I hope to change out the clasp at some point; unfortunately, this simple small clasp was the only one I had in my supplies that was bronze (and I really wanted this clasp to be bronze). I tried to jazz it up a little by adding the glass pearls, but I'm keeping my eyes out now for a pretty store-bought bronze clasp.

When I first started working on this necklace I created extra wire forms, as I wasn't sure exactly how long I wanted it to be. I had two extra wire components left once I was finished, so I created some matching earrings.

These earrings were quick and simple to throw together. I tried to incorporate elements from the necklace by using silver chain and copper wire to attach the faceted crystal bead to the ear wires.

The earrings can be worn together with the necklace as an extra glamorous set for a dressy event, or the necklace and earrings can be worn separately for a more casual everyday statement look. I thought I'd include a few shots of everything in action so you can get a better idea of their actual sizes and how each looks when worn!

I love love LOVE how this set turned out. I'd probably prefer to wear the earrings and necklace separately to keep them a little more casual, which is a bit more suited to my lifestyle these days. I need some fancy events in my life to attend so I can wear more sparkly stuff!

Do you like the pairing of industrial metals with fancy jewels? How would you wear the necklace and/or earrings? I'd love to know.