Description

I almost sent the chunks back. I called them “junky and clunky” when I showed them to a daughter – she called them “funky and chunky” and encouraged me to try to use them. I’m glad I did answer the design challenge these stones gave me; it was fun.

First, as usual, I sorted them by size and then by color to see what I had and to start my creative “wheels” turning. When I pulled out Amethyst beads from my collection, I saw I had light lavender colored ones of round 6mm beads that were a good balance for the dark lilac color of the some of the chunks and went well with the paler chunks too. Then, because the shapes of adjoining chunks didn’t fit well together, I had to try several ways of spacing them, including chips and tiny dark Amethyst beads. Some of the chunks have chevron markings of white in them (please see Treasured Stones – AMETHYST).

After conquering that problem, I had to find a way to make the piece comfortable, as its weight would press against the back of the wearer’s neck. As I threaded the chip beads, one by one, I saved the most round-edged for that location. I also plan to “wear-test” the piece as always, to see if there are any problems.

P.S. There was – I needed to secure the neck strands better so I restrung them. The necklace is trouble free now (please see photo of me wearing it in my Artist Portrait).

My personal preference in choosing earrings to accompany a necklace which makes such a strong statement, like this one does, is: “Don’t let them compete for attention”, so these are understated. If whoever gets this set wants chunkier earrings, I have a few such Amethyst stones remaining, though they will be heavier, of course.

All sterling used in this set is Argentium, which is virtually tarnish free (please see Blog for more details).