Old and New Necklace #2

I wasn't sure which filagree flowers would coordinate with each other to make the asymmetrical necklace that I had in mind and which is shown in the last post. Therefore I ordered more vintage brass filagree flowers (note that exactly what flowers and beads are posted on the website seems to depend on what is in stock at that time) that I planned to use in the first necklace. I also ordered a filagree cylindrical bead. I had to wait till I actually saw the pieces to decide what paired with what. I used the same vintage brass floral toggle catch used in the first necklace.

Since just returning from a trip to China, I decided to use a distinctly Chinese influence in creating the second necklace both is the bright red colors of the resin beads and the tassel formation. I began by starting to make a brick stitched seed bead circle for support but then decided that I could save time by using circles cut from ultrasuede. The ultrasuede would also serve the purpose of protecting the large resin disc from being scratched by the glass beads. I used 2 layered circles on the back and another smaller circle between the filagree flower and the disc. The filagree flower was stitched through the ultrasuede layers to the large resin disc through the center with 10 lb fireline. I stitched the conso braided nylon upholstery thread through the ultrasuede and strung the resin beads with size 8 glass bead spacers on it, knotting and gluing the knots at the toggle. Repeat for the tassel.

The ultrasuede circles collapsed somewhat when the necklace was held upright--I would probably solve this in another necklace by ironing interfacing to the ultrasuede before attaching to the necklace parts. However, in the existing piece, I decided to whip stitch red artistic wire around the edge of the ultrasuede on the back of the piece. For this I used red silamide which I no longer use for beading (I now use fireline). My stock included red wire at 26 gauge and either mauve or copper wire at 18 gauge. I would have preferred a gauge in between but stuck with the red and used a double strand of wire. Problem solved.

I have often said that if a piece is totally planned, I lose interest in the actual doing of it. For me, it is the problem solving challenges and decisions that occur during the construction that keep me interested. Joanne

Disclosure: The Vintage brass filagree flower pendant and cylinder bead were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.