Ismay's necklace

Ismay is my #1 fan. She thinks my work is fun and inspired. How wonderful it is to have someone in one's life as a cheerleader. I'm sure she has no idea how much her comments mean to me. Yes, I have fans on etsy and madeitmyself.com, but it's nice to hear from someone on a regular basis.

This necklace is not the first piece I made for her. I just finished a brown bracelet because she wouldn't stop drooling over the one I made for myself. Not a fan of soggy wrists, I thought it easier to make her one of her own. It used up the last of a brown and cream cane. That means that our two bracelets are the only ones like them in the world.

The evolution of the necklace is probably quite common even if I found it remarkable at the time. I was working with two pearlescent clays, one in purple and the other in green and gold. I was experimenting with a couple of techniques at the same time, mica shift and centennial bicone beads. The result was some beautiful swirly beads with all combinations of greens, purples and gold. But, when I thought about the colors, they suited Ismay's spring coloring better than my own summer coloring. Hence, her necklace not mine.

Focal beads - There are two varieties. Some are the three colors lightly swirled. These were boldly colored beads.

Gold "pearls" - vintage beads

Mica shift beads - 4 green beads demonstrate the drama of mica shift. Unless you knew what that was about, you'd swear there were two or three shades of green clay, not just one.

Gold swirl beads and tube beads - These were used for length. The tube beads won't show except at the back of the neck so the smaller, rounder shape is more appropriate.