Wire and Pearl Necklace

For the last two days I have been working on a Wire and Pearl Necklace. I saw a design example on a bead seller’s website who sells jewellery making kits. Of course the kit was all plated wire and glass beads and I do not work with glass or plastic beads. Only real stones, pearls and shell will do for me! Ok so I am a snob.

Anyway.... I was sure I could use my materials and do it. First I had to think hard about the colours. I have thousands of Pearl beads and I think they are all beautiful so it took me a while to pick on the shades I wanted to use for my first attempt. Two strands of green pearls sort of stood out so they were the chosen ones. Then I had to think about wire. I have 26 g sterling silver wire and I could have used that but then thought I should do the test run on cheaper wire. Ages ago I bought some Gold Plated 26 g wire from eBay and it’s never been used, because being a snob I work in Sterling Silver and Gold filled! So the plated wire finally got its chance.

It was fun figuring out how to work with 5 meters of wire without getting all tangled up! The instructions I had downloaded were good but not brilliant. Sometimes people who are experts forget that a novice needs things explained in simple terms! Anyway I worked it out in the end and started twisting the wire and pearl. As the necklace grew in length it started getting Very Complicated! Keeping the finished part of the necklace away from the wire coil was interesting to say the least. And my fingertips hurt!!! They still do! I had chosen tiny pearl beads and they were not smooth so about fifty odd twists later I had to stop. Started afresh next morning and finally got the necklace finished last night. Oh it’s beautiful! I think I am keeping it for me :)

Once the necklace was finished I still had lots of pearls left so now we also have matching earrings and bracelet. I am a happy girl today! Bring on the nice wire and potato pearls! I am itching to make some more.

Now on Display in my MISI Shop