Saturday, October 20, 2012

Free Spirit Bohemian Necklace


Free Spirit
(a Bohemian necklace by me) 


For this necklace I used rough Chrysocolla, blue Peruvian Opal, Larimar, a few vintage 
Czech glass beads, sterling silver wire, and a few lengths of sterling silver chain. 


Here is a brief tutorial walk-through of the process...



Freshwater pearls and sterling silver wire...



I wanted the ends of the wire (the wraps) to be flat so after I strung on the pearls I carefully...



...flattened the wire ends with a hammer. Carefully.



Lookin' good



Meanwhile... I couldn't wait to use these rough Chrysocolla beads. The colors are spectacular.



I cut a piece of copper to stamp on because I was out of silver sheet... Improvise! 



Flux.




Flood with silver solder. Lead free always. 




Nice and clean. Kinda looks like a stick of gum LOL



Using a hole punch. To punch a hole.
I also trimmed the corners to make them rounded.



Wouldn't you know, I got two letter M's and no H! LOL
Back to the store tomorrow to get my H. 




I first stamped this with 1/4" stamps but didn't like the way it turned out so I made
another one and used the smaller sized letter stamps instead...



 Makes me happy.



At the same time... 
beading, hammering, wire wrapping, and making some connections.
I work in no particular order or pattern (no math here, LOL) I just assemble

it together as I think it looks best. 




Wrap it around.




I cut two lengths of chain that will be on the clasp ends. This makes it more 
comfortable to wear... comfort is important! 




Almost finished....still too shiny...




Love those loopy wraps! Time to go into a Liver of Sulfur bath to get that antique finish...



Love the blackened silver...but still needs a polish to bring out some of the silver...




Much better! Love!



Finished! This is a longer necklace - Opera length, about 32 inches long.



I like the feel of this necklace...it's peaceful and powerful  :)




What do you think?

I hope you have a great week 
Love, Laura


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns