Sunday, March 23, 2008

New necklaces


Just finished knotting these new necklaces this week. Cyndi gave me the silver & enamel beads years ago, and it took me a long time to figure out how to set them off best.

Then I saw that the hexagonal-cylinder sodalite beads I'd picked up somewhere would alternate perfectly with them, added other sodalite and amazonite leftover beads, to pick up from the enamel colors that I wear. And I found the perfect clasp.

Usually I use handmade hooks, and make the length adjustable with beads. This time I wanted the necklace longer, so I could see it too, and since I was using the clasp, lengthened it with chain.

When I was taking a design class in the art department a few years ago, I suggested to the teacher, at the end of the course, that she use a string of beads as a basic design exercise. Design classes start with 2 dimensional design, and just black & white. Here's one-dimensional design! (She was worried about the expense for students - but there are wooden beads.) You certainly use the design principles of unity and variety, and elements of rhythm and repetition and contrast. In fact, bead design is seemingly simple, but really quite sophisticated.

That's when I knotted up the green necklace, to go with a color of green I was beginning to wear. I was just starting to think of jewelry again after a break. My design abilities had grown during the fallow season, as often happens. Didn't finish it until just this week.

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2 Comments:

At 3/29/2008 3:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How special. Blogospam.

 
At 4/02/2008 9:21 AM, Blogger MinaW said...

Fixed.

 

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