I Am A Collaborator!

So, if you follow Miss Lorelei's blog at all, then you already know that she very kindly picked me to collaborate on a couple of necklace projects with her. If you haven't read about what she sent me, you can go here and see the pics on her blog.

I am working hard on coming up with something to complete her awesome design. It's a good stretch goal for me because our styles are so very different - she's all asymmetrical and unusual color combos and button-using and I'm into symmetry, matchy-matchiness, glitter and sparkle and nary a button in sight.

These pieces could come out really fantastic, or really...um...not. LOL! I do think both of them are off to a good start, though, so I have high hopes.

While I'm pondering what to do with the piece she sent me, I went ahead and made up the first half of a necklace to send to her to complete and here is what I came up with:

I actually had something else in mind until this key pendant from The Classic Bead arrived in the mail and I just knew it was destined to go to Lorelei.








Pendant closeup - the yellowy-gold on it is not actually as bright as in the picture.







Of course, since it was for Miss L, I knew it had to be asymmetrical and have a cool, funky mixture of different stuff in it. I added some large link chain from AD Adornments (and nearly ripped my arm out of the socket trying to open the links on it). Good luck changing out that chain if you hate it, Lorelei. It ain't goin' nowhere LOL!



Then, I wire-wrapped some stone nuggets that pick up the colors in the pendant to the last link in the chain.









I've been wanting to use some of my hand-dyed silk ribbon in a design for a long time and I liked the idea of balancing out the toughness of the chain and the earthiness of the pendant with a more delicate side to the necklace. One strand of ribbon seemed too wimpy, though, so I tied it in a lark's head knot and ran a double strand up one side of the necklace. I thought it would offer a lot of design opportunity - braid it with a third strand of something different, tie it in knots, wire wrap stuff to it, etc.








I liked the earthy green color, too, as a balance for the golds and reds of the other items. Trust me to come up with something fall-ish in the middle of spring, but that's just how I roll.

This baby is going in the mail (along with a few extra stone nuggets and some coordinating seed beads and other stuff) just as soon as I Get Around To It.

Now, back to figuring out how to finish what Lorelei sent me.

Stay tuned here and on her blog for the results!

KJ