Caroline Herrera, if you are not familiar with her, designs clothes that are always the perfect blend of elegance and comfort, with no bulk or excess of any kind. If the skirt is meant to be voluminous, such as a wedding gown, it is, but with the perfect drape and precision, never overwhelming the wearer. Most dress designs are based on the traditional shirtwaist bodice with bracelet-length sleeves. This approach to fashion is so universally flattering and comfortable that any woman - from waif to Willendorf - can wear it and look wonderful.
Anyway, back to these pearls. I never expected to find large glass pearls in the colors of this necklace, and, of course, I knew better than to think I'd find affordable genuine pearls in these colors, so I did not plan to make this necklace. I just kept it in the back of my mind, hoping that maybe someday, etc. You understand what I mean, I think, if you make jewelry and look at fashion magazines.
Then, I received some samples of the big, beautiful, quality glass pearls from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads in colors as close to the pearls in Ms. Herrera's necklace as I'd ever seen! I was ecstatic and had to sort through them immediately and assemble this necklace.
As you can see by the picture, the glass pearls are heavy enough to wear with a simple fishhook clasp, and are strung on Soft Touch Wire - Medium, the loops finished with French Wire to protect the Soft Touch wire from abrasion, and to give the necklace a professional looking finish. The necklace is then finished with Twisted Tornado Crimps for security and for the lovely finish they add.
For the pearls, I used six different colors from the strand of Mixed Colors Glass Pearls, 14mm which included the colors white, black, ivory, beige, silver, and light peach.
The stringing pattern on the necklace shown was not really random, only sort of. I did lay out the pearls to get a good balance in the final strand and the stringing sequence, beginning at the figure-8 end of the clasp, is as follows:
- Light Peach
- Black
- White
- Light Peach
- Ivory
- Black
- Ivory
- Beige
- Light Peach
- Silver
- Ivory
- Black
- Light Peach
- White
- Beige
- Ivory
- Silver
- Black
- Ivory
- Beige
- White
- Silver
- Black
- Silver
- White
- Ivory
- Silver
- Black
- Ivory
This uses a total of 29 glass pearls and makes a finished necklace that is 17 inches long, including the clasp. If you are going to knot the glass pearls on silk, and want to maintain the length, you might want to eliminate one of the 14mm pearls, and instead add a 10mm pearl to each end, to make up for the additional length the knots will add to the finished necklace.
Since Fire Mountain Gems and Beads includes two strands in each order of these glass pearls, there were enough of these colors between the two multicolor strands that I did not need to order any additional glass pearls and I still had a selection of colors for earrings. However, if you want to make several of these necklaces, or make them to sell, you can order each color separately, and will receive two strands of each color in each package.
