Ivy necklace
Have you ever noticed the odd ways you look at things?
For example, I love jewelry. We have established that only too well. But one of the things I love about jewelry is the odd potential I can almost accidentally see in a piece. I know that sounds weird, but it is the best way to describe what happens.
I cannot count the times I have snapped up a piece on eBay or in some odd store somewhere, not for the piece itself, but for one single component.
In this particular piece, I am captivated by the ivy, primarily because I have an entire necklace of matching ivy leaves. The necklace that I own is, quite honestly, ugly as sin. But the ivy leaves were exquisitely cast using the lost wax method, and are truly little pieces of art. I have a soft spot for ivy in jewelry, which is why I really like the gold ivy leaves here. It is a classic motif that never seems to go out of style, regardless of current fashion trends.
And sometimes when you want to construct a necklace like this, you do have to plan ahead and watch for magic pieces to pop out at you and shout for your attention. “Buy me, buy me, because one day, you will find the other pieces that match me perfectly and together we will make a piece that will sing to the heavens”.
When that happens, listen. And buy it.
There is nothing on this necklace that a weekend jewelry enthusiast could not procure and put together. The beads are standard and again, anchored with a flat headpin. The gold connector findings are a little different, but only in that they are flat; they could be easily replaced with a simple jump ring, but I personally am happy with the construction as is.
If you particularly like the flat finding look, again, time online with a good supplier will find that exact finding, or time in my standard supply house, eBay. (I know, I know, but I am telling you, even with my jewelers discount, I get cheaper prices on eBay for most of my regular finding pieces. There are some things I just will not go to eBay for, but those are things that a weekend jeweler wouldn’t be purchasing anyway.)
One last strength about this piece was knowing when to end the focus. If you will note, after the three ivy leaves are front and center, the rest of the necklace fades back to a simple chain. It is a great way to center a piece and really focus the attention on the detail work on the front of the neck. It also helps keep the necklace turned around the correct way because the weight of the necklace is all in the front, keeping the chain from turning. Neat trick, huh?
All in all, a beautiful piece, nicely highlighted by the simple addition of the beads and something that you could put together easily in an hour. If you replaced all the fussy findings with simple jump rings, you could put this entire thing together in no time whatsoever. You will notice the beads are attached to the jump ring at the bottom of the ivy leaf by just creating another hoop in the headpin. No wire wrapping or anything. Just one hoop in the other hoop. Very basic.
So what say you? Are you ready to make this necklace for someone for Christmas yet? Well, let’s get started!
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