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Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, October 04, 2005 3:59 PM (Eastern)
Wowza! That is very sophisticated work. :)
Hermmmm...yeah... I do think there is an added element of...creativity is not the word. An element of something when you produce your own clothing (as you are doing) or jewelry (as I am doing).
It is not that assembling ready-made items does not involve creativity. If it's a basic component, you may be reinventing the wheel. Companies like American Apparel or Banana Republic, etc., may produce these pieces as well as, or better than, someone sewing at home could do.
Conversely something intricate may also be better made by someone else.
There is that in-between factor though...the point where you do begin to add in original stuff.
Anyhow, I am still in the learning process myself. A few things I've discovered...one is that you're supposed to knot pearls. Apparently if you don't, the place where the pearls meet gets rubbed away eventually.
Two is that my lovely pink cat's head bead broke one of its ears. Wah! I'll replace it but I'll have to look more closely next time. If all of the ears are that delicate, then I'll have to find something else to use.
Three...and I'll guess you have discovered this too...my fingers have become much less stiff since I started making jewelry. You and I do a lot of keyboarding, right? Typing is not good for your hands. Making jewelry of any sort, and I will guess knitting, both make the hands bend.
That is one of the main reasons I wanted to make jewelry. It had gotten to the point that I could hardly get my daughter dressed in the morning--my hands were that stiff.
Now they feel nice and bendy. Wondering if it's a good way to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome???
Four...I do have a few, very few, finished pieces that I'm happy with. It does not bother me to redo the same piece over and over and over again. I've come up with a few templates...the idea is to create a few templates and just plug in different beads.
Before I forget...be sure to measure the piece after you've stretched it out. It's oddly quite easy to get the piece too short. When you're trying it on, you're also holding the back of it (since it hasn't been knotted yet). Somehow the finished piece tends to rest lower on the back of your neck, than it does when you're just trying it on and holding it.
The standard adult choker size is 16 inches. I've made pieces slightly longer but nothing shorter than that.
Anyhow about the templates...one involves this. You have a unique-looking pendant in the front. This of course need not be a ready-made pendant. You can make your own out of beads and a "head pin" or "eye pin."
Then you have two unique-looking beads on either side of it.
Then you have six matching beads...three on either side. These can be more ordinary looking and smaller than the beads in front.
The whole works is held together with spacer beads...which make the piece lighter, more delicate-looking, more elegant, and less expensive.
I even have a formula for the spacer beads, or at least one formula (I'm going to try tiny crystals in the mix next).
So far, so good. Having the majority of the weight in front, makes the piece tend to stay put, and also tend not to creep backwards on your neck which is annoying.
Putting the expensive stuff in front makes it more visible...and using only 6 special beads keeps the back of the piece from being bulky.
I tried out 8 matching beads rather than 2 + 6 but, dunno, it just didn't look as good.
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