Ocean Dark...

 "Midnight Sea"

(Necklace)  Price: $70.00  SOLD 

Sometime earlier this year, I bought a bunch of silver-toned metal findings that I could use to build  'focals' for necklaces around. One of them was the silver circle in this necklace that has a seahorse, stars and shells around its rim. This circlet, along with its companions bearing other shapes and decorations, was not originally intended for use in the way I employed it. They are meant to be used with fancy poured resin. I wanted to find out how they looked against semi-precious stone 'donut' beads and also the large round, drilled 'coin' beads. The backdrop to the silver circle in this case is a large, flat Lapis Lazuli of a striking midnight blue. It made a perfect dark ocean background. It took me a little while of fiddling around with the elements and comparing them till I settled on a lone 'star' drop suspended in the middle. The star is of filled 14k gold and bears an inset crystal. Once I finished the focal to my satisfaction, I was undecided about how to suspend it. Cue digging through all of my boxes of beads and findings, sorting this way and that for inspiration. I finally came back to the engraved silver-toned metal 'dunce cap' style beads that bookend the large Black Tourmaline beads on each shoulder above the focal. That was a start. Not wanting it to look too dour and 'uncosmic' I thought about adding some other color element. After more rummaging around, I kept coming back to some of the pressed Czech glass beads I had. The swirls and shimmering colors reminded me of nebulae, so I experimented with them for a bit, eventually liking them in the antiqued silver metal bead frames sandwiched between smaller Black Tourmaline beads. Because it 'looked' heavier, the chain I chose to hang it all from is of twisted silver-toned metal, adding to the antiqued ornate look. Overall, Midnight Sea looks cosmic, and maybe, just maybe...a little bit magical. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne