She was right. There were a lot missing.
We talked about a couple solutions:
a) Rebuild the necklace, keeping the design intact but making the bottom section on each side two-strand rather than four-strand; or
b) Make the right side of Section One the center—in which case, we’d end up with two sections, not three, on each side.
We were also talking about a couple of pearl necklaces—one of which you’ve just seen—and what came out in conversation was that Carolyn didn’t really like wearing long necklaces. She prefers chokers.
The challenge now became how to keep the spirit of the original necklace at the shorter length. We often use the expression “writ large” to describe something that has been expanded to a larger scale. In this case, the necklace needed to be writ small.
The center of the original necklace featured lapis, coral, and turquoise in a 4-2-2-4 pattern. Turquoise and coral make a winning combination (ever visit the Southwest?) and these stones are also wonderful with lapis, but there wasn’t enough turquoise or enough “real estate”—i.e., space to work with—for that to work in the new choker.
I turned my attention to the other segments. The segment after the center one had a 6-4-6 pattern, and the top of the necklace had a 5-4-5 pattern. Those color “bands,” that color balance, needed to be maintained or the choker would be missing the “feel” of the original. Carolyn also mentioned that she would like all the lapis discs (often called “lentils”) to be used in the necklace, and she wanted to use the silver beads, too, if possible.
I turned my attention to the other segments. The segment after the center one had a 6-4-6 pattern, and the top of the necklace had a 5-4-5 pattern. Those color “bands,” that color balance, needed to be maintained or the choker would be missing the “feel” of the original. Carolyn also mentioned that she would like all the lapis discs (often called “lentils”) to be used in the necklace, and she wanted to use the silver beads, too, if possible.
I tested a few versions of the color bands and decided that alternating a 2-1-2 and 3-2-3 pattern would best serve our purposes.
Drumroll, please.
And that’s the long and short of it!
©2018 Laynie Tzena.