Many a “patient” that comes to visit the Jewelry Doctor isn’t broken. Well, this bracelet was a little stretched-out, that’s true.
But it could have been restrung on elastic and sent out into the world. This was not an appealing idea, since the bracelet seemed to suffer from an identity crisis. If you look closely, the design goes in several directions at once—which has its own charm, you could say, but is not, for some of us, all that appealing. It was also missing some pieces.
Time for a redesign. But where to begin?
“Ask your customer,” you might say.
Good idea. But this was an unusual situation. You see, the bracelet wasn’t brought in by a customer, but was a yard sale find from long ago.
Jewelry often has “a name on it”—it reminds you of someone. It seems in keeping with that person’s style. I had looked at the bracelet a few times over the years, but didn’t have any immediate design ideas, and nobody in particular came to mind. But a while back I was preparing to meet with one of my favorite customers, for whom I had designed and redesigned many a treasure, when I came across the bracelet.
“I have to show this to Marguerite!”, I thought.
I brought it to our next meeting.
“Intriguing,” she said.
“I think it would make a great festoon!” I said.
“What’s a festoon?” you might ask. Marguerite asked that very question—one that your Jewelry Doctor might have asked a couple years ago, but by now I had designed a few of them.
A festoon, simply put, is a centerpiece. It may be a design in gold, silver, or perhaps copper, or, as in this case, it may be a beaded design. Unlike its cousin, the pendant, which has a bail or jump ring at the top, a festoon has jump rings on each side, and is often joined to the body of the necklace via open jump rings, which are then soldered for a seamless look. A more fun way to go, if you ask me, is to attach spring rings* to the body of the necklace. When you use spring rings, you can play “mix and match,” changing the look of your necklace by using different necklaces (or chains) for the top.
When Marguerite saw the festoon, she said, “Wow. I really like that.”
Here’s the necklace we chose to go with it. Note that the loops, which now extend just below the silver and wire mesh balls, are echoed in the pattern of the chain.
And what a gorgeous chain! Since it connects to the festoon by spring rings, we were able to add an extender chain to those and presto! A chain necklace. Well, to be exact, I made three, which could be worn singly, as a dynamic duo, or all together for a dramatic look.
That done, we still had some chain left over. I didn't have any immediate ideas as to what else we might do with it. Then one day I was looking at some bracelet designs.
“That chain would make a great multi-strand bracelet,” I thought.
“Okay, fine,” somebody says. “But what happened to the heart and key charms in the original bracelet?”
This.
“So that’s it, right?”
Almost. I just loved the look of that flat oval chain. We had some left over from the multi-strand bracelet. One morning I woke up and, in my mind’s eye, saw the chain as a pendant—a multi-dangle pendant. (Which led, inevitably, to earrings.) Is it a tassel? Is it fringe? You tell me.
Speaking of earrings, here are those key earrings once again, and a pair of hearts that bring everything full circle.
*Spring rings are clasps that look like little circles with a notch; they are often found on gold and silver chains.
©2018 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.
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