This necklace uses up the last of one strand of the dark gray-and-red Bloodstone, accented by some beautiful Garnet. I used gunmetal findings to finish, and this necklace kind of had a gothic feel, hence the name. Growing up, the gothic style kind of had an appeal for me (not the makeup, but some of the clothes and the colors), and those colors still draw me nowadays. This is one of those "multipurpose" necklaces. For me, it would be a short necklace; for most, a choker; and it is simple and practical enough even a guy might find it appealing to wear.
Name: Gothic Garnet
Price: $20
Length: 16.5 inches
When I first discovered seraphinite, it was exceedingly rare and really expensive to get. I happened upon a beautiful donut pendant (a lot larger than I'd originally anticipated) on Lima Beads, and it was within my price range, so I bought it. It sat around quite a while because I couldn't decide what to do with it. I finally just knotted it onto pleather cord and attached a leaf clasp to it and wore it as a choker. I always intended to redo it into something nicer, but I always seem to wear it this way instead.
Seraphinite is a dark green stone with metallic silver feathering that seems to shimmer when it catches the light. I took a picture of it in my hand to show you just how big it is.
Name: Seraphinite donut necklace
Price: $15 (reason: price of seraphinite; personal collection)
Length: about 16 inches; pendant I believe is about 50mm across
Today I did a project for myself. I've had a unique oval red-and-black-and-white banded agate pendant for about three years, but had been unable to come up with a suitable design for it. It reminds me of a clownfish, which was part of the difficulty. I'd bought carnelian rounds to go with it (I read somewhere that banded agate is usually carnelian and/or onyx, both members of the chalcedony family, as is agate).
I decided today to try just doing a simple round necklace using the carnelian rounds in the cross-weave pattern, but figured it probably wouldn't lay right unless it had a pendant. Then I remembered I had the banded agate pendant sitting in my bowl of collected polished stones and dug it out to use at last. I love the way it turned out, although where the necklace comes together over the pendant doesn't quite lay flat. I didn't have enough carnelian to make a longer necklace, and because of the pendant's size I didn't want it too low anyway. As things are, the V where the cross-weave comes together sits at the hollow of my throat. I used size 15 black-lined red seed beads between the rounds, and a single blackstone round as embellishment below the pendant.
Name: Clownfish choker
Price: $40 (reason: tons of carnelian, time, and effort; personal collection)
Length: 15 inches; pendant is 1.5 x 1 inch oval
This piece is actually a copy of one I made for myself. I got so many compliments on it, I decided to make one for my Etsy shop two years ago. I also made another for my "niece" Aubrey for her birthday that fall; Aubrey was so excited she wore it with everything according to her mom--including outfits that didn't even match it! This Cheery Cherry Choker is longer than mine (a little over 14" as opposed to barely 13"), and utilized the materials I had sitting about in my bead box: cherry quartz, silver-lined clear and fuchsia-lined clear seed beads.
Name: Cheery Cherry Choker
Price: $10 (originally $12 or $15 on Etsy) (sold customized to Britni A. fall 2011)
Length: 14"
