I've been thinking about necklaces.

Even though I make necklaces all the time, I seldom wear them, because I think my black frame glasses look odd with a necklace around my throat.  I prefer earrings and bracelets. My mother feels otherwise and wears necklaces all the time with her glasses.  She has specific tastes, usually necklaces in "good taste." (aka quiet) She has Cookies N Cream and Elvis.  My friend Kathy loves necklaces too, the bigger the better, and she has a wide variety of pieces that are not in "good taste" but they look great on her - check out Painted Desert.


Painted Desert


The point I'm not making very well is that while the person wearing the necklace has different tastes and needs, and can pick and choose to their liking and price range, the person making the necklace is tied to the vision they have of what they want to create.  Make sense? 

Sometimes it is obvious what the stones want to be, sometimes not.  There are soooo many choices for making one  - leather, beading wire, sterling wire, waxed cotton, silk, etc.  Usually when I have the stone in my hand I already know what it wants to be strung with.  Sometimes I'm limited by the size of the hole drilled in the stone and have to compromise. (For instance, I can't string standard pearls on leather because the holes are so tiny. I have to order large holed pearls or try to use the drill press on them.)

So, why do we even wear a necklace?  Because we want to decorate our bodies? To show off our wealth? To make our boobs stand out?  Because we think the stones on the string are pretty?  To be cool? To feel Pretty? Because someone gave it to us?
 
Why do you wear a necklace?  Let me know (if you feel like sharing).

During the Sixties and Seventies, it seems like necklaces were worn simply for the sake of wearing them. You wore Sarah Coventry for sophistication, or you wore a puka shell or Peace sign with your jeans. During the eighties and nineties, everything was dainty and had to be gold and precious and in good taste. Avon and costume jewelry were popular, but it was also dainty and gold colored.  Large stones were gaudy!!

At some point the styles from the Sixties and Seventies came back, even the puka shells and Peace signs. Gaudy is now not Gaudy, it is on trend LOL. 

Another thought - why don't men wear more necklaces?  They barely wear bracelets.  But things change.  If you are old enough, you will remember when men with earrings where thought to be "queer." Now some men wear two earrings, or those awful rubber plug thingy's, and nobody really cares. But a strand of pearls on a man would definitely call his manhood into question. The thought makes me laugh.  But it'll probably be in style some day LOL.



Cookies N Cream

Today I made a necklace/bracelet/earring set using Mexican Opal, leather, and some cool copper twists. Last week the ingredients were Lapis and sterling silver on beading wire. Next week, who knows what I will use.  I'm just enjoying making them. I hope someone wants to wear them. 

Visit my website www.signaturepiecejewelry.com.  Maybe I'll have something you want to wear. Let me know. TTYL.