Vintage, Repurposed, Altered - But Close to the Heart

The story of the vintage red beads that touched my heart:

My friend, Sue, had a beaded necklace that belonged to her mother years ago and the necklace was broken. It was the typical vintage symmetrical beaded design with the large bead in the center and beads that graduated to smaller sizes at the clasp. She wanted a new life for the vintage beads in a contemporary design that she could wear today.

The red beads had a "cats eye" look. I wanted to make this special for her and took weeks of just pondering before starting work.

My goal was to make something that she would feel comfortable wearing for both casual and dressy occasions, so she could make it a staple in her wardrobe.

With the red beads, I added bronzy faceted Czech fire polished glass beads and bronzy tube beads to create an asymmetrical choker. It would look as great with a turtle neck sweater as it would with a "little black dress." They were strung on a steel cable with black nylon coating and has a magnetic clasp (I love these chokers - so easy to wear).

To complete the necklace, I also made a bracelet, and two sets of earrings (one casual, one more dressy). I suggested that all of these did not need to be worn together but wanted her to have a choice of how to wear her mother's beads.

What a great thing to do with beads you remember your mother wearing!