commissioned pieces :)

Yesterday, I finished a couple of necklaces that a friend of mine commissioned as gifts. They each have specific and yet different purposes and a lot of research went in to finding the right combo of stones and materials to fit the situations. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and I'm so thankful that I had the chance to do these cause it was a fantastic opportunity to learn and find creative ways of mixing different elements. Plus, in my search for the rubies I uncovered a couple of new suppliers that look really promising. So. Anyway.

The first one is for a woman, is about 18" in length and is made using silver hoops, beads and figure eight links and silver wire for the stone links. The stones are faceted raw Indian rubies, black tourmaline and tourmalinated quartz. The rubies are flanked by small faceted rondelles of black spinel. It was finished with a silver plated lobster clasp and a 2 1/2" extender with a black tourmaline bead dangle on the end. I chose the lobster clasp instead of a hoop and bar, which would have actually fit the style better, because this is intended to be worn while sleeping and the lobster clasp is far more secure.





The second one is for a man, is about 19" in length and was made by combining leather cord with wood beads and silver wire-wrapped links with stones. The wood beads in the center are redwood and have silver rondelle accents. The links contain bloodstone and autumn jasper. The cords were each finished with silver crimp rings and it has a lobster style clasp. In the center is a sterling silver feather hung from a silver bail. For the relatively small size of the bloodstone beads I was impressed that they had such good coloration.