Spring in Paris II - Spectacle Chain

I was asked to make a spectacle chain in a design similar to my Spring in Paris necklace. It's one of my favourite necklaces I've made. I thought it was time that I showed you how much effort and attention to detail goes in each of my jewellery designs. Here's the original Spring in Paris necklace, however, because I never replicate any of my designs exactly, I made a few changes.

In both cases I started off with a handmade verdigris finish for the vintage brass filigree:

 Here you can see the verdigris finish with a layer of varnish to protect it:

The organza flower is an integral part of the design. Here are the petals, cut and singed, ready to go onto the filigree.

Next, I selected the beads I wanted to use in the design. I always mix them up in a bowl so I can see how they all go together. Once I am happy with the mix I start putting it all together.

Here's a closeup of the mix. I've used fabric covered beads, vintage lucite and glass, jade, ceramic wood, paper beads and beads with all sorts of finishes and textures.

Here I've laid them out on a beading mat. You can see that I have started assembling the beads.

 This is the finished spectacle chain. Complete with little loops to attach to the glasses.

A detail picture.

A design like this takes me around 5 hours inlcuding all the prep work but excluding drying times and choosing the beads.

This design was a commission but Spring in Paris (necklace) is still available and I am happy to make other designs for you based on a previous design or on colour schemes etc. Please use the contact button at the top to send me a mail for more details.

I've also made some rings but haven't taken any pictures yet. I'll post them soon. :-)

Spring in Paris

Spring is here - three days (at least) of sunshine and here's my offering to the goddess of Spring, Persephone:

Spring in Paris

This is another long necklace, but this time I included a clasp so it can be worn wrapped around your neck twice.

And doesn't it look just like Spring in Paris? It's elegant, romantic and a little whimsical with a shabby chic edge to it. Lipstick and sugar pinks, pale fresh Spring green, soft cream with a floral theme set off against stark black and with the vintage touch of the verdigrised filigrees.

I've added another organza/tulle flower, with layers in mint green, dark brown, burgundy, pale pink and cream and lovely gorgeous watery green Miyuki beads.


The flower is set onto a filigree with three more watery green Miyuki beads as a counterweight and so it looks pretty just in case it does turn the wrong way round. The filigree has been hand painted with a verdigris finish in acrylic paints and covered with two layers of special varnish.



Below you can see the details:

Little filigree hearts - painted verdigris - set between beautiful floral fabric beads that have gorgeous leafy bead caps in matte black. The fabric beads have come all the way from France again from the little beadhive shop on Etsy.

The pale green beads are amazonite rounds and the black ones are gunmetal beads.

The sugary pink beads are reconstituted pink turqoise and the bright lipstick pink ones are trade beads from Africa.


I've used two types of chain: one is a gorgeous matte black chain (new) that has little crescents strung together with (soldered) jump rings. The other chain is a vintage chain with a very dark patina and teeny tiny links.

The chain has a dangle that overhangs the small clasp with more watery green Miyuki beads.

I've also made a commission, but since it's for Mother's Day I won't show it on here till next Monday... just in case.