Part I - Detachable Strand of Turquoise & Antique Brass Beads
As a designer, I like to get a lot of "mileage" out of my pieces. It's always a sure seller when you can take a necklace and make it work in a multitude of ways. I was out bead shopping and came across an assortment of interesting antique brass chains. As always, I purchase things that grab me and then I figure out how to use them later. I also found some interesting forged steel focal pieces that were under the label "Rustic Canyon" so I thought they would be the perfect focal point for whatever necklace I would create. When I got home, I immediately pulled everything out of the packages and started hanging the chains on my bead board so I could envision my design. I felt the antique chains needed a pop of color and I started linking turquoise round beads together with antique brass decorative beads to make a separate chain. Then I thought, why not make this a part of the necklace but let's make it detachable so you can wear it with or without the turquoise!
So here you see the necklace so far with the various antique brass chains and the strand of round, stabilized turquoise beads that are linked together with antique brass beads. Here's a close-up:
Close-up
When I got to this point, I thought to myself, I really like the design but I've seen it before. It didn't feel like anything that special. It needs something different. I had also purchased some really large antique brass toggles that had sort of a free form to them so I attached the big toggle to the necklace and turned it around so that the toggle was part of the design at the front. Then, I took the forged steel focal piece that I had purchase and added a dangly turquoise bead to it. I clipped it on the toggle and now I feel like you really have a versatile necklace!
Still, I wasn't quite done yet. I decided to make that focal drop into a detachable piece so that you could wear it with or without the focal, and, you could wear the toggle at the front, or the back! YAY!!! Next, I made some coordinating earrings. Not everyone has to have a "matchy matchy" set, however, it's always nice to have them available for customers who do like matching sets.
Wear the strand of Turquoise beads with the chains higher on the neck
Wear Turquoise & Chains without the focal drop, toggle at the back
Wear the separate strand of Turquoise beads as a wrap bracelet!
As you can see the "RUSTICTURQ" necklace is a lot of bang for your buck! It's only $129 and you can wear it more than 10 different ways! The coordinating earrings are only $32!
