asymmetrical balance - week 16

This necklace was mostly done back at Thanksgiving, but I never finished the chain at the back, or the clasp. It seemed to fit the Asymmetrical Balance idea so perfectly that I decided I better finish it. Overall, it looks symmetrical, but if you look at any single element, the corresponding one on the other side is different.

Sterling beads and wire, all 20-gauge except for the 16-gauge clasp, fine silver 30-gauge wrapping wire, turquoise nuggets and beads and a couple of Zuni-type bears. Commenters at 4 Seasons have thought heavier wire might make it better. This might be true. It is perfectly sturdy like this, but it could be a case of more being better. Unfortunately I'm almost out of 20-gauge, and I don't have any 18-gauge, except for a couple of feet of totally black wire of Isabel's that I found in the tool closet cleanup. I can go over to Texas Beads and get 20-gauge. 18g is going to have to be mail-order, or Rock Barrell.

What, from a practical standpoint, this thing really needs is not heavier wire, but shorter dangles, or simpler wiggles, or dangles placed farther apart. It has to be laid down very carefully or some of the dangles can tangle up. Maybe I'll take a couple off and put them on earrings, and shorten some of the rest. Hmmm . . .

I need to keep this one and wear it as often as possible to find out if the red seeds are durable. These wonderful coral-colored accents are a tropical seed that I got at the Bead Renaissance show near Dallas last May, from a representative of a Central American co-op. I'm looking for the receipt to identify them better. I hope they are durable, since the color is so great, and I'm pretty sure it's less destructive to harvest them than coral.

The closeup of the center section is the better focussed picture. I include the shot of the whole necklace with insert of the clasp to show the proportions of the whole thing. I used a new photo setup. Recently I have just been running outside and laying out whatever I'm photographing on the weathered bench outside Isabel's window. But I figured that would not work for this, first because its complexity requires a simple contrasty background, and second because it has to hang to look good, not be laid on a flat surface. So I grabbed a length of black velvet panné and hung it on the line. Then I thought I would make it not completely vertical, and draped the bottom over a chair. I think it worked fairly well.