Pretty in Pink - Pearls, That Is. . .

I'm so excited to tell you about my latest jewelry acquisition and creations.

This past fall, I was visiting Dear Daughter in Lawrence, KS.  There's a lovely, unique, jewelry store on Massachusetts Street that always beckons us.  With its wood floors, tin ceiling, and vintage looking cases full of one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces made of so many different metals, and media and stones - a real delight!

We happened into Goldmaker's shortly after a new shipment of items had arrived.  Oh my!  I instantly fell in love with this necklace made my Michael Michaud.

It's from his Red Bud collection, and I know you can't really tell by this photo (thank you cloudy day and bad indoor lighting. . . ), but those are pink Keshi pearls and the leaves are a green 'foil' color - 'hand-pantinaed bronze' according to the description on Mr. Michaud's website.  Isn't it lovely? 

All of the pieces pivot on the 'pin' that holds it to the stem so it seems a breeze is making them sway with every movement you make.

There were matching earrings - but I did not care for them as much as the necklace in this picture.  In fact, my attraction to the necklace even rather surprised me.

I admired it. . . moved on. . . . came back. 

Admired it again.  Tried it on.  Took it off. . . and looked at other things. 

Finally, I went back to the case with this collection and just gazed.  This piece really spoke to me.  I had to bring it home.   So I did.

I'm not a matchy-matchy kind of person, but the vintage gold of the chain really vexed me.  What kind of earrings should I wear?  I could envision what I wanted - but. . . . Even got on-line to look at the rest of Mr. Michaud's collection. . . I found some earrings that matched and that I found rather intriguing.  But they just didn't speak loud enough to me to go through the motions of getting them home.

I wore the necklace often - looks so gorgeous with many different things and felt so feminine - without being froo-froo - around my neck - but I constantly wished I had some earrings to complete the set.

Finally, I located some imperfect pink pearl coins that matched wonderfully.  Not perfect, but just right.  And, as luck would have it, I actually found some wire the same color as the chain of my Red Bud necklace at the same shop.  Can you believe it?

It was a few weeks before I wanted to wear the necklace again which is what motivated me to make the earrings. 

What do you think?   Don't they look lovely together?

I had finished the earrings and was quite pleased with them dangling from my ears.  But, as I was putting things away, I had a thought.  Could I make a bracelet that would also blend with the necklace?

Hubster and I were dressing for a work-function politician-attended dinner for his job and he started to get a wee-bit worried as I'm still in my robe hunched over my worktable in my studio as he's trying to decided what tie to wear. . . That's what inspiration can do to a person.  I'll pull on the pantyhose L-A-T-E-R, probably rush, put a run in them that'll ladder all the way up and down my entire leg so it's sure to show below the hem of my long skirt.  BUT - darned if my jewelry doesn't look grand!  Hey!  This girl's got her priorites. . .

Now, I had chosen the best pearl matches for the earrings and honestly only had a few pink pearl coins to choose from.  But yes.  I thought it a great idea.  I had a plan. . . now to see if I had the right stuff.  Not quite.

I robbed a clasp from another necklace that was in the right metal color, but could not come up with any chain - though I had some wire.  I most definitely did NOT have the time to make a bracelet length chain link-by-link.  I opted to use black chain in instead.

So I took three coin pearls, put them on a stem of vintage gold wire and looped each end.  Then I made two more vintage gold loops to connect the three pearls.  Added them to some gun-metal black chain with the clasp and I thought it was delightful. . .but no motion.  I felt like it needed motion.    Yup.  Needs motion.  Do I still have some tiny pink pearls?  Hmmmm. . . .

I do!  I made some little pink pearl drops, attached them to each of the loops on either side of the coin pearls and TA-DA! 

Not a perfect match to the necklace, but blends well with the earrings.  Also had a minor mishap at the dinner when one of the links separated -but was an easy fix once I got back home.  I've never worn a bracelet with 'danglies' and was surprised that they didn't get caught on things as much as I feared.  Was especially pretty peaking out from under my long-sleeved shirt. 

I'm so pleased with the mis-matched set of pink pearl jewelry I created.

I do have exactly two more pink pearl coins. . . and I have other colors too.  Most definitely can recreate a similar bracelet with white or blue irridescent pearls.  Earrings?  You bet!  Any of the three colors - and name your metal!  The necklace?  Ummmm. . . no.  Will have to leave that one for Mr. Michaud.

BTW - I'm not sure if Mr. Michaud would be impressed with my creative ingenuity.  But does it really matter?  And BTW-BTW, I had plenty of time to get dressed, did NOT put a hole in my hose (nasty stuff, anyway.  bah.) and darned if my jewelry still didn't look grand.

Contact me if you'd like to me to create a one-of-a-kind jewelry piece - or check out my shop:  ksyardbird for more to choose from.  You can also take a peek at some of my 'showcased items' on the upper left side of this page.  I'd love to design something just for YOU!

Have a pearly-kind of day ~

Robin Z