Where to start....
I knew this was going to be a challenge when I took on the commission, only because of the complexity of the design.
I could have chosen to only do the front part of the necklace, and make it so the back clasp was standard. That is what most of the Etsy designers went with. And for good reason actually.
You have to take into account how to clasp, how will it lay both front and back, there are 5 strands, and the pearls themselves are 10mm with spaces between each pearl, which is what makes this so iconic.
The measurements needed turns out to be a bit of the challenge part as well - for the young lady.
Audrey was 5' 7", with a bust of 34A. Given her frame - that would put a petite size 4 for her dress size, with alterations for the 20" waist. Based on that the width of her collar measurement and the placement of the 5th strand - which would be approximately 14-18 inches
I had hoped that Roger Scemama who designed the first necklace would have done something similar and there would be a picture of the way he did his multi-strand necklaces, especially draping like this.
Alas, while there are many pictures of his iconic pieces nothing with multi-strand that are pearls.
So I resorted to counting pearls visible in the front and back of the necklace in the pictures.
I had already created a multi-strand prom necklace with 6-7mm fresh water pearls, so I already had some starting point for what would be standard necklace length
I sent an email with instructions to the young lady who I am doing the commission for, she was sick, which delayed the information. She came back with measurements close to what I had estimated, however shorter for the last longest strand.
21 1/2 for smallest length / 27 for the longest length I had 21 and 29.
So off we went to create the lengths, 27", 25 3/4," 24 1/2", 23, 21 1/2"
After getting all 5 strands crimped and o-ringed, (not without my common dropsies, having to restring because I missed beads in the pattern or had too many) I started working on the final stages of the design, mounting the clasp so I can get the brooch attached. And that is where the real frustrations starts.
And there have been many!
First I had to bag the brooch converter bail I bought. The brooch back was mounted in a way where the brooch when on the bail kept flopping over and exposing half of the back of the brooch.
I bought a five strand silver plated clasp and had plans to hook the ends of the strands to the clasp by using the o-rings which were attached to the Accu-guards. After breaking one of the hoops (my bad) trying to get the ring to catch correctly, managed to catch it with the pliers and bent it, then tried to bend it back into shape which ended up snapping one of the hoops off.
After that, I managed to put one of the sides on incorrectly (doh) had to re-do the work and re-attach it properly. Then, after laying it down, found it just wouldn't lay flat on both sides. AND it was heavy.
It has to lay flat both sides, front and back as it is a drape design.
At least the brooch didn't completely look out of place the way I secured it by pinning it to the strands. But is is crowded, heavy and doesn't have that pretty drape I am looking for.
So I took it apart, unmounted the clasp. If I remove one of the strands I can get it all to lay flat both front and back, but I would be missing a strand from the design.
I've spent most of 3 hours today watching videos, scouring the internet, seeing if I can figure out a way to make this work.
Down to the studio to see what I might have. I would really hate to have to re-string any of these. Let alone how to figure out what kind of clasp if any will work, or do I have basically the o-rings connect up and no real five strander, but five strands you put on separately.
Sorta defeats the entire point of this design.
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