This blog looks at the inspirations, and the design and making process for The "Sea Creatures' necklace.
Photo of an exhibit at the Natural History Museum : Part of a Coral Reef
My original inspiration for this piece was a design by Gemma Crow (see Crows Mojo on Facebook). She suggested a more organic way to use a material I was interested in but hadn't worked with before called soutache.
Soutache is an ornamental braid designed originally for garments. Used in military uniforms, soutache of different widths and colours is used to indicate rank.More recently it has been incorporated into stand alone accessories, particularly jewellery (if you want to see some of the modern jewellery using this material try typing soutache into a Pinterest search).
What I liked about Gemma's take on this material was that she used it in a far more organic way than most jewellery designers/makers.
I started out by sketching my design:
This was drawn with particular gems in mind - cabochons of Malachite/Azurite and Labradorite which would form the key elements of the design. I knew that I would also want to use some seed beads (small glass beads) as well as other gemstones and some feature Czech glass beads. I decided to use three colours of soutache ( black, white and beige) in various combinations and set to work.
It wasn't too long before I found myself straying from the drawing! To keep an eye on how the design was growing I started to pin things on a bust.
The act of making took over the design process and I decided to go where it led.The finished item bears a limited resemblance to the drawing or this image of the piece part way through:
Sea Creatures - The Finished necklace