Maritime Wharf
by: Erin Singleton
When these polished pearl nuggets first arrived in the store all I could think of was seaweed spreading across the floor of the Bay of Fundy at low tide. I needed to make something that reminded me of the swirling tide pools and fishermen's nets draped across the shore. Pearls, urchins and barnacles all come together in this piece.
For the focal I've created a section of 12-strand spiral kumihimo. A few googled diagrams and a YouTube video later and I was ready to begin with a pattern that reminded me of a nautical rope. As I was working with short sections of C-Lon (only about 9" long), I strung the rizos while braiding the cord. After each spin around the disk, another rizo would be strung into the 'groove' of the spiral. Once I was happy with the length of the kumihimo spiral, the ends were taped, clipped, and forced into a pair of leather crimps. A drop of super new glue and a good squeeze with a pair of chain nose pliers and the kumihimo was ready to be strung.
Lightweight aluminum chain was then attached to the leather end crimps. As this chain is unsoldered, links can easily be opened and closed allowing for the clasp to be inserted and the length to be adjusted.
Now that the basic necklace was put together, it was time for me to embellish with those rich pearl nuggets and a pair of bone rondelles that remind me of urchins! Strung on two pieces of beading wire, the bone and mother of pearl were attached to the leather end crimps on either end of the kumihimo spiral. The opposite end of each strand is then attached to a link in the chain. Wire guardians were used to ensure that the beading wire was unable to slip through the links of the unsoldered chain.
Components
Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.
1 comment:
Very nice! Gives my an idea!
Post a Comment