Creating Fits: Collaborative Creation

By: LL
While in Bozeman, MT, Cool J and I stumbled upon a quaint bead store downtown on Main Street called Old Bozeman Beads. They have a great selection and excellent customer service. And, let me say that it was great fun to spend a little time in the store with Cool J as we worked together to pull beads for a necklace design that she wanted. Much to the dismay of our husbands, we did laps around the store while balancing our trays and coffee. It was a great change to have a little collaboration on a necklace, as I normally have to depend on my own taste with choosing supplies. Here is a look at the process to DIYing my most recent necklace.

Cool J had this necklace in mind:

{Anthropologie Seraphim Necklace}

So, after long deliberation, we slected these beads:

After returning home, I began work on the necklace, which has a total of six strands: 3 of each pattern. There are eight different styles of colored beads and two different styles of gold beads (one for the necklace and one for the rings). Whereas I was using this necklace as inspiration, I try to change the design just a little bit with each of the ones that I make. So, I spent quite some time playing around with the patterns.

Once I was happy with the combination, I strung the beads using 0.5 mm wire. It is important to make sure that each of the strands in the same pattern are as close to the same length as possible (I know that this can be challenging with beads that are a variety of shapes). Then, I used gold-plated crimp beads to pinch of the ends of each strand and looped the ends through a small, gold-plated link. I connected the smaller links (two on each side) to a larger gold-plated chain. Make sure to loop the strands through one another before looping them through the small link (to create the center of the necklace).

Finally, I struggled with the rings holding the strands together midway through the necklace. I could not find the right beads (and maybe if I stumble upon them, I will change the necklace design), so I used the large, gold-plated links to group the strands and connect them to one another on each side (a total of 3 on each side).

Here is the finished product:

I might make some slight adjustments prior to shipping this out to Cool J, but there is something fun about working together on a necklace design. It also helps me when my creativity is lagging. Thanks, Cool J!