At The Ball BezelWorks Necklace
with 4-Stone BezelWorks Centerpiece
and 7-Strand Necklace
(Detailed Images, Full Image)
   

This BezelWorks At-The-Ball Necklace is a vintage revival piece inspired by a Miriam Haskell necklace below.

In the original piece by Haskell, I found many unexpected and noteworthy elements that I wanted to capture. These included things like the greek key pattern chain, the chain of larger beads along the bottom of the necklace, the elaborately constructed centerpiece. I wanted my necklace to retain the formality of the original, but have a looser, more fluid, romantic feel to it.

The At The Ball BezelWorks Necklace incorporates techniques from bead weaving, bead stringing and wire working. All the metal components were bronzed by me, with alternate finishes from matte to glossy. There are many beads in this piece, from Japanese seed beads to delica beads to Austrian crystal beads in several shapes and sizes to Chinese silver-on-copper beads (further bronzed by me). Three of the stones in the centerpiece are Fire Agates. The fourth stone is an Austrian Crystal Cosmic Pendant. The butterfly and backing to the centerpiece are bronzed brass filigree pieces and stampings.

One challenge concerned how to successfully design a necklace or strap for the center piece. The center piece is large, very involved visually and texturally, is complex and ornate. I did not want the strap to overwhelm the piece nor compete with it. And vice versa. I did not want the center piece to look awkard with the strap. Both needed to feel organically related. Both needed to support one another. The strap needed that power of visual interest the center piece so clearly has. Yet, it needed to supplement that center piece as well and not compete for center stage.

The design solutions here were to:
- include 7 strands
- have the 7 strands take up a wide enough volume and space
- have some variation among these 7 strands, without, again, competing with the visual complexity and impact of the center piece

Five strands are made using a Greek Key Pattern Chain stitch I developed. Each link in these chains is made up of one of three bead mixes - a lighter version, a medium version, and a darker version of the basic color pattern. Each strand, however, has a different pattern from link to link in the use of these colors. This pattern is not random, but actually laid out beforehand on a computer.

One strand is a twist Ndebele stitch, using the medium color mix.

The last strand is a bead chain made up of antique bronzed metal beads and black Austrian crystal beads. A matte gloss finish was applied to these beads. I wanted the beads to look strikingly different that the rest of the components in the necklace, but also recede into the background, hence the matte finish.

Overall, I believe the design of the necklace strap serves to visually frame the center piece, complement it organically, and concurrently set it apart and let this center piece draw people's attention.

--- Warren Feld

PRICING

As shown, with 4 centerpiece stones (3 fire agates and 1 Austrian crystal), with wire work incorporated into one of the bezel frames, and the piece as a whole prepared for a seven-strand necklace, backed with bronzed filigree pieces. Each side has 6 beadwoven strands (Greek Key Pattern and Ndebele Stitch) and 1 wire work chain of bronzed silver-on-copper beads from China and Austrian crystals.

This necklace will fit a 16 1/2" neck, but can easily be adapted to be longer.


At The Ball BezelWorks Necklace: $5875.00

BezelWorks 4-Stone Centerpiece (without necklace): $3875.00