ALAMEA

This post is to let you know I've not gone missing!  It's been a really hectic two weeks but I'm glad to say, things are moving along nicely now.  I've been working on ALAMEA (which means "precious stone") and took ever so long because I had to keep running errands for the family.  It's finally completed and I'm really pleased with her!

ALAMEA was a bit challenging to make because I had to embroider each Jasper gemstone and seashell coin individually.  That took almost 7 days!  Then I spent two days to sew the embroidered stones together.  I really like ALAMEA because she's comfortable to wear and looks stunning.  The Jasper gemstones are all different so that makes it especially interesting.

Here's another view, flat.  As you can see I've finished it with Swarovski pearls at the back for comfort.  I used gold-filled wires and an antique gold toggle.

Last week, a customer asked me to repair her pearl necklace which she bought from overseas.  Here it is, in its broken state.  The knot in the clasp came undone.  This is a common occurence in pearl necklaces, which is why I always use the best silk threads (the thickness of the thread depends on the pearls' drilled hole size) and I always recommend knotting the pearls so if the thread breaks, you won't lose all the pearls.

As you can see, I started by knotting the first four pearls nearest to the clasp.  I also used a gold bouillion (the gold tube at the top of the photo) to string through the gold-filled ring so that the thread would not fray.  Since the pearls are a little flat, it was not a good idea to knot every pearl otherwise the space between each pearl would cause it to become wobbly.

The re-strung necklace!  Now my customer can wear her pretty pearl necklace with confidence!