Do Overs: Pearls & Suede

I've told you all about my Turkish friend I ride the train with every morning on my daily commute into New York.  She, and another friend of mine (a Designer) often flip through magazines and catalogs on our hour-long ride each day. We talk about jewelry, current styles and of course the celebrity gossip of the week.

One morning my Turkish friend flipped past a pretty pearl bracelet in the Sundance catalog and asked if I could make a similar bracelet for her?

It was a Southwestern pattern with freshwater pearls, suede and silver (right).  I never seem to copy any pattern exactly ... I usually add my own flare and interpretation to a piece.  

In this case, I did not use any of the silver chain. Wow has silver become expensive lately! But taking out the silver worked in my favor for this pattern. My friend doesn't like 'heavy' jewelry, and so I am forever trying to 'lighten' up the pattern for her.  She has a bit of a Goldilocks thing going on ... "too much, too little, not enough, can you take that out." Over time I've gotten better at knowing what she'll like, but I still take plenty of pieces apart when designing for her!

With this bracelet, I really liked the pearls and suede together. Somehow it makes a very dressy piece wearable on a day-to-day basis (top, left). I used an antique silver button to give it that Southwestern touch. I confess, I wore it to work a few times before I gave it to her just to see how 'wearable' it was (shhhh, I didn't tell her).  I got lots of compliments, but still have yet to make a version for myself.  Perhaps someday when I have a spare moment .... But this one went to my friend who declared it 'perfect, and exactly what she wanted.'  Phew

She then wanted a necklace, but this time with all the silver. The silver on the bracelet has a cluster of little silver circle "stamps" attached ... which would make a necklace ridiculously heavy.  So with the necklace I took even more creative license.  I used patterned connectors (to dress it down a bit), created my own wire wrapped pearl chain and added another light-weight alternating silver chain for contrast. She doesn't like things too "matchy-matchy" and it couldn't be too heavy. What I showed her was simple, and hung right at the collar bone ... just as she asked. Again she declared it perfect.  I was batting 1000 on this one!  For the earrings, the first version I added suede with the pearls.  But my batting average plummeted.  I didn't even take a picture of them because we both agreed it was simply better to start over.  She decided that she might like a black pearl instead.  I went back to a simple drop earring, which she liked much better.  So only had to 'do over' 1 out of 3.  Not too bad.