Ice-cream necklace inspired by Ruth

So: my friend Ruth loves green and pink, as well as clothes and fashion generally, and she was complaining to me that there aren't many necklaces around in that colour combination. I met up with her recently (it was so lovely to have a good old chat while our children ran around together!) and this inspired me all over again.

Starting with the idea of pink, I chose two beautiful lentil-shaped glass beads I'd bought at the Bead Show ages ago, and also picked out a large pear-shaped pink-purple Czech crystal. These colours and shapes made me think of ice-cream, so mint green was the obvious green to add in.

Pinks and greens

Then I started to get inspired and began to take apart items of jewellery I didn't wear anymore - in the picture above, you can see the corner of a large foiled green glass disc-shaped bead and a tiny silver rose - each from a different necklace. Those two necklaces were both bought at a craft fair some years ago from a local jewellery artist, but I don't really wear them so much now because the pieces don't quite fit my style anymore (I'm actually not sure whether I have become more boring-and-staid, or less so; I think it's just that since I started making my own jewellery, my jewellery tastes have changed a bit).

Some more pink and green hues - all  jumbled together

Then I linked them all up with chain. I used a sterling chain as an extender, but for the main necklace I made my own chain out of single wire-wrapped loops and solid oval "quick links". I cannot tell you how many times I forgot to actually link the wrapped loops with those oval links. I think I am a bit sleep-deprived with the combination of holiday jet-lag (yes, I'm back home now, and really missing my sisters) and my new resolution to get up at the same time each morning to avoid confusing my body clock further.

The finished article - an opera length necklace

And this is the final creation! It is opera length, too - I'm challenging myself to make long necklaces at the moment - but it's very strong because of all those wrapped loops (no jump rings at all).