Natural World Necklace: water, earth, air

The focal for this necklace is one of the three grey ceramic hearts my sister Rachel selected at our Craven and White visit. She suggested pairing this heart bead with some of the round green glass beads I'd used for my winter necklace which I happened to be wearing that day. Luckily, I had two of the large green glass beads left, which seemed to suit the focal better than the small ones.

While putting this together for Rachel I was thinking how much she cares about the natural world. She is very knowledgeable about ecology. She and her husband are such great people to visit a nature centre with - they really bring the subject alive.

Thinking of this, I came across these beautiful turquoise rounds from Ilona Biggins. Then I added some long-hoarded poppy jasper beads from Beadworks, and some pale blue crystal rondelles. Together, they felt like "water", "earth" and "air". Because they're so different, I combined them in a simple repeating design, using almost the last of my upcycled translucent green 8/0 seed beads.

 

The necklace came out slightly on the short side, though - almost choker length. So I also made a matching bracelet with an identical Tibetan silver toggle-clasp, which can be used to extend the length of the main necklace if preferred.

The crystals catch the light as the necklace moves, which is nice since they signify "the air".

Luckily the weather has now substantially improved since this photograph was taken!