"I think I've got it!!!"

For those of you just joining me, I am writing about the process of creating a made to order large neckpiece for an Australian bride. The dates at the top of each post show the time period covered.

Dec. 23- Dec. 29, 2011

After much experimenting, I finally came up with a small component that I felt would be more of what Priscylla had in mind.  I sent her a picture and kept my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, the porcelain owl arrived.  These pieces are absolutely beautiful- even prettier in person than on the web site.  I think it will be gorgeous in the piece.

After seeing how many beads it would take for the strands, I put in another (smaller) bead order- mostly for more small round turquoise beads.

The bride emailed me back that she loved this component.  Whew!!  I was really getting nervous!!  This would be one of the smaller side components, with a larger center piece.  I sent her a photo of the turquoise drops with the component and she chose the bottom ones.

Now I felt I could really get to work on the piece.  Since the neck piece was to be attached to the dress, it occurred to me that I needed to know if there was going to be a zipper in the back.  If there was, I would need to split the part with the drops that went around the top edge of the dress.  But when I asked, she said that she had decided not to attach it to the dress, to have it as a separate piece.  The dress would be simple, a linen color with thin straps.  I was relieved about this-  the measurements wouldn't need to be quite as exact.  It could go down over the dress a bit- I just had to make sure it at least met the top of the dress.

I got to work on the center piece with the owl.  Here is a photo of what I had so far.

Priscylla emailed me and we set up a time for a Skype video call on Dec. 29th.  I wanted to have most of the components done and pinned to the dress form by then so she could tell me what she liked or didn't like.  Of course- I was right in the middle of Christmas/ New Years activities.  I spent every spare minute in my studio working on the piece.

next post- the Skype call and the piece is taking shape!