Almost finished!

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

1/6/11- 1/8/11

The front is just about entirely done.  It took me 4 days to string (and restring) the first side of it. The second side was done in one evening!!  I just counted the beads on the other side and copied!  There was still a little tweaking to be done here, and it is not the best picture- but you get the idea.  (I'll post better pictures next time)

  I added support strands to the sides- just below the shoulders.

 Now for the back.  A neighbor who was about Pricylla's size came over and tried the piece on.  As I feared, the weight in the front pulled it down, and every time she lifted her arms, it was worse.  I needed to figure something out that could adjust the fit for the bride, and also keep it in place.  I came up with the idea of adjustment strands.  I strung a couple different length strands with hooks on either end.  They could be hooked in different places and pull the neckpiece back, in that way giving a little adjustment for size.  Here are 2 pictures showing the adjustment strands hooked in different places on the back.  Note that I had to put extenders to go around the neck of the dress form since I could not adjust it small enough. So that part looks a little off, but it wouldn't be necessary in "real life".

I was ready to present it to Priscylla.  I had a little more to do on it,  mainly that I still needed to add the dangling fringe to the clasp.  But I wanted to get her OK before I reinforced everything. I emailed her the pictures.

Next time I will share with you whether or not the bride liked it so far.  Remember that the wedding was Feb 12 in Australia- I live in western New York, USA- so it really needed to get shipped very soon.