Wedding day

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 wedding was Feb. 12th, 2011.  I promised the bride I would not post pictures until after the wedding ,so I didn't start this blog until that time.  The dates at the top of each post refer to the dates covered.

Feb. 12, 2011

The day of the big wedding.  I emailed good wishes to the bride, and assumed all was well since I hadn't heard differently.  On the evening of the 12th, I received this message:

  Thank you Betty, I could not have dreamed up a more perfect day. It was such a memorable experience. My neck piece felt amazing to wear, I am soooo happy with it. It was perfect! Everyone was amazed by it, they are eager to see more of your work! I can't thank you enough! You did such an incredible job.

The bride sent a couple of snapshots of the wedding, but it really didn't show the neckpiece very well.  She said that she would send some of the professional photos she had taken as soon as she got them.  I have not received them yet, but when I do get them I will be sure to post them.  I never thought to ask permission to post the snapshots, so I don't feel comfortable posting them here.  But I did take lots of photos before I sent the piece off.  So here they are!!

the pile of necklace ready to pack

the finished piece- front

the finished piece- back

side detail

closeup of clasp

backside of neckpiece

 

Thank you all for showing so much interest in this project.  It has been fun "reliving" it through it blog and getting your feedback.

I hope you will all continue to follow me.  I have lots of ideas for new posts that I think you will find interesting. And I am always open to suggestions.  So till next time.......!

Will it arrive IN TIME?

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 wedding was Feb.12th, 2011.  I promised the bride I would not post pictures until after the wedding, so I didn't start this blog until that time.   The dates at the top of each post refer to the dates covered .

Feb. 1-7, 2011

I received an email from the bride on Feb. 1.  She had hired a lawyer and a customs broker. She had just received notice that customs had released the package.  Now we just had to wait for the Australian Post to deliver it- she was hoping to get it by Sat. the 5th.  Yes- one week before the wedding.  Man, this was cutting it close.  But it was still going to be OK. (I kept telling myself.)  Actually, it was more like, "what if it doesn't fit?", "what if it is damaged?", "what if it gets there the day AFTER the wedding?", "what if she hates it?", what if....what if....?

I had not heard from Priscylla on Sunday Feb. 7 and I just couldn't take it anymore.  I wrote and asked her if she had heard anything yet.  She wrote back to tell me that it had indeed arrived at her home, but she was on a Women's Circle retreat with friends and would not be home until Wed. the 9th.  She was a LOT cooler than I was!!  She would not be able to try it on until 3 days before the wedding!!!!!  I was so happy that I mailed it as early as I had!  She would have so much to do when she got home that she didn't think she would have a chance to email me until after the wedding- which I completely understood.  So again I waited.

Next post will be the conclusion of this "saga".  I will post a picture of the finished piece, and let you know if she was happy with it. As of this writing, I do not have photos of the bride wearing the piece, but I promise as soon as I get them, I will post them.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of another piece I made with some of the "leftover" components and beads.  Some of the flowers were pieces I used as experiments for the wedding piece, and some I made specifically for this piece.   Until next time....

 

"a customs tragedy"

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 wedding was Feb. 12th, 2011.  I promised the bride I would not post pictures until after the wedding, so I didn't start this blog till then.  The dates at the top of each post refer to the dates covered in that post.

Jan. 25 + 26, 2011

Good news and bad news.  First the good. I received an email from Priscylla and the neckpiece arrived in Australia and hadn't been lost.

Bad news- the subject line on her email read "customs tragedy".  I guess that gives you a hint.

Yes, the neckpiece was being held at customs.  They want her to pay $400 in duty and were going to hold it for 10 days!  I don't know which was worse!!! The $400 is one thing, but I can't see for the life of me why they needed to hold it for 10 days.  I felt so bad for Priscylla-  but I can't see how it was avoidable.  Evidentially it had to do with the value of it, if it were valued for under $1000 it would not have been a problem. Or if I had said it was a wedding dress.(I don't get that one!!)  But  I really needed to insure it for the full amount, and label it correctly for insurance.  So we still wait.

On the 26th I received this email from the bride:

"It's horrible. They want me to get a customs lawyer and they are treating me like an importer. I am going to call them tomorrow and plead my case, expressing that this is for personal use - a wedding dress! Hopefully I get someone with heart and compassion. They are making me fill out forms that are full of legal jargon and difficult to decipher. It is such an enormous process, Australian customs are hard core. At least I have all of our correspondence as proof it is a personal item. They still want their cut though. . . ."

So it looks like it will be another 10 day wait.  This is pure agony.

Finished and on it's way!

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 in that post.

1/8/2011- 1/13/2011

As you may recall from my last post, I was ready to get the bride's approval on the nearly finished neckpiece.  I emailed her the photos and tensely awaited her reply.  The news was good.  She loved the front, but wanted the back to have a bit more detail.  I had already planned on putting a fringe on the back clasp piece.  She asked if there could also be a focal piece with a fringe hanging from the adjustment strap.  I thought a lot about this.  I needed to make several adjustment straps of varying lengths so the fit could be adjusted, at least somewhat.  And since I didn't know which strands she would use, I didn't want to make a focal for each one.  I tried making a detachable piece with hooks that could attach to any of the strands.  But the silver on the hooks stood out too much and I didn't like it.  So finally I came up with the solution of beading 2 loops on the component.  These were large enough that they could slip onto any of the adjustment strands.  I emailed her a picture of this solution and she loved it.  Note in the picture, the neckpiece still has an adapter in it so it will go around the neck of the dressmaker form.  This makes it look a little off.

The final back looks a bit different- I'll show you later. (there has to be SOME suspense here!)

So on Jan. 10 I put on the final touches and got the final approval from Priscylla.  I didn't have time to get professional photographs, but took lots of photos myself.  I had a bit of trouble with this as the dress form did not have arms- and shoulders are pretty important in this piece!  I went to the nearest small town looking for a mannequin with arms in any of the store windows.  I thought I would go in and ask if I could rent it for the day, or if worse came to worse, to take the piece into the store and photograph it there.  But no luck- can you believe every single mannequin in the store windows was armless!  Funny how you never notice those things.

I did the best I could with what I had and got some good shots.

After doing some research on shipping methods, I found that for about $70 I could ship the piece to Australia in 6-10 days.  If she wanted it in 4 days, it would be over $120.  Since the wedding was Feb 12, we thought we had plenty of time and decided to go with the 6-10 days.  After all, it was 4 weeks until the wedding.

I sent Priscylla a Paypal invoice and I had the money in no time. ( I will add a little note about Paypal later, as a cautionary tale!)

Now for packaging.  I wish I had taken some photos, but again I was in too much of a hurry.  It was very hard to figure out how to package this.  I usually lay my collars on a piece of foam board, put bubble wrap around it, then shrink wrap the whole thing to the board so nothing moves.  But this piece was a bit more 3D.  I ended up padding the neck part so it didn't lay flat, then layering wrapping between layers of folded over collar.  I know that isn't a good description, but its a little hard to explain.  I included about 6 adjustment strands of different lengths and some extra beads that Priscylla had asked for. In total the box weighed 4 lbs.

On Jan. 13 I took the package to the post office and tearfully sent it off.  It actually was such a relief!  I came home and we had champagne.  It was now out of my hands.   I was very nervous if it would fit right, and if the bride would like it in person, and if it would arrive in time, or if it would arrive at all! But from here on out, there wasn't much I could do.  But wait.  And wait.

And now you will have to wait too!  In 6-10 days I will tell you if it arrived.  And if it fit.

I just wanted to end this post with a note.  Last week I emailed Priscylla to ask if she had some photos of the wedding that I could post.  I only have one that she emailed me. It isn't much of a closeup and I didn't have her permission to use it.  I had just about given up and thought that I would not be able to post a picture of the neckpiece on the bride, when she emailed me back. She said she is without a computer at the moment, but will send me some pictures as soon as she gets hooked up.  So I am hoping to have some pics of the wedding to show you soon!  I also have better pictures of the finished piece I will post when I tell you the rest of this story.  Till then....

 

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.

Taking big steps

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.


1/5/11-1/6/11

Now to begin with the permanent stringing.  Up until this point, all the strands of beads were temporarily strung and just pinned to the dress form to give me an idea of how to construct it all.  But now I had to make a commitment and start putting it all together.  I often wish I had a more mathematical mind.  I think it would have helped in this situation.  It was truly a project for an engineer.  The only way I could figure it all out was through trial and error.(a LOT of error!)  I began with the strand around the bottom.  Since it would no longer be attached to the dress as originally planned, it came around and attached to the neckpiece in the back. (I have to admit that I was so intent on this process, that I did not take many photos of it.)

I am very grateful that I had the original photo to work from- it saved hours figuring out the structure of the piece. Of course I changed things along the way, but it was a good base.  Here is photo so you can compare:

Prisylla had decided earlier to eliminate the strand under the arms and the lowest strand going over the arms.  I was concerned about the weight in the front pulling the whole thing down. In order to lighten it up as much as possible, I used wooden beads alternating with stone beads.  It still was a worry, and later I will tell you the solution I came up with.

So here is a photo of one side almost completed.

 

 The bride had asked for the lighter color howlite drops to be included, but after seeing it, we both agreed that it was too much going on and changed it to all Turquoise drops.

 Here it is with the drops on the bottom center removed, before the other ones were added.  I also replaced the ones closer to the top, although that is harder to see.

So the first side is almost done, just a few more connections to make.  Like I said- photos are sparse here- I guess I was kind of caught up in all of it.  It was incredibly stressful, but also exciting to see it all come together.

In the next post the whole front should be finished.

Making the Collar

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.

1/3-1/5/2011

With the extra holes drilled in the rosewood beads and the components made, I was ready to begin the collar part of the neckpiece.  I wanted to make it just a little bigger than her neck measurement- I figured it would be better to have it a little too big rather than too small.  I got the whole thing put together and tried it on.  My neck is just a touch larger than Priscylla's.  It was just too big.  With the weight of the rest of the neckpiece, I felt it would pull it down too much and I just couldn't live with it.  So I tore it all out and started over again.  Finally I got it to where I was happy with it. 

 

Something that really slowed me down was a recurring problem of communication. Although email was great and I couldn't have done this otherwise, it wasn't as fast as I needed it to be.  I would take a photo of what I had done and email it to the bride for her approval.  With the time/date difference it would take hours/days for a reply.  Meanwhile, I had to wait before I could go on.  That is what happened with the neckchain.  I had no sooner finished it when I got an email from Priscylla saying that she had changed her mind about the rosewood beads- she thought that they would be too big.  I replied that I had just finished it and wasn't willing to tear it all out.  She was very nice about it and said that since she had seen it finished, she liked it and all was fine.

But at this point time was running short.  Priscylla had ordered fabric for the dress from the US and had a delay with the arrival time.  She was getting nervous about getting it on time and asked if I could send the piece by Jan. 24. (the wedding was Feb. 12)  Since I was leaving on for a week long trip on the 22nd, I felt I needed to get it finished and sent by then.  I figured that would leave plenty of time.  The post office said it would take about 6-10 days to get there.  Baring any big disasters, I felt pretty confident that I could work with that timeline.  But not if I had to wait for approval at each step.

So I told Priscylla that she would just have to trust me from here on.  She had already approved the beads, and made all the major design decisions.  I felt I knew pretty well by now what she wanted, and if I made any big changes I would check with her.  But otherwise, I was just going to go ahead and do it. It was the only way I could finish by the deadline. She graciously agreed.

It was time to assemble the main center part of the neckpiece.  Below is a picture of my first attempt.  Well, actually the first and second attempt!  I liked the looks of the strands on the right, but it didn't give it enough stability.  By adding the piece on the left, it worked better, but I didn't like the way it hung down.  

 

 So next post, I will show you what this area looked like finished.

Getting serious

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

12/30/2010- 1/3/2011

The holidays were now finished, Priscylla sent me her measurements, and it was time to get serious!

I adjusted the dress form to the bride's measurements.  But I ran into a problem with this- no arms on the dressform!!  I definitely needed the measurement to go around the shoulders.  So after thinking about it a bit, I rolled up some fleece that I had and padded it until the measurement was right. (if any of you are dressmakers, I am sure you are cringing right now!)

I had another curious problem with the dressform.  I could not adjust the neck small enough.  I double checked with Priscylla, and she said I had the correct measurements.  So when you see the pictures of the neck chain from now on, you will see that I had to put a funny extender in to fit around the neck on the form.

Next, I wanted to cover the form with fabric to give me a better background to work on.  Using fabric I had on hand, I managed to sew a passable cover.  I actually loved doing this part- which kind of surprised me!  I have sewn since I was a little girl, so this was right up my alley!

I had finished the side components:

and attached the 2 center components together:

 (don't get too attached to this- I later changed it!)

Now I was ready to make actual part to go around the neck.  This had to be fairly substantial, as this whole piece would be hanging (more or less) from it.  Priscylla wrote and said she would like some large Rosewood beads that I had ordered included in the piece.

I thought these would be a good place to use them.  I had made some round components that would blend with the rest of the neckpiece, and decided to alternate these and the rosewood beads.

 

The rosewood beads only had 2 holes and I needed at least 6 holes- double strands for the neckchain, and another set of holes vertically so I could attach bead strands to the bottom  So out came my trusty Dremel, and I drilled away. Luckily the beads were hollow, but had quite a large border of solid wood, so it turned out to be quite a challenge to get these holes lined up with each other and drilled straight.

Next came the clasp.  The bride wanted dangles going down her back in the center, so I needed something large enough to support that.  And that main piece would need to be in the center.  I wanted it to be as seamless as possible, I didn't want the clasp to be obvious.

clasp

 OK- enough for today!  Next time I will show you the finished neck chain.

Waiting waiting......

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 12- Dec 16, 2010

The vast majority of the beads (hopefully!) have been ordered.  Now to find a focal bead.  After much searching on the internet, and many emails back and forth with the bride, we settled on this gorgeous porcelain owl by Laura Mears. Her work is so beautiful and Priscylla and I both think this little owl will look great in the piece.

Priscylla wrote, " The owl is a powerful symbol for me.  It represents facets of my relationship with my mother and also my fiance"  So it seemed perfect.  I was a bit concerned that because it was only a little over 1" tall,  it would be overwhelmed by the rest of the piece.  But after thinking about it, I felt that I could use it as the center of a larger central piece, and it would stand out but be subtle at the same time.  So it was ordered and I waited......

The next problem was making the piece to fit.  Since it would go over the shoulders and around the back, the measurements would have to be pretty close.  The best way I could figure out how to do this without a model, was with an adjustable dressmaker's dress form. (my other option was to go to Australia and fit it to the bride- an option I was in favor of, but wasn't terribly practical!) So I ordered one and waited....

Meanwhile, Priscylla called and we spoke briefly for the first time on the phone. It was nice to speak with her personally.

I decided to experiment with some "flower" designs from beads in my own beads while I waited for the mail.  So I made a few pieces from my bead stash, mostly to get a feel for what size I would need to make. Of course I would be using different beads for the real components.  These are 2 of my first experiments.  As you can see, they did not go to waste- I later made one into a necklace, and one into a pin.

 So there I was, waiting for beads, waiting for the owl, waiting for the dress form.  And the clock is ticking.  And Christmas is coming.  And the house needs cleaning. And I need to get Xmas shopping done. And...well, you get the idea!! Next post- the bead arrive, how to start??