Sea Spiral Necklace...

A few months ago, a friend picked up an ammonite at the shop and commissioned me to create a piece out of it for her.  She used the ominous words, "take your time".  I hate to admit this, but when someone says to do it at my leisure... I do.  I think about it and percolate and passively work on it in the back of my mind.  Sometimes it can take months or even years before I get around to projects that I'm taking my time with.  Luckily it didn't take too long.

For this piece, I enlisted help.  William learned how to kumihimo while we were at a trade show in Hawaii and he made the spiraling Japanese knot-braid.  I picked out the recycled sari silk ribbons and pieces of cording and he created the base of this necklace.  I like the idea that the cord is a spiral and it furthers the spiral motif.

I had made a pair of earrings for this friend earlier in the year and knew she liked reds and earth tones.  I decided on a muted wine color and tried to pick up some of the reddish-browns in the ammonite.

For the clasp, I used a bronze one from my family at Green Girl Studios.  They make a really cool seashell clasp.  I also incorporated some fun, bronze bead caps for the cord ends.  

I wanted to pick up the golden topaz hues in the fossilized shell (which I wire-wrapped into a pendant) and integrate it with the clasp, so I sewed on a bunch of Japanese seed beads.  It gives the piece more texture and a studded look.

I'm pretty happy with the end result. Even better, so is my friend!  I'm glad that I could create a piece that could do the ammonite justice!