Himalayan Midnight Blue Butterfly Necklace

 

  With a quintessentially cool Margot Potter design, cobalt blue and purple iris crystals are transformed into Midnight Blue and Sparkling Cherub Himalayan butterfly jewelry. 

 Working on my GemFairy review of "The Art of Making Earrings" tutorial dvd, I'd created several styles of earrings, and with the fantastic collection of components surrounding me in beauty, I had the perfect starting point for a necklace when the very first "Jewel School Challenge" was made.

With Potter's dvd, I'd created jewelry components with blue and purple iris bicones that were  reminiscent of "Midnight Blue" and "Sparkling Cherub" butterflies of the Himalayas.

So when Valerie Tilgman challenged me and Kris Mattingly to create jewelry in just one day using at least one item from that day's Jewel School show, I was inspired. We all agreed to create, photograph and post our designs on Facebook by midnight. 

It was a fast paced, wild challenge, and so based on the dark shades of  butterfly component, I began creating jump rings and "Queen's Club" eye pins with burgundy Artistic wire.






I was lacking jump ring mandrels, but used my round nose pliers to create hundreds of jump rings for "Double Bubble" -- the necklace Christian Ross had taught at the 2011 Jewel School fall conference. 






Ann Kelly and her mom had so kindly sent along the directions after I was unable to attend the workshop, and I was excited to jump in and create along with my Jewel School friends. 

  

Although the aspect ratio of the weave was off, there was unity in the design: the bubble motif of the burgundy weave repeated in the rainbow hematine and freshwater pearls. 

And the infinity symbols of the Queen's Club eye pins also could be found in the wings of Himalayan butterfly.

  
Blue freshwater pearls were in the necklace charms and the butterfly pendant, so I decided to also add the blue and purple iris bicones to the handcrafted headpins, bringing the pendant's crystals up to the chain.

I wire wrapped more beautiful crystal bicones to a special Jill MacKay clasp that she designed to be beaded. 

Finally, I decided to use blue freshwater pearls to complete the necklace. Working all day to create jump rings, weave chain maille, make Queen of Clubs eye pins, attach charms, and create a special clasp, there were only a few hours left to photograph and upload my jewelry design to meet the challenge!

 The "Double Bubble" necklace could be worn two ways: with the pearls in front as a layered design or with the pearls completely in back, emphasizing the charm necklace.

I made Valerie Tihlman's "Jewel School Challenge" just in time, uploading a few pictures with my phone that night, and taking more the next day! It was empowering to create in a quick paced challenge because, as Valerie suggested, the focus was on the art. It simply wasn't possible  to  "over-think the design" in the time frame of the challenge.

Big Hugs, TJ 





Toltec Jewels is an author by day and jewelry artist by night. Her literary work is housed by the San Fransisco MOMA in a permanent collection of mixed media art and is published internationally in popular magazines, literary quarterlies, and university publications. A gemstone collector and jewelry lover, her store offers gemstone beads and she is happiest when creating handcrafted jewelry with her entire family. She has won a number of awards for both her literary and jewelry art. She is also the creator of Jewel School Friends, a community of expert and emerging jewelry artisans taking inspiration from each other, Jewel School, and jewelry art culture by featuring jewelry designers and bead artists and supporting entrepreneurship for independent artisans. Join her at Jewel School Friends on Facebook for tutorials, community events, challenges, and fundraisers.