I had no idea The Purple Gang were part of Detroit's history; I just figured the name had more to do with the fact that, like a lot of beadworkers, Cindi and I are very fond of the color. (The theme of this collaboration was the city of Detroit.)

glass, thread, silver magnetic clasp. Acid-etched focal. Cindi Brunell and Sylvus Tarn, 2012

The second part of the title came out of Cindi's determination to celebrate local talent, such as Barb Klan, on whose design this necklace is based. This piece is deceptively simple: granted, I didn't do anything particularly earth-shattering, since I've made the beads featured in this piece before. The simple drops are that luscious bullseye striking purple 1234; the vessel is effetre and/or CiM.

Cindi, despite the fact that I was working from swatches of peyote, went through several iterations of seed bead colors; also adjusted the thickness of the band; and so on. Then she decided the focal didn't match: her objection was that the vessel was of a redder glass than the plain drops, and of course she's absolutely correct, but since there is that much variation in the bead fabric—in fact, that's one of the things I really like about the piece—I didn't have a problem with it particularly since the floral cane runs the gamut (and then some.)

In order to blend the frosted seed beads with the lampwork, I suggested she etch the focal (not because I'm so smart, but because I was lazy, and didn't want to have to make another focal). This would make the focal a visual bridge between plain lampwork and seed beads, both in terms of color and texture. She tried it, and decided my suggestion produced an acceptable solution, much to my relief.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.