This piece, which never sold, was perfectly in tune with a friend's color aesthetic—and since the friend in question helped me develop the ‘fantasy’ technique, it seemed only appropriate she should have the necklace. In fact, I may have made it especially for her; black isn't a color I'd normally have included on my own in this scheme.

The necklace consists of three, graduated strands that (theoretically) stack perfectly above each other on the neck. These are a pain to string, because, laying flat, perfectly nesting strands spread too far on the body. One has to constantly adjust to get the thing to lie properly. A nice bust is helpful, not that I ever had one. For me, it was always a case of string some, try it on, take a few beads off or put some on, try it on, hope the rotten thing doesn't come untied on the other end, dropping beads all over, oh yes, discover one strand wasn't pulled tight, take some beads off...

You can see why I found this design frustrating. To add to the complication the dangles, which hop from one strand to another, shift (via their weight) the way the strands lay, making a properly strung piece hang oddly. Oh, joy. Makes me glad all I have to cope with is glass coe incompatibility, bad color chemistry, recalcitrant torches, unhappy, underpowered oxygen concentrators...people think bead stringing is easier than, say, weaving beads or making beads. Sorry, not necessarily so.

Close up of the dangle area, which was strung on thread; the 3 base strands are on tigertail, which made the adjustment a little easier. Amethyst, lapis lazuli, malachite, black stone, obsidian (green volcanic glass), glass, chinese enameled metal beads, sterling silver. Early 90s? Private collection.

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