...but it never really took off with the customers, so I ended up making only three or four necklaces and pairs of earrings using this concept. And, since two of the best pieces didn't sell, I decided to keep them.

Originally the pins in the lapis pectoral were straight to the bottom joint, but of course, over time they bent right under the lower bar. So I redesigned the piece with joints to take the stress off that area of the design, which made it somewhat less prone to damage, but doesn't work nearly as well visually. And of course, careful inspection reveals any number of bent head pins anyway.

Two lapis pieces incorporating spacerbars. The necklace is lapis lazuli, hematite and sterling silver, spacerbars by the artist. The earrings are lapis and gold fill. Late 80s, or very early 90s.

This necklace was supposed to be one of those ‘day and night’ pieces—wear the simple necklace during the day, attach the hooks into the rings of the pectoral for a fancier evening look.

Naturally, all the customers wanted the pectoral as a pin, something that was and remains beyond my rudimentary metalworking skills. So much for that idea.

The earrings were a tad more successful, as I managed to actuall sell more than two pieces using the idea. They're surprisingly light, and unlike the necklace (which seldom hangs straight) I still wear them on occasion.

23dec23: added spacerbar, semiprecious, year & metal tags; updated summary; added title, moved last paragraph into caption for first image.

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