And no, the judges weren't especially impressed. They didn't like the knot finishing off the loop (look by the 4mm bead) and I can't say as how I specially blame them, but I enclosed the slide for a lark; the piece I thought was really cool they turned down flat. I like nicely finished stuff as well as the next person, but I draw the line at grinding holes of stone beads. (Metal, glass and sometimes pearls I'm willing to consider.)

The necklace is a fairly simple design: a single knotted strand with a central triangular accent of serpentine, from which a large turquoise bead and a tassel depends. (Or hangs, if you prefer.) The necklace is knotted on pale celery green silk, and the closure consists of a turquoise frog and a braided closure (which I duly warped on my marudai and everything). The tassel consists, in order from the ends, of 12/20 2mm goldfill, 4mm lapis nevada, brass disks, pink whitehearts, 3x5mm rhodonite cylinders, (approximately) 8/0 celery green greasy seed beads, thence graduating through (as I recall) 7 hues of green, and slowly decreasing in size from 10/0 to about 15/0. Tassel and turquoise are wirewrapped to the rest of the piece with sterling.

Materials and Techniques: pink rhodonite, turquoise, lapis nevada, serpentine, glass, silk, sterling; knotting, color-graduated stringing, kumihimo

Collection of the artist

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