Special Treasures 
Necklace
Designed by Kristin Burgess


Our purple special treasures case always holds remarkable semi precious stones displayed in such a manner that you'll find yourself day dreaming about the many design possibilities.  These quality stones include an impressive range of scrumptious and unusual cuts in tourmaline, rutilated quartz, carnelian, amethyst, peridot as well as the lemon quartz featured in this week's tutorial.  The exquisite quality of these stones can be summed up as "simply gorgeous".   String them up as they are or try introducing a metal spacer or crystal bicone.  It's finally time to dig out those spring colors so consider adding Swarovski's Pacific Opal to your bead stash today!


This project is great for all levels!  Stringing and a very small amount wire work are involved with this project.   The necklace has a total length of 18 inches.  Two clam shell style bead tips are needed to attach the beaded strand to the clasp.   By omitting beads evenly you can decrease the length of the necklace without altering the look.   For a longer length consider adding a few inches of an extender chain and a lobster claw or hook style clasp rather than the toggle.  Since the lemon quartz is translucent it is important to strand on a light colored silk instead of flexible beading wire such as .014 Softflex wire.  The lt pink silk is featured but any pale shade of your liking would work.  Beads strung up on the Griffin silk cording have SUCH a nice feel and drape to them!  You will later notice how the necklace seems to move with you and hang nicely in comparison to the slightly stiffer feel of beads strung on the softflex wire.  Although softflex is super strong sometimes it is more appropriate, as with pearls and some semi precious stones, to string them up on a silk cord.

Step 1:

Prepare a clutter free workspace to lay out piles of your beads and components on.    First open and pre-stretch your Griffin silk cord.  You will want to remove the entire piece of silk from the card.  Some people prefer to iron their silk.  If you find the prestretching with your hands to be too difficult the ironing is a nice alternative.  Be sure to set your iron on very low!  Intense heat could damage or discolor the cord (this happened to me once!  I decided to alternate sections to be lighter and consequently ended up with a neat variation of color reminiscent of those spools of yard that run from one color to another.   Sooo set on very low unless experimenting otherwise :)  I find by hand to be tolerable and work with about 2&1/2 feet at a time.  Once all the kinks are straight you are ready to begin with the first knot. 

Step 2: 

With the entire Griffin silk cord pre stretched you will build up a double knot on the end of the silk.  This knot should be as close to the very end of the silk as possible.  Use a small dab of clear nailpolish and touch up the knot.  This is done to protect the knot from slipping or coming out altogether.   Use the flush cutters to trim away the tail after the knot.   Straighten the needle with your fingers a bit.  The wirey needle is easy to straighten so if it gets a kink work with it a bit in your hands as best that you can.  First thread on one clam shell.  Go into the mouth of the clam shell and pull the entire silk through so that you end up with the knot inside the cup or mouth.  Close this cup with your fingers trapping the knot inside.  Later on the hook will be curled into a ring to include your clasp.  Start by stringing this pattern onto the Soft Flex spool...1 pacific opal crystal bicone, 1 lemon quartz, 1 pac opal crystal bicone, 1 lemon quartz, 1 pac opal crystal bicone,  and so on until you have threaded a symmetrical necklace ending with a pacific opal crystal bicone.   The strand is graduated for you so string the exact order of the lemon quartz strand as it was purchased.  Finish by threading on the second clam shell bead tip entering it the opposite way (through the back coming out of the mouth). 

Step 3:
 
With all the beads on the silk and the clam shell threaded on as well it is time to knot it off.  Use the awl to chase another double knot into the clamshell bead tip.  Snip leftover silk and dab with clear nailpolish before closing the clam shell encasing the knot.   The round nose pliers are neccessary to curl the hook into a circle.  This loop should include either side of your clasp set (toggle or other).  This special treasure is sure to turn heads!  This pattern is so easy and would work for the briolette styles as well. 
As always enjoy!