Honour Your Inner Magpie

pondering similarities

2008-05-18T19:29:01Z

It just occurred to me how much the identification with the middle class if you aren't in it resembles vanity publishing.

Seriously. You gotta believe you're in it, and if you fail, it's because you didn't do enough self-promotion and you didn't work hard enough. Or maybe somebody else is out to get you.

Must ponder this more.

ArtLog: work in progress

2008-05-18T16:45:45Z

What an excellent day for working!

Just made a bunch of pendants using ocean jasper cylinders that are very cool indeed. Some of them might be a series called "Stories in a Bottle," though I may save that title for some actual bottled stories. Hmm. Must ponder. They do have stories in them, though. That part I am sure of.

Also am partway through a clear glass necklace, and am playing with mystery stones, and purple glass, and and and....

It's a very good day for working. But now I must have some food, the better to work some more.

And how's by you?

ArtLog: wishlists!

2008-05-17T20:20:44Z

What do you wish I would make for WisCon?

ArtLog: in progress, and my conundrum

2008-05-17T17:33:59Z

Well, "The Waters of Twilight Are Endless" is over 24 feet long now, and not finished.

Hmm.

This is very heavy, as it's on 20 gauge sterling silver.

Am contemplating a wild thing: selling it by the inch to order. It might be cool, although there's a certain something to having such a long long necklace complete. (However long it turns out to be.) But I am contemplating splitting it partly for the same reason I split "Women of Japan and the Sea," which is that a long heavy necklace might take itself apart by actions of physics involving movement and gravity and suchlike.

ArtLog: photos of a piece in progress

2008-05-17T04:06:42Z

While you wait for me to upload the teasers of new work and the current shinies list, here are some photos of "Bordertown Runway Queen" in progress. (It's finished now, and will be in the new current shinies list with photos as soon as I get them all transferred. Working on it now.)

P.S. The dire expressions on the lioness there are because that was a really difficult pain day. Now you know how I look on one of those. I was actually quite happy because of working, but the face shows the pain.

ArtLog: current shinies and a teaser of new work

2008-05-17T03:51:26Z

Here's everything I've got right now. New ones are in bold type like this. Some of them aren't priced yet. And stuff gets packed for WisCon on Wednesday, so pieces might only be available here through Tuesday.

Necklace-crowns:

"Neptune's Daughter" necklace-crown: gold filled wire, slab pearls, Swarovski crystals in various almost-clear colors. I was playing with the off-white pearls and the elusive colored highlights that dance on them, as well as trying out a very flexible design. See how I can curl it around (carefully!) almost twice? I think this might be handy if pinning it around a chignon or whatchamacallit. $450, and would be a lot more if I took the gold prices today into consideration, so and there may be a mark-UP, because Juan's lectures to me are having an effect....

Gorgets and other sculptural necklaces:

"Brought to Light" gorget with pendant and chain: lampwork glass, coral, sterling silver.

Linked necklaces:

"All the Currents Are One Current; All the Tides, One Tide" necklace: gold filled wire, labradorite, aquamarine, Swarovski crystal, metal, prehnite, plastic, lampwork glass, and so on. I tried to take pictures in a bunch of different lighting conditions to give you a good idea of it. Also, the shot of me with my chin wrinkled up is because I am in the land of ouch today. But it does give you an idea of the length of the piece and how it drapes. $625
"Doll with a Ghost in It, II" necklace: glass, wood, plastic, vintage buttons, sterling silver, a tiny glass bottle with a pearl and some really spooky corroded pins in it, and so on. This is a major piece of work. $725
"Fair Maid on the Shore" necklace: lampwork from Beau Hawn, glass, sterling silver, Venetian glass, etc. $225
"Her Mermaid II" necklace: shell, amethyst, dyed pearl/shell, plastic, glass, and wonder. $115
"The Heretic" necklace: sterling silver, glass, tigereye, Imperial jasper, other stone, and so on, with a truly awesome clasp. $210
"The Lady Who Looked In" necklace: glass and sterling silver, and that blue is a blue like no other. I cannot photograph it accurately, but oh. $310
"Love In Graveyards" necklace and earrings set: glass, labradorite, sterling silver, etc. $490
"The Mermaid Dreams of Land" necklace: lampwork and other glass, sterling silver, and so on. $340
"Moggy's Dream" necklace: Natural Touch resin, glass, sterling silver. 4 and 3/4 feet long. $260
"Odd Dinosaur Out" necklace: sterling silver wire, lampwork from Barefoot Beads and from Gray Parrot, glass, twenty-six beads made from agatized dinosaur bone, and a flaming meteor clasp. $225
"Om Mani Padme Hey Shiny! (Buddhism for ADD Monks)" necklace: gold filled wire and clasp, glass beads including old "wedding cake" lampwork glass. $115
"The Secret Pleasures of Turtles" necklace: glass and sterling silver, and whatever else I could find. $300
"Seventy Thousand Names for Home" necklace: sterling silver and ocean jasper. $275
"Sidhe Triumphans" necklace: lampwork glass, Swarovski crystal, fire-polished crystal, other glass, dyed agate, rescued vintage purple crystal, sterling silver, and so on. About eight feet long. $580
"Spring Treasure" necklace: tiny pewter toad bead from Green Girl Studios, lampwork and other glass, sterling silver, trade beads, and so on. $175
"That Which Is Precious" necklace: glass, wood, lampwork (H K Holly, Moe Cooper, and Unknown), dyed onyx, plastic, ceramic, sterling silver. $375
"There Is A Way From Here To There" necklace: lampwork, Venetian and other glass, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver, and a lot of distressed matte glass. $325
"The Three-Sided Promise" necklace: various glass, including Swarovski and other crystal, sterling silver, and music. $265
"There's Plenty of Fish in the Sky" necklace: glass, Swarovski crystal, dichroic lampwork, plastic bead from mysterious sources, sterling silver, and love. About six and a half feet long. $400
"Tinkerbell Tells All" necklace: opalite and other glass, that stuff they call "Peruvian opal" which still looks like chalcedony to me, aquamarine, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver, and so on. $220
"To Know Is Not the Same Thing As To Understand, #5" necklace: 16 gauge sterling silver, turquoise, Roman glass bead with inlaid stuff (very wonderful extremely beat-up distressed bead), trade beads, handmade lampwork from Grey Parrot Studio, horn, and so on. $280
"Twilight Has Two Doors" necklace: sterling silver, opals with purple and other flash, color-treated shell/pearl, glass, and wistfulness, I think. $545
"What Can Blight Can Bless, I" necklace: glass, fiber optic beads, blue goldstone glass, furnace glass, shell, wood, serpentine, other stone, and sterling silver. $270
"What's Time to a Fish?" necklace: Natural Touch resin, glass, sterling silver. 35" long. $115

Sculptural stuff:

"Bordertown Runway Queen" sidhe steampunk necklace in sterling silver and prehnite (? or is it glass ?) with three clasps. Too new to have a price yet, but it'll be a lot. This grew out of the IAF conversation.

Pendants, named:

"Beloved Argument" pendant: stone and sterling silver. Really cool yellow-green and white in here. $45
"Cabinet of Wonders" – rock polished by MB, GF wire $85
"cave/temple" pendant: Botswana agate slice and a lot of sterling silver. $68
"The Cave-Painting Revival of 2093" pendant: stone polished by Marie Booth, gold filled wire. $35
"cool blue core" pendant: glass and sterling silver; this glass is matte finished, and is most like the subdued final photo, unless you have bright light. $28
"Cowboy Physics" pendant: stone, Swarovski crystal, gold filled wire, and the curves of the riata. $78
"Dragon Shield" pendant: "dragonscale carnelian" and sterling silver, too new to have a price yet
"The Elegant Doctor from India Said" pendant: opal, glass, sterling silver. Too new to have a price yet.
"Give Me Your Lilies" pendant: stone and sterling silver. $26
"The Journey Looks Different From Here" pendant: handmade lampwork glass from Grey Parrot Studio on sterling silver. $50 (And what you can't see in the picture are the green-gold flashes of dichroic or metallic fire deep inside the dark spots on that bead. I'll try for more photos sometime when the sun is very out.)
"King of the Canyon" – stone and sterling silver $75
"My Kind of Story I" pendant: stone, lampwork, sterling silver. $45
"My Kind of Story II" pendant: stone, lampwork, sterling silver. $45
"The Painted Screen, After the Inhabitants Have Departed" pendant: stone, lampwork, sterling silver. $45
"Pay-Per-View Elf Wrestling" $18 Note the rakish bead on top, like a hat askew.
"Pay-Per-View Elf Wrestling II: Stompy Boots!" $18 Stompy!
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: The Chaser's Wood" pendant: stone, glass, sterling silver. $25
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: Our Days with Georgia" pendant: Imperial jasper, other stone, sterling silver. $65
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: We're In Your Star Machines" pendant: stone, sterling silver. $26
"To and From This Moment" pendant: stone and gold filled wire. $20
"Trying to Explain Fish to a Rock" pendant: ocean jasper and gold filled wire. $45
"The Veil of the Ifrit" pendant: glass and gold filled wire. $32
"The Voyage" pendant: stone, Beau Hawn lampwork, sterling silver, and there is a lot to see in this one. $48
"Water Is Impermanent Magic" pendant: some beautiful green stuff that might be prehnite as it was sold to me, or might not be, and sterling silver. $78
"Wednesday/Saturn" pendant: opal and sterling silver, and I took so many photos because this stone absolutely fascinates me. It's on a little blue-green neckcord with metal clasp, but could be worn on a chain or anything, really. $100, and I wish I could take better photos of opals, but you get the drift, right?
"'You and I,' said the jester, ' remember different countries.'" pendant: labradorite and sterling silver. $50
"'You Don't Look At Magic Straight On,' Said Granny" pendant: opal and sterling silver, and if you look closely you'll see why it's called that. Too new to have a price yet.

Pendants, planet:

(to come)

Pendants, unnamed:

little branch in champagne pearls and gold filled wire. $99
“dragonscale carnelian” – four pendants on sterling silver at $20 each (a sense of scale) SOLD: the first one, the third one, and the fourth one
labradorite with stripes! pendant on sterling silver wire. $45
labradorite pendant with a wide spectrum of color on sterling silver wire. $40
labradorite in a thicket of silver sculptural pendant. $62
brownish-gold jasper pendant on gold filled wire. $12

Earrings, named:

"And from what hills I cannot say...." earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes and sterling silver. $56
"Bearousel" earrings: stone, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver. $29
"Bears in Egypt" earrings: jasper, glass, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver. $40
"The Canyons of Night" earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, glass and sterling silver. $72
"Church of Mother Mary Mermaid" earrings: glass and sterling silver. $18
"Clear Days Anticipating the Harvest" earrings: glass, sterling silver, and a smile. $26
"de/finite" earrings: furnace glass, other glass, sterling silver. $32
"The Elegance of Snakes" earrings: Swarovski crystal and other glass, sterling silver. I love these because they are two different colors, and yet, not. $36
"Ghost Town Council" earrings: jasper bears, Stoney Marie lampwork, sterling silver. $50
"The Goddess In Blue Jeans" earrings: glass, sterling silver. $27 SOLD
"If Magic Lamps Came In Pairs" earrings: glass and sterling silver. $21 SOLD
"Imaginary Worlds" earrings: Stoney Marie lampwork, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver. $80, and these are quite changeable but always amazing.
"In Their Spring Plumage" earrings: Swarovski crystal, stone, and sterling silver. $26
"The Innocence Fish" earrings: glass and sterling silver. $21
"meltwater flowers" earrings: glass and sterling silver. $26
"The Mer-King's Early Morning Thoughts" earrings: distressed (cracked) glass and sterling silver. $12
"Miss Undine's Third-Grade Class" earrings: Moe Cooper lampwork, glass and sterling silver. $40
"Never Annoy a Sorceress Unnecessarily" earrings: Swarovski crystal, glass, and sterling silver. The big purple glass beads are heavy, but oh, so cool. $40
"New Africa" earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, glass and sterling silver.
"Northern Swamp Magic" earrings: Stoney Marie lampwork, Swarovski and other crystal, glass, sterling silver. $88
"October Dream Bears" earrings: Swarovski crystal, stone, and sterling silver. These are semi-translucent bears, and they fascinate me. Give them a good home? $42
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: Bright Leaf and the Chinese Poet" earrings: stone, sterling silver. $28
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: Inside the Thunder" earrings: stone, sterling silver, and glass. $24
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: Lumber, Cut and Stacked" earrings: stone, glass, sterling silver. $27
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: My Sky, Your Moon" earrings: stone, sterling silver. $32
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: The Tarnished Flowers of Time" earrings: stone, sterling silver, glass, tarnished tiny rings and silver-plated flowers likewise. $25
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: The Strand and the Deep" earrings: glass, stone, sterling silver, and the sound of waves breaking. $32
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: What Your Stories Take" earrings: stone, glass, and sterling silver. $28
"The River that Feeds Us" earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, glass and sterling silver. $78
"Snuffling for Dreams" earrings: stone, glass, and sterling silver. Like truffle pigs, except for dreams. $24
"Spell for Summoning Lullabye Nymphs" earrings: glass and sterling silver. $22
"sugarcandypotiongirl" earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, glass and sterling silver. Oh, man, those are cool beads. $64
"Sweet Hope" earrings: Stoney Marie lampwork, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver. $70
"They Sprang Up Wherever Her Tears Fell" earrings: glass, Swarovski crystal, and sterling silver. $30
"The True History of the West in Three Sunsets" earrings: lampwork by Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, glass and sterling silver. $75
"When the Icewings Migrate" earrings: Swarovski crystal, glass, sterling silver. $34
"When They Walked Here" earrings: Swarovski crystal, glass, sterling silver. Big beads, a little heavy, but very cool. Love the tiger stripes. $40
"While You Dream, the Bears Are Working" earrings: stone, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver. $45
"You've Got Bears In Your Blood, Girl" earrings: Stoney Marie lampwork, Swarovski crystal, jasper bears, sterling silver. $85

Earrings, Naughty Alice:

(to come when there are some)

Earrings, unnamed:

bears and amber: stone, amber, sterling silver. $30 SOLD
somewhat fragile experimental earrings: another pair of incredible borosilicate lampwork beads from Stoney Marie, Swarovski crystal cubes, and a bunch of sterling silver. $78
more earrings on the way, too new to be priced yet.

Hair Ornaments (mostly Maddy's Hair Toys -style ones, this time):

3-lotus hair toy: glass, sterling silver, and a clip-comb. $50
bear and lotus hair toy: stone, glass, sterling silver and a clip-comb. $28
"A Bear Ponders the Woods" hair toy: stone, glass, sterling silver, and a clip-comb. $28
"The Perfumes of Vienna Before the War" hair toy: labradorite and sterling silver on a clip-comb. $40
"Three Ways to Get There" hair toy: rainbow moonstone, labradorite, glass, sterling silver, and a base metal clip-comb to hold it securely. $50, and, as always, my thanks to Maddy G. for inspiration and design assistance.

Bracelets:

"Leaf Memory" bracelet: glass and memory wire. $20
"The Post-Colonial Literature of Elves: Underneath" bracelet: stone, sterling silver. It's mostly a rich medium chocolate brown with bits of green. $55

In progress:

peach-colored Enchanted Forest style necklace in progress
"The Waters of Twilight Are Endless" - a necklace in progress, and here's more of it.

...and

materials I am currently pondering....

Shipping's $5 domestically and $7 internationally for small things, more for heavy things and for insurance; check with me for specifics at elise@lioness.net.

HOW TO PURCHASE: as always, if you want to buy something, send e-mail to gimme@lioness.net. Thanks!

ArtLog: current shinies late tonight

2008-05-16T22:19:59Z

I'll be putting them up, but very late tonight, because I have to go see dddragonlady and evilwhitetiger sing and dance tonight.

There will also be a limit on how late things can be bought, as I have to pack the goodies up for WisCon next week.

More later. Having a good Friday?

hamster art

2008-05-16T16:48:30Z

bwa-ha-ha!

waiting for the UPS person, or someone just like him

2008-05-16T16:43:49Z

Want my emergency wire order.

Ah, well. Doing work down here that needs it. Well, and fiddling around with Switch Witch stuff. And e-mail. Which needs doing too.

Gonna pay some bills now. But want wire. Can has wire nao?

Jon Singer's work on fluorescent glazes

2008-05-16T13:57:03Z

There are some nifty photos in this article, and I am always inspired by whatever Jon's up to.

elisem @ 2008-05-15T06:59:00

2008-05-15T11:30:31Z

DailyKos linked to something this morning that serendipitously goes with something I transcribed yesterday, so I have to post both of them together here. The link was to an article at In These Times, which says in part:

As a labor leader, Lewandowski remained neutral in the Indiana primary, which Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) narrowly won, but he personally supported Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) (after his first choice, John Edwards, dropped out of the race). Obama’s “organizer mindset” appealed to Lewandowski, who has been building a working-class community affiliate of the labor movement. Obama’s March 18 Philadelphia speech on race in America further impressed him.

Now Lewandowski wants Obama to take another big step, one that could strengthen Obama’s appeal among white working-class voters who have gravitated more toward Clinton, as they did again in Indiana and North Carolina.

“Like what he did with his Philadelphia speech on race, he needs a speech on class,” Lewandowski says. “But, of course, we don’t have class in America.”

Obama would do well to take Lewandowski’s advice.

Interesting they should say that. Yesterday, I transcribed something from Obama's website, from one of the videos there. Here's Michelle Obama on opportunity:

"Our girls, Malia and Sasha, are the light of our lives. They keep us grounded and whole because they're kids, they're eight and five, and they care about getting a dog, and what they've done today, and how their lives are interesting and full. And what we are reminded of every day when we see them is that every child should be able to enjoy what they enjoy: that freedom of just having so much opportunity. And too many children in our country don't have that -- and it's not enough that our girls do."

I should unfold why I transcribed that: it's about class. The whole tightrope performance by his detractors of Obama being portrayed as "elitist" is simultaneously being played against the right-wing baiting about race, although that's not quite as crude as the drug-use-and-was-he-selling? rumors of a while ago.

Race-baiting collapses class.

To unfold that a little more, all I can do at the moment is refer to a conversation pisces3857 and I had once, back when we worked at Minnesota Public Radio. We were discussing television shows of a while back, and he said that the Cosby Show had one particular thing going for it: it was the only show on television that portrayed a middle-class black family.

Obama, as a community organizer, has a keen appreciation of exactly how fortunate he is. So does Michelle Obama, for all sorts of reasons. I saw what she was saying right away.

(And I guess I saw it so clearly that I didn't know I needed to unfold it -- but somebody to whom I showed the post as I posted it said it was a bit oblique, so I have unfolded it now.)

ArtLog: in progress

2008-05-15T04:55:26Z

OK, I've done some unusual necklaces, but this is the first one I've ever done that wanted three clasps.

I think it's called "Bordertown Runway Queen," and it's growing out of that IAF discussion I linked to a post or so back.

And also there's a long linked necklace in progress. No, longer than that. Might not turn out to be as long as "Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home," which belongs to truepenny (because it would not be denied) and which is twenty-three feet and ten inches long, but then again, it might. Haven't done one like this for a while, and it's kinda nice to get back to it. It's all twilight colors and magic spooky blues and purples and gray and lavender....

success, and also a good discussion

2008-05-14T19:43:07Z

The fusing worked! The dichroic did that gorgeous crinkle thing, too, which emphasized the blue, so they are much more blue than they were. I hope people are cool with that.

And there's a rousing discussion of art/craft/literature/found objects/interstitiality/beads/design/impossible runway fashion/writing and a lot of other stuff going on, which you are strongly encouraged to join.

And now I am going back up to the workbench, and also I need to make an emergency silver order. How can I have gone through 18 ounces of 20 gauge half-hard in, what, four weeks?

signed,
apparently a very worky beast indeed

a lively day

2008-05-14T13:41:51Z

There's a lot of shiny stuff under construction.

The chapbook is moving toward completion (and, thanks to TNH, it has a title: Glass Bead Games).

I met with the hotel catering department about the Very Shiny Evening of Readings and Celebration at Fourth Street, and things there are proceeding apace. I'm really excited about that.

Today we get the first batch of fused glass Inner Magpie pendants back, and we find out if they worked or not. (EEEEEEEEE! On tenterhooks!)

And it's not every day that you wake up and find a message saying, "Good morning. Do you know that you've been BoingBoinged?"

ArtLog: IAF interview of a bunch of shiny-makers

2008-05-12T17:00:26Z

Hey, we're talking about beading and interstitiality and art and stories and stuff. Come on over and join the conversation!

improvement

2008-05-11T14:31:22Z

Much less headachey than yesterday. Yay!

(athenais, the jellyfish must have helped.)

ow

2008-05-10T18:40:59Z

Head hurty. Headaches are vile.

Also, it is a little amusing how indignant a person with chronic pain can get about some unexpected little pain, like this. Really. But laughing makes my head hurt.

Wah. I am a total wanny-woo today, as SKZB would say. Gonna try to relax briefly and see if that helps.

need a photo done?

2008-05-10T16:12:38Z

Heather Corinna fell in love with a really big necklace, so she is coming to town for Fourth Street to help document necklaces for my portfolio. While she's in town, she's up for doing some photos people might use for author pictures, or just as cool portraits. I highly recommend her work; the icon you see is by her. You can either e-mail her directly to inquire, or e-mail me and I'll pass it along. Thanks!

about those Inner Magpie pendants, in the future....

2008-05-10T15:20:07Z

A word to the wise.

progress and achievement

2008-05-10T15:16:00Z

All the photos of the new work have been added to the current shinies post.

Oh, and the first batch of Inner Magpie pendants are at the glass-fusing place. We took them there yesterday. I'm waiting with bated breath to see how they turn out. Eeeee! Dichroic goodness!

slower progress, but progress nevertheless

2008-05-10T03:18:16Z

Despite technical difficulties, photos continue to appear in the "current shinies" listing. Also, I added a necklace I didn't tell you about before, called "Sidhe Triumphans." It's a major piece, about eight feet long.

Gonna take break, then wrestle with more photo links and such. And do the other stuff that must get done tonight.

progress

2008-05-10T01:26:04Z

First photo links up, including "Wednesday/Saturn," because I could not bear to make you wait. More soon, ongoing, in bits and bits.

progress, finally

2008-05-10T01:01:19Z

Photos achieved. Uploading commencing now. Shinies with links and descriptions soon. Thank you for your patience, and for all the goodnesses. (You know who you are. Yes, I mean you.)

planning ahead (Arr, matey!)

2008-05-09T16:59:17Z

For those of you who look forward to International Talk Like A Pirate Day as much as I do, you will be pleased to know that this year we'll be doing someting special. Yes, I know, we already have a special Pirate Treasure theme for the Beads of the Months, and I do usually make some pirate-themed shinies, but this is more and better, at least if you live or work in the Twin Cities metro area or have friends and dear ones who do.

This year, there will be a bit of a sale in September, and there will be a very special one-time delivery option offered: your package can be delivered by pirate! Yep, on September 19th, a pirate in full regalia will deliver your purchase to any address in the Twin Cities metro area that we can reasonably get to. Delivery times have not yet been determined, but we aim to make this available to those of you who would love to have a pirate come to your office on Friday to bring you a bag of loot. Send goodies to your Twin Cities friends! (We might even have a BotMo delivery-by-pirate option that month; watch and see!)

Arr!

(Yeah, I know, it's very silly indeed, but I cannot resist. And Daniel assures me he can score a pirate hat. We'll post photos as we get closer to time, so you can see what you'd be getting. Wait, that came out wrong. Oh, well, you know what I mean. We'll even send along a little bit of loot for your office mates. Don't forget to tip the pirate, now. Arr!)

ArtLog: current shinies, with new stuff

2008-05-09T16:49:31Z

Here's everything I've got right now. New ones are in bold type like this. I've been busy. See?

Necklace-crowns:

"Neptune's Daughter" necklace-crown: gold filled wire, slab pearls, Swarovski crystals in various almost-clear colors. I was playing with the off-white pearls and the elusive colored highlights that dance on them, as well as trying out a very flexible design. See how I can curl it around (carefully!) almost twice? I think this might be handy if pinning it around a chignon or whatchamacallit. $450, and would be a lot more if I took the gold prices today into consideration, so and there may be a mark-UP, because Juan's lectures to me are having an effect....