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Restringing an Old Necklace
Don't pass up an old necklace that catches your eye, just because there are a few flaws in it. You know what to do, you can put your own spin on it!
I found this necklace on eBay. The listing said that one of the large beads had a chip in it, but I was still interested, because I knew that I could restring it without that bead and still have a necklace that had the same look as the original.
The original version of this necklace has an interesting pattern. Instead of having a repeat of beads throughout the necklace, this design provides symmetry by having each side of the necklace mirror the other. Still, I decided that the overall look was too busy, so I decided to rearrange things, add some new beads, and not use all of the odds and ends beads found in the original.
I added green 4mm Czech glass beads and some amber 8mm oval Czech glass beads. These beads work well with the original beads and allowed me to add a repeating theme to the overall necklace, for a less busy look. Both versions of this necklace are about 21 inches long. This is a good length for a necklace with such large focal beads.
Also, notice that now there are only three large focal beads in the re-design. This means that one of these will rest in the center of the necklace, for a more balanced look. It is always a good idea to use an odd number of focal beads, or to place the largest bead at the center of a design. The necklace will tend to rearrange itself with the larger bead at the center, anyway. Gravity is like that!
click on each image to zoom in
Original Necklace
New Necklace
Bead Detail