Blush
This 58 cm necklace features the semi-precious stone, rose quartz, in different shades and shapes, paired with silver spacers. An interestingly pretty and NOT cloyingly sweet necklace! For more info on the necklace, please click on Details, and if interested in my musings, please go to Story.
The identification of the beads start from the bead in the centre, moving upwards, with measurement for some of the bigger beads, with metal beads named last.
Length: 58 cm (23”)
Weight: 156 gms
Rose quartz nuggets, the piece in the centre about 27mm by 20 mm at widest
Rose quartz rounds, 14mm & 16mm
Pale rose quartz micro faceted bicones 30mm by 12mm at the widest
Silver cogged discs
Silver spacers 3mm
Silver domed discs
Gold filled crimp tubes
Silver toggle clasp.
When Mr L first waved the Madagascan rose quartz bicones at me last year, I was hesitant at first – Madagascan rose quartz is noted for its fine quality and its rose hues. While these have a translucency with a misty appearance, they are rather pale. That said, I did find them attractive, their diamond-shaped facets finely cut, and each bicone emanating a certain aloofness in their paleness. I bought them.
I am glad I did. I have a small collection of rose quartz in different shapes, but I had always found too much pinkness cloying. So, when I took out all the rose quartz recently, I was suddenly struck by how ‘useful’ the pale bicones would be amidst the sea of pinks. I started working on it, and this design evolved without significant challenges. I put together the nuggets, which being bigger, are denser in their pinkness, slightly paler 14mm and a pair of 16mm rounds, and the bicones. I wanted to put in some thick faceted discs too, but that didn’t work. To ‘ground’ the whole design, I added two types of small silver beads – the small flat discs with cogs are a more recent acquisition from Bangkok, while the smaller engraved domed discs came from my first silver-buying trip in Celuk, Bali, in the ‘90s. The man in the shop said then that they are old, and I have been hoarding them, but I think they really work for this necklace which I am calling Blush.
Blush would work quite well on tanned skin if you are wearing a u-neck or v-neck top or dress, but it would also work with a range of other colours, both pastels and stronger colours including navy and black.
