Contrast
Contrast, from our bold expressions style family, celebrates the power of strong expressive colour. Deep green ruby zoisite meets luminous amethyst in an asymmetric arrangement that is bold, yet composed, intensity balanced with clarity. For someone who appreciates striking jewellery with presence, worn to be seen. 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: 50 cm (20”)
Weight: 202 gms
Amethyst quartz pieces, with the biggest at 34 mm long by 22 mm wide
Small faceted amethyst oblate beads
Zoisite pieces, with the biggest at 38 mm long by 24 mm wide
Northern Thai silver disc spacers
Gold filled crimp tubes
Silver toggle clasp
The green zoisite pieces attracted me with their planes, their deep green, their streaks of black and magenta pink (ruby inclusions). Zoisite is also a less common stone which I had not collected previously. They were really challenging to design with, however! I gave up on various attempts. Being chunkily tabular, they could not be paired with bigger round beads, and colour wise, they ‘swallowed’ up the more muted tones.
Then one day, I happened to be looking at a picture of tulips with deep purple bulbs and very green leaves quite akin to the green of my zoisite pieces. Lovely, I thought, and went for my tub of purple stones, pulling out my big amethyst quartz pieces. After a few iterations I realise that attempting a symmetrical design wasn’t working. It had to be asymmetrical, and again, it was only after further trials that the ‘equation’ came together. I had to have more amethyst quartz pieces than zoisite, and I could not use a zoisite piece as the centre. I also used a couple of ametrine (a mixture of amethyst and citrine) to add a slightly different tone. The icing on the cake, or I should say on the necklace, were some small, beautifully deep purple faceted oblate amethyst beads that I decided to insert in the final design. This necklace has a contemporary feel to it, and the four zoisite pieces are all somewhat different in their patterning, with one having more horizontal streaks in black and magenta, another with a large patch of magenta purple etc. it is however a heavy necklace at 202 gms.
Given the clash of green and purple, I am naming this necklace Contrast. I placed it against different coloured tops. It did not look so good against navy or jungle green, but was stunning with a bright chartreuse yellow, and a soft muted bluish pink. I think you have to experiment to figure out what would be the best combinations.
