Crystal Clear
Grey-veined white howlite is paired with six different shapes of rock crystal and seven different kinds of bright silver in a shape-driven asymmetric arrangement that feels clean, fresh and sculptural. A one-of-a-kind necklace from our contemporary sculptural style family, for someone who would appreciate the visual architecture of a piece that is expressive and engaging. For more info on the necklace, please click on Details, and if interested in my musings, please go to Story. Explore our style families in our blog on The Style Families of Manik’s Necklaces Necklaces
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: 46 cm (18”)
Weight: 110 gms
Rock crystal in various shapes, flat oval in centre is 26 mm long and 17 mm at its widest, while rounds are 16 mm
Howlite, 20mm round, and triangles are 21 mm long and across
Various silver spacers
Gold filled crimp tubes
Silver toggle clasp
In my experience it can be just as challenging designing an asymmetric necklace as one that is symmetrical! That said, I really enjoyed designing this necklace. I started off wanting to use my howlite grooved triangular tablets with rounded corners, and I wanted a ‘clean’ look, so out came my tub of rock crystal beads. At first it was to be a symmetric design, but the first few iterations were somewhat boring. So then I thought, why not try an asymmetric design given that I have rock crystal in so many shapes? I soon got very absorbed moving different rock crystal pieces around and adding and taking away howlite tablets to get it just right. I got even more experimental with the silver spacers, pulling out the different sterling silver spacers in my collection. And so you have it – rock crystal in six different shapes, seven different kinds of silver spacers, and howlite triangles with one 20 mm grooved round in this 46 mm (18”) necklace.
I am naming this necklace Crystal Clear. With asymmetric necklaces, I like to play round with how I wear it, as in, does it look better if I have the big round bead on my left, or on my right? Believe me, it can make a difference! Please also note that a toggle clasp for a short necklace requires you to bring the necklace closer to the neck when you unclasp, so as to pull the bar out more easily. Crystal Clear would look good against tanned skin, but if you wear it over a collar, it would look more striking against stronger, darker tones like a dark grey, brown, navy. You could wear it with stripes too, or smaller checks.
