I love making them, because they really are a treasure trove of colour. I get out all my little pots and boxes of beads and crystals, picking out pieces that grab my attention. This is what I love - I feel like a pirate plundering through jewels to find that enchanted ruby, or that magical emerald - obviously this has been over stimulating my imagination! To me, there is nothing more exciting than colour and shape - it takes me to far away places (like one-eyed-willie's ship in 'The Goonies'), different colours make me picture different places or people.
I hate making them because they take ages! I'm all about the finished product - I'm a bit of a quick fix girl, and something that takes such time and patience is a real challenge for me. Each lariat is made on one long, continuous strand, with beads and stones interspersed along the way. Each tiny bead is knotted behind, and in front to keep it in place. This type of knotting is also a decorative part of the necklace. However, since these necklaces have so many stones and beads on them, it can literally take hours to knot it all together. Once I've finished one, I stand up, all crooked and curled from staying in the same position so long. But then it's soooo worth it when I see one finished!
I use different types of beads - glass, vintage crystals, freshwater pearls, pieces of shell, big chunky pieces of gemstones, little tiny chips of gemstones - anything really!! I love collecting all these pieces - I'm a bit of a hoarder, so looking out for pieces for jewellery really just indulges that hoarding instinct in me. Sometimes, I can have an idea of a particular colour I'm looking for, and stumble upon it, or sometimes I might see some beads, that I don't really need, but I've just got to have them!
As I said before, when I'm designing a piece of jewellery, I try to think of who will buy it, where they will wear it, how it will look on them. I suppose I create a personality for each piece, which is why all my lariat jewellery has a name. I give them names which reflect where or what I was thinking about while I was creating them. Sometimes this is a girls name (for example, I can picture exactly what a 'Lola' necklace would be like, or a 'Stacey'), sometimes it's a place name, or a cocktail, or named after a flower. I've included a photo of 'Singapore Sling' here - it makes me think of brightly coloured cocktails in silly shaped glasses (the kind you drink on holiday, but would never be seen dead with at home), cocktail umbrellas, and sparklers. The first cocktail I ever had on holiday was a Singapore sling, and I thought I was the height of sophistication.....OMG.....!
I'll never make a piece of jewellery when I'm in a bad mood though....I'm sure nobody would want to wear a necklace called 'misery' or 'mire'!!
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