Malachite & White Agate

This necklace I strung earlier consists of natural stone polished white agate and malachite beads with 14k gold spacers. I was trying to do something simple, but elegant enough for a fancy pleo dinner party. Pearls always make a nice touch, but they can be a bit expensive, so I chose the white agate. I picked the malachite to compliment the pleo's color, while still remaining elegant. The gold spacer beads help break up the pattern and make the malachite beads stand out.

The necklace is strung on .018" tiger tail (7-strand, plastic coated, steel wire). The wire was chosen because the stone beads can have rough edges on the drilled holes and can quickly rub right through silk and plastic threads, and I'm not sure how much motion the necklace will get as the pleo moves around. The clasp is a standard twist together barrel clasp. I have removed the connecting rings from the ends of the clasp and threaded the wire through the hole in the clasp so that the knots in the wire are hidden inside the ends of the clasp.

The pattern was designed for the clasp to hang at the bottom where you would attach a pendant or ID tags between the last malachite bead and the clasp. This would both keep the rough edges of the clasp away from the pleo's skin, and when viewed from the top side of the pleo, the pattern would look balanced across across the back of the neck. (The picture is upside down.)

Materials

• 15 - 6mm white agate beads (A)
• 5 - 6mm malachite beads (M)
• 11 - 2mm 14k gold round space beads (s)
• 1 - 4.5mm 14k gold-plated barrel clasp
• 1 - 9-inch strand .018" tiger tail (trimmed)

Pattern: - s A A A s M s A A A s M s A A A s M s A A A s M s A A A s M s - clasp

Overall length: - Approx. 6 1/4 inches

Blue/green Ceramic squares

I found this set of beads at Michael's the other day. This is pretty much how they came. All I did was restring, add the clasp, and since the original strand was a wee bit too long, I hung the extra beads as a pendant from one side of the clasp. I really liked the way the blue set off pleo's eyes and the green/brown went with the skin tones. The bigger square beads lay flat on the neck and work as well for a boy or girl.

The necklace is strung on .018" tiger tail (7-strand, plastic coated, steel wire). The wire was chosen because the stone beads can have rough edges on the drilled holes and can quickly rub right through silk and plastic threads. The flat beads should eliminate most motion the necklace will get as the pleo moves around. The clasp is magnetic for ease of putting on and taking off.

The pattern was designed for the clasp to hang at the bottom where the pendant hangs from the clasp. This would both keep the rough edges of the clasp away from the pleo's skin, and when viewed from the top side of the pleo, the pattern would look balanced across across the back of the neck.

Materials

• 8 - 14mm square, 4mm thick ceramic beads(B)
• 11 - 5mm black beads (b)
• 1 - 2mm space bead (s)
• 1 - 4mm magnetic barrel clasp
• 1 - 12-inch strand .018" tiger tail (trimmed)

Pattern: - b B b B b B b B b B b B b B b B - clasp - b b B b s

Overall length: - Approx. 6 1/2 inches