Off to a good start

January DIY challenge, check. Behold my new necklace:

Taking advantage of my small investment in antique brass findings and needle nose pliers, my first DIY of the year was this beaded "statement" necklace. The activity introduced me to jewelry wire and crimping beads. Jump rings and me go way back to last month. Overall I'd rate this at a difficulty level of 1 out of 5. Maybe 1.2 due to the "tiny things" factor.

Kinda like my pickled jalapenos, I'm not sure why I did this. I never wear anything like this, but I love the way bold necklaces look under button-up collared shirts, a la:

Inspiration piece

I love my finished result, but there is one small problem. These necklaces are heavy. The one I made weighs 79 grams. 79 grams! For reference, the simple dainty necklaces I actually wear weigh 1-2 grams. That's a big difference. When I wear heavy necklaces I feel drawn down. Oppressed. I have to wear a lanyard with a badge for work and even that drives me nuts. How do women do it?

The beautiful beads are variegated jasper, which I picked up at my local, walkable bead shop. I read up on jasper and learned it's associated with protection and grounding. It helps align the chakras and is useful when one is going through change. This speaks to me, but I didn't know it when I bought them. I picked jasper for 2 reasons. First, I thought it would look great with my brass and on any human being. The colors, oh the colors. They match everything and every one. And secondly, the jasper was relatively affordable. I spent $20 on the beads for my necklace alone. That's not cheap! I'm sure there are cheaper bead stores out there, but I didn't mind supporting a local small business for this one-off. 

The small blue-green beads were added to bring out the blues and greens in the stones, which read very "earthy". They also enabled me to get 3 strands instead of just 2 without adding much cost or weight (they are plastic). I also like that they have a chalky texture, which sets off the shiny and polished elements (nay, compounds and alloys, badump bump - chemistry humor at its worst right there).

My sister tells me that the under-the-collar look above reads "old lady" or "southern". I think it's awesome! Like female formal wear. A working gal's necktie. I love it. Never done it, but that can change. What do you think? Too grandma?