Here a bit and there a bit ...

It all started quite simple. I had had this agate slice around for a while and decided to finally make it into a piece of jewelry. A pendant to put on a chain or a rope.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, let me take you through the single steps to show you how pieces of mine develop.

1. What technique to use for the pendant?
There are three choices - wire crochet, wire knit or needle lace.
With a stone like this which is kind of slim and long, also pointed at the top, wire knit is a good choice since it makes a bezel which is nice and flexible to shape around the stone. Since wire knit has such an open structure and not much of a wire pattern in itself however, I felt it needed a little extra for contrast.

2. Welcome the little extra.
In come the seed beads. The agate slice has a subtle grey and blue pattern turning brownish at the top. Hm. Grey or blue-grey beads? That would a bit boring, would it? How about a bolder color? Brown, shiny brown ... ah, silver lined topaz.

3. Have a look at the wire stash.
My so-called "smoke" color is still tied to my disk WIP. Silver? Gold? Maybe a bit more subdued and let the seed beads do the work. Didn't I still have that pewter colored wire somewhere which feels springier than my usual wires and that I have been wanting to try out for months? Ah, there it is.

4. Knit a bezel for the agate slice.

5. I had showed a picture of the finished pendant and asked people if they thought that I should add a rope and the unanimous answer was I should.
Rope with or without beads? I finally decided on gold lined crystal seed beads as I found that more of the topaz beads would be overkill.
So I put loads of seed beads on the wire and starting knitting, with a bead after each stitch, until I had a nice length.

6. That was the point when Mabel, my (virtual) muse, started chiming in again. "A simple beaded rope with a pendant? Are you sure? Come on, you know you want to keep playing a bit. Yeah, twist that rope. Just one twist? Really? Try another one. Fix it with a headpin, so it won't open up again. Another one, don't you think?" "Mabel, I will have to add something, like this it's too short to go around a neck." "Well, add some chain. And how about making it real long. The pendant is large enough to look better if it dangles way down. You could even make one more twist. Don't be shy, try something different."

7. I usually listen to Mabel, and if she thinks I should be a bit more crazy from time to time, she's probably right. Try something different every, now and then.
So I added chain and a large leaf and branch toggle clasp.

And here's the result, now available in my shop.