For my mother-in-law

Okay, I know what you're thinking. Another rant against mothers-in-law! But, read on and you'll find quite a different tale. The fact is, I love my mother-in-law. I am very lucky to have acquired her through marriage to her son. Physically, she is tall, slim, dark-eyed, with wonderful salt-and-pepper hair, can practically out-yoga her daughter, who is considerably younger than she. As a person, she is intelligent, funny, alert, curious, warm, lovely, artistic... What's not to love?

The reason I am writing about her, and the reason for the title, is that her birthday is coming up on Bastille Day (I won't say which birthday it is, but I can tell you that she looks at least 20 years younger than that). Her husband, my wonderful father-in-law, asked me if I would be interested in designing a necklace for her birthday. Before his email finished settling down comfortably in my inbox, I had already responded with a resounding YES!

It is a very interesting exercise designing a necklace for a specific person. It is a very different process than designing something inspired by particular beads or stones, or nature, or dreams.... Designing a necklace for a real person means taking everything about that person into account. Knowing her as long as I have, and as well as I do, both simplifies and complicates the process.

She has lived in India (twice), in the former Czechoslovakia, in the former Soviet Union, in Nepal, in Romania, and in Chile. All that told me a lot. I didn't want to give her anything that would be too similar to things she might have encountered and purchased there (and maybe I've never seen because she keeps them tucked away in a box). She is very interested in the cultures of the countries in which she has lived, and, particularly, in the crafts she has seen being made. Her style, you might say, is "ethnic" in homage to the wonderful craftsmen she has come to know over the years.

One has to take into account, of course, how the person one is designing for tends to dress. My mother-in-law, who now lives in the Northeast Kingdom (for those who don't know, that is the far north eastern part of Vermont), wears jeans and turtlenecks around the house. Yet she travels a lot, to places like New York, Romania, to visit her daughter in Sarajevo, and dresses up more for various occasions. And, as I said, she is tall and, being tall, can carry off wearing "bigger" pieces that would like silly on someone shorter.

So, I was pondering all these things one day when I went to my local bead store for inspiration. I'm not the kind who can look through catalogs or online shops and order something special. I'm a very visual and tactile person, and I have to see and feel something before I can respond to it. So, there at the bead shop, I saw them: wonderful dark translucent smoky quartz nuggets that felt as good as they looked. Oh, and fabulous oval sterling silver bali beads (since she'd never lived in Indonesia, I figured they were a better bet than Indian silver beads). I knew right there I had a start. But I wanted a pendant. Hmmm, could be silver, but they had nothing that would go. They had nothing that wasn't silver that would go either. I bought the quartz and the silver, though, and headed home to my studio.

I began playing with the beads, adding in this or that bead from my own collection, when I realized it really needed something more. I was sure I'd know that something as soon as I saw it. So, armed with a smoky quarz nugget and one of the bali silver beads, I headed to another local bead store. There, I spotted some delicate little aquamarine rondelles that added just that right touch of complementary color. I also found some wonderful facetted smoky quartz rondelles and a mixture of Czech beads which contained both brown and greenish blue hues, and added the little bit of sparkle that draws the eye to the necklace. All of these would help round out the necklace without adding too much weight. So, all I needed was the pendant. I looked. I looked at all the walls, all the shelves, pulled out all the drawers...nothing. Just as I was beginning to despair, I spotted a bowl of large turquoise pieces that were sold by the gram. Out of the fifteen or so in the bowl, there was only one that was perfect. Just the right size, with inclusions of brown and aquamarine: it was just the thing to tie the whole necklace together.

Triumphant, I was, until I got home and realized that, of all the sterling silver clasps I have, none was just right. One was, well, it would do, but I really wanted something special. Happily, I had just taken a metalworking class and, when my own materials for working with silver arrived at home, one of the first things I made was the perfect clasp for the necklace (for story of clasp, see my earlier Giant Stride post). So, the clasp literally and figuratively tied the whole necklace together. And, to top it off, I made it adjustable because, as they say, women like to change their minds (and their outfits...!).

So, to all of you who don't have a wonderful mother-in-law: I'm truly sorry. To all of you who do: you know what a pleasure it is. To you, my mother-in-law, this necklace was designed for you with great love and care by your very lucky daughter-in-law. I see it as elegant, ethnic, bold, and beautiful, with strong lines and a bit of sparkle, well, pretty much the way I see you! Happy Birthday!