Joie de Vivre jewelry

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e c l e c t i c

"Eclectic" is a good summary of my inventory of supplies and my approach to jewelry design; the idea is to bring together elements from a broad and diverse range of sources in a cohesive way. The upside of pursuing an eclectic style is the freedom to have one's eyes open everywhere and select pieces according to taste; the downside of course is the high chance of failure when it comes to combining these disparate elements in a single integrated item! However, over the course of years, I have found that it pays to acquire distinctive components of the highest quality I can reasonably afford for the designs I have in mind. For example, I love the rich red of ruby, but I'm not in the market of fine jewelry so I'll pass on the single gem grade stone in favor of a strand of pebbles with great color and awesome feel, like in this necklace. Larimar is a rare pectolite gemstone from the Dominican Republic with an outstanding natural blue color. Due to its rarity and relative softness (Mohs hardness of 4 1/2 - 5), large components are expensive. The expense is worth it for some designs, but in this one I wanted an irregular, nubby feel but good color, so using less expensive larimar chips made more sense. Note: due to the long length, there isn't a standard clasp.

Cost: $137.00 USD

m a k e   i t   a   g i f t   s h i p m e n t :

Looking to ship this item separately as a gift? Gift shipment includes gift boxing and an occasion specific card sent to the recipient via USPS Priority Mail. Fill out the fields below including this jewelry item name, the recipient name and address, and occasion and this item will be sent to the recipient with a card and note. See the gift box section for samples of shipments with different occasion specific cards.

Cost of gift shipment (domestic shipping only): $5.95 USD

Occasion:
Jewelry item:
Recipient name & address:

c a t e g o r i e s :

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M a t e r i a l s  &  C a r e 

Length: necklace - 38"

Materials:

  • larimar gemstone beads
  • ruby gemstone beads
  • freshwater pearls
  • sterling silver beads
  • Soft Flex moderate duty nylon coated stainless steel cord (30 lb. load test)

Care & cleaning: Beading cord may be kinked or broken through hard jerks or severed through prolonged exposure to rough or sharp edges; store necklace flat when not in use to prevent stretching or kinking cord. Clean with warm soapy water and avoid chemical or abrasive cleaners. Use a soft jewelry polishing cloth to clean tarnish appearing on silver.

Larimar and pearls are softer materials, but they should be robust to tugs and pulls from the younger crowd. As with all beaded jewelry: do not let young toddlers chew on it.

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W h a t  t o  W e a r 

This 38" necklace can be worn long as a flapper style necklace or doubled up for an approximately 19" necklace. Its easygoing style works well with casual tops for everyday to open collared shirts for office wear to shift dresses for the evening.