Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - April Reveal

After quite a bit of work, I'm happy to finally share my reveal for this month's Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge! Yay!

The idea behind this Monthly Challenge was to take some of my older necklaces and remake them... Give them upgrades, as it were. After all, I've been making jewelry for awhile now, and my tastes--not to mention my skills--have definitely changed.

Some of the potential candidates for a makeover.

I had so many ideas going into this challenge. After all, I had a lot of older necklaces to choose from! In fact, there are quite a few pieces that I started (and even finished!) that I'm saving for future entries. I don't want to overload this entry, after all. :)

All in all, I have four different projects to share for this reveal... and, without further ado, here they are!


Necklace Upgrade #1

I made this original necklace two years ago with beads my husband gave to me: crystals of two different sizes, paired with coral rounds. It's actually a rather lovely necklace... I was tempted to just leave it as it was.

That was, until I found this Czech glass button:

...And I couldn't help myself. From that combination, I made this necklace:

Instead of being strung on beading wire, the original components are now wire-wrapped with bronze wire and paired with brass findings. The button has been made into a pendant by the addition of a bail--also made with bronze wire. The result is just as lovely as the original--and more reflective of my current tendency to make wire-wrapped chains. :)

Necklace Upgrade #2

The pendant for this necklace was originally an earring, which I removed from its hook and added to a pre-made cotton cord. Simple and straight-forward, and not a bad design at all. 

But, while going through my necklaces, I decided to give it a bit of an upgrade by adding some reconstituted shell beads and silver pearls, which just happened to match perfectly:

Here is the final result:

Again, the original design wasn't bad... I just liked adding more of a personalized touch to the chain. I also added a little spiral charm to the pendant, to cover the rather large hole and add a little pop of silver. I have a few more of those charms, too... I will likely use them to make matching earrings at some point in the future. :)

Necklace Upgrade #3

This upgrade actually involved combining a few different necklaces. The two necklaces on the left were made by me several years ago--I love the focal beads, because they are heavy cast metal, and remind me of Mesopotamian cylinder seals. As for the fringed necklace on the right, I purchased that some time ago on clearance (from Target, I believe), because I was fascinated by its fringe.

From those components, I actually made two necklaces... And, you guessed it, they have tassels.

First up, here is the silver-hued necklace:

I took the silver strands of fringe from the second necklace and combined them into a tassel, which I then attached to the re-wrapped focal of one of the first necklaces. The necklace portion is made from the same chain as the original--just with a few wire-wrapped additions.

I'm sure it's no surprise that the brass focal received the same treatment:

...except this time, I used the brass and gold fringe from the second necklace to make the tassel. In fact, the metal color is the only difference--the construction is exactly the same as the silver version, down to using the original chain.

I'm in love with how these two necklaces turned out... I do love tassels, after all, and these practically made themselves! :)

Necklace Upgrade #4

And now for the last upgrade I'm going to share for this reveal. This one actually deviated the most from the original design--reflecting, I think, a change in both taste and skills. 

For the upgrade, I decided to salvage the vintage glass beads and the pink glass pearls, putting aside the silver rose and white glass pearls for another project. 

With those salvaged components, I made this necklace: 

...Quite a bit different, wouldn't you agree? Instead of using silver-tone metal, I switched to shades of brass. Instead of the white pearls, I added orange crystals. Instead of a three-strand dangle, I went with a full tassel. And instead of the rose pendant, I used another vintage crystal I had in my stash--in shades of bright pink and orange.

I'm not entirely pleased with the length of this necklace, so I will probably tweak it at some point... In the meantime, though, I am quite pleased with the look of the design. And who knows... maybe I'll make something lovely with the leftover white pearls and silver rose!

So, there you go! That is what I made for this challenge. Honestly, I had a lot of fun revisiting some older designs--and, as I said, I have a few other projects that I'm working on. Something tells me that this challenge isn't over yet... We'll see what else I end up creating in the months to come! :)

Thank you so, so much for stopping by to see what I made for this challenge... I truly appreciate you reading, as well as being patient with my delay. I hope you come back next month to see what I decide to do for May's Monthly Challenge!

Happy last day of April, everyone!