Components as Inspiration

I was super excited to be contacted by Steven Weiss at Beadsmith.  They have a new line of clasps, Elegant Elements, and he asked if I might like to design using these clasps. Then, my work (and that of other designers) would be featured as a sales strategy for the new clasp line.  The product line was GORGEOUS!  And I said "Yes!"  Although I quickly discovered many of the other participants are my beading heroes, and I hoped I would find myself adequate to the task.

I have only just met Steven Weiss "electronically," but I am going to go out on a limb here and say the guy is a public relations and advertising genius.  This was a really brilliant way to collect great photos of the clasp line in action and I suspect most of us are really happy to be involved in the project.  A win-win situation if ever there was one!

I chose two beauties from the wide range of Elegant Elements clasps.  The first one I wanted to work with was a three-strand, golden nest box clasp, with snowy white pearl eggs.  I thought this piece could serve double duty, since the February Etsy Beadweavers theme is "NEST."  My first thought was to create a similar beaded nest for pearls to rest in, but after a couple samples, I found my work didn't really allow the clasp to shine.  The clasp is a soft, pale gold and although it has beautiful leaf texture, it's very subtle and super organized.  My samples were VERY textural, and one was a little disorganized, and neither suited the clasp.

I decided I needed to let the clasp lead the way for me, as I often do when I find other components I want to work with, so I analyzed it's basic design.  It sits neatly flat, and the pearls sit up off the delicate, flat, highly organized nest to be featured in their little bezels. So I began a search for flat, golden, subtly-textured components that might allow me to provide contrast to big egg-shaped pearls.  I bought some golden shadow rivolis, and those were lovely, but I really wanted something metallic to go with them.  Then one night in a parking garage in South Minneapolis, the answer jingled out of the payment station in the form of a gold one dollar coin.  I had just read an article about the reducing of production of these beauties, because they are not highly circulated, and considered to be an expense our government can eliminate.  But I just loved it.  And lo and behold, it was flat, pale gold, and delicately textured.  Just what I had been looking for.  But coins in jewelry?  And then the idea of a "nest egg" occurred to me, and it seemed perfect design concept for both of the tasks at hand.

I bezeled the coin and dashed off to the bank for more.  Turns out several different presidents are featured, as well as Sacajawea, but I liked the lady liberty backs, so I chose the ones with the best looking "tails" and got to work.  With several coins and rivolis ready I played with placement, and found a way to organize a triad of each (half dozen packaging, just like the clasp) to allow for a place for some of my big freshwater pearl drops to sit, and joined them together.  I played with several edge details, including tiny leaf shapes, but they still felt overwhelming and out of scale with the clasp, so I just netted in some bicones and found that to be appropriately scaled and detailed.

 I broke the edge detail to allow some of the pearl eggs to drip out of the nest as fringe, and to allow for a soft three strand pearl neckstrap, which joined both the focal and the clasp with big pearls again, to help keep the clasp focused as a major player in the design.

Although I frequently let components speak to me in my design process, I had never before considered the possibility of allowing a clasp to dictate a design. This line is more than worthy of  that kind of attention and I am really looking forward to working with my second clasp.