The Lady of Shalott

Or at least one of her go-to necklaces. Before she goes all moony over Lancelot and dies in a rowboat. Drama queen.

Neckwear for Tiresome Medieval Drama Queens

I bought this fossil coral pendant at a local beadshop years ago. I loved the colors and patterns, and how it was weathered and chewed up, like an eons-worn fossil in an old specimen cabinet. I've taken it out several times, intending to do something with it, but couldn't decide how to hang it. I didn't want to just string it, or just put hanging loops on it--I wanted it to have some presence. Yesterday I had a little idea, and enjoyed trying it out.

I wanted just a band of copper around the top of the pendant. I made a pattern with some cardboard from a Mary's Gone Crackers box--just cut a strip that looked like about the width I wanted, laid it across the top of the pendant where the holes were, folded it around, marked the ends against the pendant edges with a pencil, trimmed it up, and then felt for and marked the holes with a big sewing needle.

I used this to cut out my copper strip and punch the holes. (Of course, I forgot it would get bigger when I textured it with my coin and hammer, but that all worked out anyway.)

I annealed, textured, and annealed again (and there was some pickling and antiquing and polishing, etc.). It was nice and soft when I folded it around the pendant. I threaded some 18-gauge wire through the holes and created wrapped loops on either side.

I burnished down the edges with my burnisher. It reached around the back a little too (it got longer when I hammered it), so I smoothed that down with my burnisher.

It was looking kind of medieval/Renaissance-y to me, so I decided to stay with that. I found two matching (hey! cool!) textured rings in my stash, and created some textured bars with hammered ball ends. (I am loving liver of sulfur gel so much, by the way, I would almost marry it, but it's not legal in my state to marry a bottle of toxic gel.) I added a couple little rhodonite rounds, and finished it off with lots of chain.

It's about 28.5" long--I pictured it with a long medieval-style tunic. Like with maybe leggings and suede thigh boots. Like if Lisbeth Salander went to a Ren Faire.

Somebody should have given Ms. Shalott a bunch of beads and some string and wire and stuff. She'd have been like, "Lancelot who?"