This one started as a mistake.
I strung a strand of tiger's eye, black onyx, and brown pearls with gold-tone rounds running through it, and when I finished and held it up, it was too short. Fourteen inches. Not a choker, not a necklace, just wrong. That happens more than I'd like to admit.
So I started over. I made a second strand, intentionally longer this time, 28 inches, with its own bead order. The plan for the short one was simple: take it apart and reuse the beads. Nothing wasted.
It was sitting there next to the long strand, about to be dismantled, and I held the two together. That was it. Instead of pulling it apart, I attached it to the long necklace as a drop, hanging below the main strand. It turned out so much nicer than either strand alone that I kept it exactly as it happened.
A word on the materials, since I'd rather be plain about it. The tiger's eye is real, and every bead catches light at its own angle, which is why the strand shifts as you move. The onyx is real. The brown pearls are faux. They're there because that soft satin brown sits between the hard shine of the onyx and the banded amber of the tiger's eye better than anything else I tried. Real pearls would have been whiter and colder. These are warm.
The earrings came last, stacked in the same bead order as the strands so the set reads as one idea. The ear hooks, the clasp, and the hardware joining the strands are all gold plated.
Some of the best pieces come out of the ones that went wrong. This is one of those.
See the Tiger's Eye, Onyx & Brown Pearl Two-Strand Necklace & Earring Set →