Bee & Button Flower Necklace ~ Vintage Inspirations

 

I found a wonderful seller at the recent Art & Soul Vendor’s Fair in Portland, Oregon.  I bought a few brass bees and frogs from them.  I already had a lot of vintage gold metal and wonderful brown plastic floral vintage buttons that I wanted to use.  The combo was irresistable.  I knew I had to make a necklace using these components.

 

I wanted to give you a (very) small window into the design process for one of my recycle, reuse, recycle pieces of  jewelry.  Before I every pick up a tool, wire or connectors, I begin by selecting pieces I think go well together.

I have a lot of vintage buttons.  I was particular fond of the little brown floral buttons toward the bottom of the screen.  I knew I wanted to use all of the large gold metal buttons with the floral motif.  Because I had 3 of them I decided to put one in the center and the other two over to the side.

 

I tried several arrangements of the buttons.  Above you can see one arrangement.  Once I’ve sort of decided on an arrangement, I have to decide how to connect all the pieces together.  It isn’t uncommon for me to start connecting components only to decide I don’t like the connections.  Also, I often change my mind on the arrangement as I put the necklace together.

 

Once I finished my wire-wrapped chain of buttons, I decided that the arrangement of the bee and flowers at the end of the necklace needed to be simplified.  I spent several hours deciding exactly how to hang the bee before drilling holes to connect the brass bee to the button flower.

 

Until I put the necklace on a mannequin, I really don’t have any idea how long the necklace will be or how the ends will be connected.  When I finished my wire-wrap and my bee pendant, I decided I wanted to use a bit of leather at the back of the necklace.  I think leather is more comfortable on the back of the neck than chain or wire.  I chose to use a simple lobster clasp as a closure.

 

Betsy looks mighty fine in my newest creation.  I love that little brass bee and I’m so happy to find a wonderful use for my vintage metal and plastic buttons.