I love rooting for the underdog, including broken/clearance items needing help to reach their destiny, like with this bespoke necklace and earrings set. In some cases, like this one, it takes a few years for that destiny to reveal itself.
This bespoke necklace and earrings set is made from part of a Monsoon Albany necklace (€0.50, circa 2015), a pair of Accessorize earrings (€1, circa 2015), and a pair of Penneys/Primark earrings (€2, circa 2016). The retail price for the Monsoon Albany necklace was €39, but there were five in a huge tangled mess so they priced each necklace at €0.50. I’m not joking. I never joke about sale prices. I only used one clasp and two strands of brass chain for this bespoke set. The Accessorize earrings were a pair I bought in 2015 that I poached for parts, and left the lever back hooks for another day. The Penneys/Primark earrings had the retail price of €4, but was on clearance for 50% off. The cost of my making this bespoke necklace and earrings set was €3.50.
Now, let’s see if it’s worth it.
Here are before photos of the elements I used to make the set. I used two brass chain strands and the clasp from the Monsoon necklace, one pair of golden level back earrings from Accessorize, and the bead segments from the Penneys/Primark tassel earrings (I’ll use the tassels for something else in the future).
I took out my trusty bent-nosed pliers and took to dismantling the pieces so I isolated the elements I wanted to include. I was VERY careful not to put any pressure on the glass beads.
Then I spread the items out to see what design I wanted to create with the bits and pieces.
I played around with the order to see if I wanted the peach bead or the tiny navy bead to be the centre of the necklace.
The brass chain from Monsoon goes perfectly with the brass elements of the Penneys/Primark earrings!
Finally, the order is determined and I piece it all together.
In the end, the peach won that special spot. The second spare peach bead was added to the extension chain on the clasp.
I really like the look of the odd color out being entered for impact. I honestly do not own or wear peach anything, but wear a lot of blue, so this will be a nice piece.
Meanwhile, I had added the two dangling bead segments from the earrings onto new lever back posts.
I really like the length!
The earrings are delicate with a little drop to them, which is perfectly my style.
One final look at the set.
What do you think? Was it worth the €3.50 I spent on the elements to make this bespoke necklace and earrings set? And was it worth the two years of collecting them?
Project Summary:
Parts: Chain and clasp from Monsoon. Bead segments from Primark. Earring lever backs from Accessorize. All bought in 2015.
Tools: Bent nose pliers from craft store.
Oh Evin these turned out so well. I have all the pliers for beadwork but never thought of using them outside of making stitch markers! How silly is that!!
Thank you so much, Nadia! I really find it relaxing to take parts and make them whole, especially when there is a beautiful result. But you reminded me, I need to make stitch markers again!