Chandelier Necklace

This is the dining room that I saw the day our house went on to the market back in 2003. We had been searching for a house for 2 1/2 years, a long process because of the specific requirements that had to be met to suit our family. In spite of some shortcomings, I recognized that this house could work and an offer was made within hours of my visit. One of the things that I never liked about this room was the ceiling-mounted light fixture which is barely visible in this photo. It lacked character and cast an unappealing pattern of light. Of course, this fixture stayed in our dining room for almost 5 years- one just learns to live with certain things.

When I search for jewelry-making materials in thrift shops, I sometimes find other interesting items. Such was the case a few years ago when I saw something tucked under a table at the local church 'White Elephant' shop. I was thrilled to find a wonderful wrought iron and brass chandelier with all the necessary components and very reasonably priced at $30.00. The sweet ladies who run the shop could not believe that I would consider installing this old 'monstrosity' in my home.

I think it looks wonderful!

The pattern of light that shines through the intricately scrolled brass globes is lovely.

In order to transition from the old fixture to my new-old chandelier, I called the local, friendly electrician who has done other work in our house. To establish a proper height for the chandelier, some of the links had to be removed from the chain. When the work was completed, the electrician had kindly put all of the garbage in a box and set it outside with the rest of my trash. I saw the links set out as garbage and realized they needed to be salvaged, thinking that they could be cleaned up and eventually be used in a project.

It took a few years, but I finally cleaned one of the links with fine sandpaper, revealing a beautiful pattern. The link became the pendant for a new necklace. Because of the rustic look of the link, I used annealed steel for my wire wrapping.

A Sacred Heart medal, also a thrift store find, hangs from the bottom of the link.

Segments of chain are wire wrapped with pearls, citrine, amethyst, serpentine and crystal.

The clasp is made with a disc that I cut from an etched platter and a connector also made with the annealed steel.

Want to know how to make a clasp like this?

I'll show how in my upcoming wire wrapping class at the Community Arts Center!