Grandma's Platter Necklace

When I go thrift store hunting for jewelry making materials, I am always looking for old metal platters that might have interesting textures and patterns.
I was so pleased to find this silver plated platter with a lovely embossed floral/ribbon pattern around the circumference for the price of $1.25.

Before I even left the thrift shop, I knew that I would be cutting out each embossed design for use in various projects.
With a total of twelve separate embossed patterns, it was easy to conclude that the $1.25 would be worth the investment.

I used my jeweler's saw to cut out one of the patterns.

I kept my saw lines close to the embossed pattern so that my finished cutout would have an interesting shape. All cut edges were then filed and sanded.

Using my new cutout as a pattern, I cut a slightly larger piece of brass that has an etched pattern on one side. After filing and sanding the edges of the brass cutout, the two pieces were riveted together and a hole was drilled into the top.

This platter struck me as something that one of my grandmothers might have used years ago and I thought it would be appropriate to pay homage to that generation.
Searching through one of my vintage books, I found a photo of a woman sitting on the porch of what appeared to be an Appalachian cabin. She was surrounded by her grown sons.
While she's clearly from a time period that predates my grandmothers, I liked the mood of the photo and thought that this woman represents all grandmothers.
Her picture was set with epoxy resin in a bezel that I had riveted onto my layered piece.

Before I had riveted my layers, I treated the brass to develop a patina.
A disc cut from another of my platters helps to create interest at the rivet point.
A sterling wire wrapped connection featuring a Swarovski pearl joins the pendant to the chain of the necklace.

A hand made clasp was made with 18 gauge sterling wire.

The rest of the necklace is made with sterling chain, hand textured sterling discs and sterling wire wrapped Swarovski pearls, Swarovski crystals, quartz, citrine, prehnite, and amethyst.