'Frankenstein' Jewellery

While cleaning my room, I came across some flyers I’d picked up at London Fashion Week this spring. Amongst them I found the postcard from a jewelry stall entitled Little Class Clementine. 

Clementine James is unlike most jewelers today. Her approach; she takes on commissions from clients who bring in a collection of items they consider precious (lockets, antiques, stones, chains etc.) and creates amazing necklaces from them! Looking through her website I loved her work-how each piece is so unique, and almost nostalgic that a necklace can hold so many precious memories for a wearer. It reflects my own personal styling, how I choose a certain piece then base the rest of the outfit to support and highlight it.

I’m really intrigued by this ‘Frankenstein’ approach, taking bits and pieces from different things and making something new out of them. So I thought I’d take a stab at it. Yes, I know, I have zero experience at any jewelry behind my elastic bands with beads on them from when I was five.

I scoured my boxes of jewelry-any pendants, beads, chains, anything I genuinely have always like-a locket from my best friend growing up, some interesting pendants from Portobello Market, stuff I’ve always said I’d wear, but haven’t.

I took the thick gold chain from my ‘Alice’ necklace, that I love but honestly always been annoyed at how much it jangles, and used it as a basis. There’s a cool charm bracelet that my sister handed down to me, that again, whenever I wear it becomes so distracting! Not very daring, attaching the bracelet at the centre on the chain, but it sure made a great jump start into the project. From then, I began binding the two chains together with framing wire. Once the charm bracelet was attached, I added the rest-lockets, a plastic crystal my grandmother used to wrap a gift once, anything that went with the color scheme. I tried using Clementine’s technique of winding wire around little shells and stones, but they didn’t hold.

Here’s my final result-and I gotta say, for a first jewelry project, it’s not half bad! I was glad to stick with a gold tone, to give it a more antique looking, and the shades of the various pieces go great together! I think I may have some ideas for what I’m going to be giving my sisters for Christmas...