Soft Fiber Necklaces

Silk is so much fun to dye, but every now and again i have a piece that just doesn;t turn out as i hoped.  Either the dye bleeds and muttles together, or the silk fiber just does not receive the dye evenly.  So i have a small collection of my “out-takes” and have been trying to consider what to use them for.  After a lot of research and a bit of trial and error I have been working on a new line of necklaces that utilize the silk in an artful, purposeful way.  So here goes:

This is a soft sculptured necklace made from deep midnight blue strips of silk, seafoam blue alpaca roving, textured eyelash yarn in shades of caramel and celery, and several vintage beads, including a blue stone carved into a little elephant.  Whimsical, soft, and would definitely add to any outfit.

Our company logo is the sunflower – so i could not resist trying my hand at a boho look sunflower soft sculpture necklace.  This one featuring outtakes of a silk scarf in tones of yellows, chartreause and a buttery sweet potato orange.  Accented with czech glass, vintage 60s lucite beads and a few green glass pearls. It is a one of a kind that would look great with a plain dress or t-shirt and jeans.

 I had to go with an animal print soft sculpture that features a leopard print cotton cut into strips, and woven with off white sari silk, golden potato freshwater pearls, shell, and vintage czech glass faceted beads.

Bohemian inspiration, soft sculpture, lots of textures…. the inspiration for this piece was an old photo of an aunt who loved to wear off white, and accent it with colors.  I had strips of sari silk that were shades of off white, and were each quite pretty, but alone they were not enough to make the necklace pop.  Fringe of a vintage cotton yarn in a light celery, addition of specialty yarn that also echoed the celery green, but added a light caramel beige, czech glass leaves and old vintage green beads, 60s Lucite beige beads and a few golden potato freshwater pearls make it a one of a kind.

And i am working on using silk more in its pure form…. I had a piece of silk that i had planned to be deep eggplant with hints of chartreuse, but the silk processed to look washed out. Its very soft, with striations of deeper violet and drifts of a washed out chartreuse.  So i wanted to use it in a way that would make it a scarf but with a hint of bling… Sewing small tufted flowers and accenting with czech glass and lucite flowers seemed to make this one unique.

But from another piece of the silk I formed a necklace on wire frame.The same “yo-yo” forms were sewed onto a wire crochet form, and accented with seed beads.  The moment i posted this piece on facebook it sold.  I think it was the colors… the deeper violet pieces of silk really stand out, and the golden and purple czech beads accent it delightfully.  It was finished with a chain to drape around the neck.

I am working on a series of soft sculptured necklaces and scarves with purpose… more photos as i complete more of the projects.  But i would like to know what you think of these.  They are currently in the Spring Sense of Wonder show at the Log Cabin Gallery in Peninsula…. a wonderful place to visit, and such fun.  The gallery event is only through May 31st.  Steve and I will be there on Saturday, May 23rd if you wish to stop out.  Otherwise click the picture below to visit the log cabin gallery website.