An hour into a 15-minute job to make a lariat belt into a necklace for Caroline at my office reminded me why I gave up jewelry making after a few years. It really is tiny, tedious work! One definitely needs octopi for this craft also. And, I understand why jewelers wear those gigantic headlights. I used to be able to do this without my glasses, but I couldn't see anything this time.
After finding my reading glasses, I shortened what was once a belt that would have gone around Caroline twice into about an 18-inch necklace. I took the pendant part off of the belt, removed some of the findings (it was super long), and put it back together.
That's when I realized I forgot to string it into the middle of the necklace. So, I thought I'd take the easy way out and add it via jump ring. I managed to do that, but in fiddling around I nicked the main string. It would have held, it was 12-pound test weight and Caroline barely weighs 12 pounds herself (size O). But, I got all done and thought, "no, this is not satisfactory. I would not wear this."
So I unstrung the whole thing, cut off the crimp beads and the clasp and started over. From scratch. Happy Necklace, Caroline. I'm starting to like it for myself.
