Custom Anniversary Necklace

This was a secret, but it's not a secret anymore, so I guess I can share it.

One day I got an email from a man who was looking for copper jewelry for his wife.  Their 7th anniversary was coming up, and it is the copper anniversary.  He wanted to buy her something special and said he was impressed with some of my pieces that he saw online.  He is a westerner who lives in China, and his wife is Chinese.

So I asked him a few questions about his wife regarding her tastes in jewelry and also how sensitive her skin is, because some people are allergic to copper.  We discussed a bracelet that he liked, but then I asked him if his wife wore bracelets, and he said actually she doesn't.  She does wear a lot of earrings, so he sent me a picture of her earring rack.  Here is the picture he sent me:

Notice anything about her taste in jewelry?  Here's what I noticed:  She doesn't like things that are too big, but she doesn't like them super dainty either.  She likes things that are feminine, round and dramatic.  She also likes dangle and movement.

He decided on a necklace and earrings.  We wanted the piece to have meaning.  We decided it also needed to have some dangles and roundness to it.  We decided the focal piece would be a circle with the names of their two children on it, and two dangling crystals in the colors of their (western) birthstones.  Here is the focal piece:

I have added a blue-green patina because I thought it needed some color.

It is reversible, so if she doesn't want her children's names showing, she can turn it around the other way.

We added three dangles, for a total of seven, to represent the seven years.  There is a Chinese character on each side, fortune on her right and happiness on her left, with a floral/heart design on either side of those.

Here are the dangly earrings.  They both say "love" on them, and also have the birthstone color crystals.

The ear wires look like copper, but they are actually niobium.  It is much more hypoallergenic than copper.

In the background you can see the handmade spiral clasp.  Again, this is a repetition of the round theme carried throughout the design.

Here is the whole necklace shown with the earings.  We discussed doing copper chain, but he thought she would prefer beads, and then we also don't have to worry about an allergic reaction.

Here is what the necklace looks like if she decides to wear it in reverse.

My customer let me know that his wife liked the jewelry, and I think he was very happy with the fact that he could be involved in the design process every step of the way!

If you are interested in a custom design, you can view some of my work currently listed for at my Artfire studio, or contact me by email at shanghai_tai@yahoo.com.