An Unusual Necklace

Can't believe it's a week since I last posted; the days are just flying by and, frustratingly, I've not had a lot of time to sneak off into my "craft room" (AKA the spare room) to do much art ..... and as for the speed Christmas is approaching, I daren't even think about that ...... I'm really not organised at all (I think I get less organised every year)!

Anyhow, it's an early start in the morning for me as I'm off to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Harrogate with a friend - the coach picks us up from the centre of town at 8.15am.  I've not been to many shows this year, but this one has to be one of my favourites - there are so many stands to visit (and spend money at) as well as lots of interesting exhibitions.  It's quite a challenge to get round it all and have a good look at everything before it's time to catch the coach home again.  I've got a sort of list to take with me of a few bits and pieces that I'd like to buy, but if I'm true to form, I won't stick to it at all and will end up buying something entirely different! 

I plan to wear this piece of jewellery tomorrow and I wonder if any of you know what the centre piece is made of (or maybe you've seen it before ...... I was commissioned to create a necklace using this unusual "cabochon" by the UK "Bead" magazine a year or two back).  The colours weren't ones I normally would have selected to use together - the bright reds and blues - but I had some large dyed fossil beads in these colours in my stash and they were perfect for what I envisaged.  Part of the necklace was created using Zulu Stitch and the cabochon was embellished with clusters of pearly shells.  The necklace is reversible as the patterning on the cabochon is different on either side.

Well, did you guess yet?

Can you believe that it's actually made of CAR PAINT?  It's called Fordite (of course, what else?!) and was only available in limited quantities.  Apparently, it's composed of layers of car paint retrieved from an old car manufacturing site which were compressed together to create these amazing swirly patterns.  It's also a very light material so extremely comfortable to wear.

Finally, if any of you are interested in creating chunky books and want to learn a little more about the process, then pop over to Treez Malyon's blog where she's running a very thorough tutorial on a Marie Antoinette book she's creating.  It's very inspiring and might whet your appetite for having a go at making one yourself in the New Year!