fell in love with old beads / made them feel new; a short story
I found this strand of wooden beads while shopping one of my favorite antique spots in western Maine — one that my sister and I have been going to since high school, and that we still step into multiple times a year when we’re together in our hometown. I’ve found some beautiful sterling necklaces there over the past few years, and I love returning to their space again and again because it’s simply so fun to pick through, looking for that perfect vintage piece, fit to wear at this moment in time.
My sterling silver summer definitely has me feeling elemental, grounded, and in touch with earthly materials. The wooden beads were one of few earthbound pieces in the mix — with their varying natural wood tones, strung on a chocolate colored cotton cord, they stood out against the many (fabulous) costume pieces that make up their regular collection.
Roughly knotted in the back, the strand was long enough to slip over my head, but my vision was for a shorter, collar style necklace with fewer beads. Something to sit at the throat, channeling a soft statement energy.
To bring the vision to life I needed a few outside materials. There’d be no way to make the knot-method work on a choker-length necklace, so I referenced a cord-based collar necklace I’d seen on merci c’est vintage to get a sense of what hardware might be ideal.
My jewelry vision-quest was, once again, pulled off with the help of Caravan Beads in Portland. It’s where I went when I made my baroque pearl shoe charm, and I remembered they had many different types of clasps available. With my necklace in tote, and screenshot in hand, I was able to get their help in finding just the right elements for my alterations. They were so helpful in their recommendations, and they even tested the vintage cord material to see what it was made of — the method was burning the tip to see if the fibers would melt together. Synthetic materials will melt, natural fibers will not — this is how they determined it was most likely a cotton cord!
Destringing the beads was actually a really easy process. The whole thing may have taken me an hour — and only that long because I accidentally grabbed an incorrectly sized enclosure and had to really work to get the cotton cord into the setting.
The final result is exactly what I envisioned, with the beads sitting right at the hollow of the throat.
Layered with my vintage jasper beads, they give the perfect gentle, sunswept, bohemian energy I was looking for.
This project gave me confidence to reimagine a decades-old piece into something modernized and fit for my style. I’ve been doing this with vintage clothing, art, furniture, etc for years, but jewelry has been outside my comfort zone. And while this rework was super low lift, it’s still an empowering feeling to have confidence — and amazing resources [hi Caravan!] to revive second-hand jewelry. I’m super inspired to find more pieces with good bones, so there may just be more to share in this series as the summer goes on!
Yours in many beads,
Georgia
The bead makeover is fabulous! Having seen the "original" necklace, I can truly say the results of restringing the beads is remarkable. Perhaps the leftover beads could be made into earrings - not to be worn at the same time as the necklace, but as a different look. The colors of those beads is so warm (sigh)