Structural integrity

It's an ugly truth: a necklace must hold up its pendant. Sagging and stretching are not attractive. Digging into the back of the neck is not comfortable. A piece of jewelry must have structural integrity in order to be attractive and wearable.

Sometimes structural integrity is built into the design, and sometimes it is imposed later. This necklace is one that I'm having to shore up. Crystals en masse are heavy; heavier than I thought, actually. When I put the pendant on my necklace I realized at once that it was just too heavy.

Oddly enough, it's gorgeous that way. It doesn't look too heavy, but it weighs too much. So I had three options.

1. Make the pendant smaller.
2. Make the necklace chain larger.
3. Make the necklace chain stronger.

I like the way it looks; it has an air of defying gravity that is magical, but not uncomfortable. So, no choice, really; I have to make the chain stronger. Now, there are definitely harder things than forcing flexible beading wire through seed beads that have already been strung into a pattern. I've done harder things. But this ranks right up there. It's going to take awhile.

But when I'm done, it will defy gravity.