What is a Friendship necklace, you may wonder? It must be about friends and friendship if it is anything like a friendship bracelet. If that is what you thought, then you are absolutely right. By the way, unlike a friendship bracelet (a bracelet exchanged on friendship day in August each year), there is no such thing as a friendship necklace. But it should exist, and here’s why.
A Friendship necklace could be
- A necklace that symbolises friendship.
- A word necklace with the word “Friend” written (engraved, embossed, cast, written with wire or paint and covered in resin).
- A necklace bought together and shared by friends.
- A necklace (in full or in parts) made jointly or individually by friends as a gift for each other.
That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? It did to me. Therefore, I went ahead and made one, along with Kim.
Cheers to friends that blogging and social media bring
In my fifteen years of blogging, I have befriended several folks (online) who are associated with jewellery in some way. The list includes makers, buyers, distributors and sellers, those who sell supplies, innovators, researchers, academicians, bloggers, influencers and several jewellery enthusiasts. I have had the good fortune to meet many in real life, work with them, and even visit them in faraway lands. I am grateful for it.
In 2021, when I participated in New York City Jewelry week for the first time, I was able to show my work to a new circle of people. Several people wrote to me to appreciate my work. However, one person, continued the dialogue with me, introducing my work to her friends and constantly motivated me. Cut to the NYCJW 22, she once again became my chief motivator and slowly my friend. That person is Kim.
Kim Kreutzberg is a (mostly) self-taught metalsmith from Cornwall, New York. She makes jewellery in silver and sets the most luscious gemstone cabochons in bezels. You can see some of her jewellery here. She has a draw full of dies used in metal jewellery and adores Indian jewellery. On her request, I sourced vintage Indian jewellery for her from various sources and learnt more about vintage jewellery in that process. Find Kim Kreutzberg on Instagram here.
An unexpected (bead) swap
During one of our Instagram DM conversations, Kim told me that she wanted patterned vintage tiles from India. I did not have immediate access to them. However, I did have a four colourful mini Jaipur tiles that were two inches big. I had bought them at an exhibition in 2018 with the intention of making jewellery with them. They remained unused as I did not know how to used them and they were heavy. Since they were sitting in my cupboard and gathering dust, I gifted them to Kim. A few months later, she told me that she had a small gift for me.
It was a collection of seed bead strands in pale green, turquoise and dark blue. It came along with an original Kim Kreutzberg pendant that was set with one of the tiles that I had sent her. My gosh! it was beautiful.
A fun gift
Though my parents sat that it is impossible to give me a gift that I would like, I loved this gift. It combined my love for jewellery making while challenging me to use unfamiliar materials and shapes. One of the tiles had cracked in transit and Kim cut it up further to make me this pendant. It was long and different from any other pendant that I have ever used in the past. Stringing seed beads was a challenge as well as I am not used to their tiny size. I added more seed beads in yellow and red from my stash making a multi stranded necklace. Since I knew that I was going to keep this Friendship necklace and not sell it, I used a connector at the back instead of a clasp.
That is how the Friendship necklace was born out of friendship and was collectively made by both of us. I thoroughly enjoyed making and wearing it and I cannot thank Kim enough. It made me miss bead swaps of the past.
I have signed up for the Bead Peeps Swap and Hop 2023 and have been partnered with the host, Linda Anderson. She is the founder of Cherry on Top Design and blogs at the Bead board. I hope that swap will be fun too.
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
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