Peacock Brass and Crystal Neclace

I've become a bit obsessed with peacock feathers lately, and love using the colors and patterns in jewelry and other projects.  If you follow my blog, I can guarantee this will not be the last time you see this theme.  This peacock feather inspired necklace brings the sparkling shine of Connie Crystals together with rustic brass for a versatile, trendy look.














I started by embossing the feather shaped pieces from Vintaj in my Sizzix Big Shot.  Then brought up the shine by buffing them with the buffing block.

The crystals are aqua octagon crystals from Connie Crystal.  They were attached by running an antique brass colored eye pin through and then bending it up so the the eye was about 1/8" above the crystal.  The long, straight end was then wrapped tightly around the shaft below the eye and the excess trimmed off.  It is important to use Connie Crystals for this because of the pressure this step puts on the crystal.  This is a weak area of the crystal because it is a thin section and there is already a hole there.  Inferior crystals will crack or break with the pressure of bending the eye pin.  Connie Crystals are as strong as they are dazzling, so they can handle the pressure!

The crystals and feathers were then attached with a brass jump ring.  I like to use split rings for security.  They are a little more tedious to get attached, but they will never come open and let your charms fall off.  I created a "Y" shape in the chain by taking a small section of chain and attaching it so that it hung vertically.  The chain I used was an "eyelet" chain that has "figure 8" connectors between the eyelets.  These figure 8 pieces are really easy to open and close so it is easy to move sections around and re-attach them.  The three feather/crystal sections were then attached so that the crystal hangs in front of the feather.