How to get more styles from your eNVe 50-inch Wrap necklaces!

Add a couple loose knots to the eNVe 50-inch Wrap Necklace and Voila!

As I was taking photos of one of my 50-inch Wrap necklaces to list in the shop, I stumbled upon a couple more quick and easy ways you can really add some edge and even more variation to how you style this classic piece of jewelry!

I wonder if I'm the only one to get excited about things like this, but I really do!  As I am with clothing in my wardrobe, I like to mix things up as often as possible because I get bored of wearing the same outfits and the same jewelry in the same configurations all the time.  This may be a little nutty of me, but throughout middle school and high school, I actually had a calendar where I wrote down what I wore every day just so I don't repeat the same outfit for at least a month.  I didn't have a lot of clothes so this was a fun challenge for me.  (Please tell me someone else out there did this too.. if you must, just lie to me so I don't feel like a super dork).  Obviously more important things in life took over and I let go of this ridiculous calendar, but my natural inclinations are still there--it's just no longer at a clinical level.  ;)  Anyway, that just explains why things like this make me happy.

If you own one of my 50-inch necklaces or are familiar with them, they're quite simple really.. just a single strand of beads (either strung or wire wrapped) that is 50 inches in length, closed with a toggle clasp.  Obviously this was not something I invented.  Extra long necklaces have been around for ages.  Before I began designing jewelry, I had several extra long necklaces in my personal collection.  I loved them and appreciated the versatility, but still felt limited in how I could wear them.  Many of them didn't even have a clasp to open and close, just one continuous strand that I had to pull over my head.  I finally decided to make my own, adding a toggle clasp and an extra 20 inches to the typical opera necklace length (which is usually around 28 to 34 inches), just to maximize the versatility.  This style is seriously a staple for me in my personal wardrobe.

Here's a sampling of how I would typically wear this necklace.

Another favorite way to wear is as a multi-strand bracelet.

Then I began playing with it a bit more just to see if I could come up with any other ways to wear it, I realized that with a couple of loose knots, I could change the look dramatically.  Here are a few versions:

CAVEAT:  Before I start, I just want to caution that if you're working with a strand of beads strung on a single wire or thread, be mindful of the tension in the necklace while you're looping and knotting it.  You don't want to force anything while doing this because the necklace may break under too much tension and you'll have a pile of beads to sweep up.  The size of the beads on your necklace will influence how much "give" your necklace will have (the smaller and rounder the beads, the more flexibility you'll have).  If you're working with a knotted strand of pearls or a necklace with individually wire wrapped beads, you don't really have to worry about this tension issue.  (And if you're trying this tutorial with an eNVe 50-inch wrap necklace and you happen to break it, I'm happy to restring it for you for free).  :)

The Series Knots

1)  Open the toggle clasp so the necklace is one long strand.  Find the center of the necklace and place it around the back of your neck so the toggle is open and in front of you.

2 times over and under, creating the first loose loop in the series

 2)  Take the open ends of the necklace and cross them in front of you, weaving one end over and under the other end (just like when you start to tie your shoelace).  Repeat 2 more times (so 3 times total).  You'll now have a vertical series of 2 loose knots, with the open ends of the necklace below that.

3)  Take the ends of the necklace and bring them up behind your neck and close the toggle.  You'll instantly have this look below.

 
4)  Or you can continue to add another over-and-under weave to get another loose knot in your series...

 ...bring the ends up and behind your neck to close the clasp...

...and you'll have something that looks like this...

 

The Side Knots

1)  Open the toggle clasp so the necklace is one long strand.  Find the center of the necklace and place it around the back of your neck so the toggle is open and in front of you.

2)  Loosely knot each side once.  Make sure the knots are asymmetrical so they don't overlap later.

3)  Cross the open ends of the necklace in front of you, bringing them up and behind your neck to close the clasp. 

You could probably make multiple knots on each side (if the tension in your necklace allows), for a shorter, chunkier look.

The Random Knots

1)  Open the toggle clasp so the necklace is one long strand.  Find the center of the necklace and place it around the back of your neck so the toggle is open and in front of you.

2)  Cross the open ends of the necklace and begin looping over and under.  For this look, I just randomly twisted and knotted, following what the tension of the necklace would allow.

2)  Once finished with the knots, pull the open ends up and behind your neck to close the clasp.

3)  When the necklace is clasped closed, you can still make some adjustments to your "focal" by gently pulling and tucking the strand into your desired positioning.

And there you have it.  Have fun with it and let me know if you try any of these styles or have discovered some of your own!  I'm always up for expanding my versatility arsenal! 

Have you tried some "out of the box" ways to wear your jewelry?  What have you discovered?

Demystifying the eNVe Wrap and Thread Necklace

 
You know, sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own brain that I forget that others may not share my perspective or view things with my personal frame of reference.  My Wrap and Thread necklace design is a fitting example of this.  While doing my first shows the past couple months and getting to meet customers in person, I was really surprised by how many intrigued and perplexed looks I saw on people while they browsed my Wrap and Thread necklaces.

 
Frequent questions included, "so what is this?"... "how does this work?"... "where's the clasp?"... "how do I close the necklace?".  It did help when I displayed photos of various necklaces worn several different ways along with a brief written description, but more often than not, I was asked to demonstrate how to create the different looks, like the styles below.

 

 
[For those of you reading this who are not familiar with my Wrap and Thread Necklace design, it's a long, open-ended strand of gems and chain interspersed with at least one link along the strand.  There's no closing clasp so you wear it by wrapping it around or doubling it up, and threading the end through the link, which you place in front (like a lariat necklace).  My original Wrap and Thread designs included one or two links, but have now evolved to include designs with up to 5 links, some with handmade toggle-like closures, as well as double-stranded styles.  The more links there are in the necklace, the more styles you can create.]  

I'm really happy that everyone spoke up because it was definitely a lot of fun getting to share with folks how this design came to be and showing them how super simple it really is to change up the looks!  And if people didn't ask me, I wouldn't have had this realization.  Even after my demo and explanation, some people joked that they would still need a written tutorial to remember how to wear it.  It never really occurred to me to write a tutorial because it isn't a complicated design, and I thought having a few photos of the different ways to wear it would be explanatory enough.  But after those shows, I had an epiphany.  Wearing this necklace is intuitive to me, but that's because it's my brain child and I've been experimenting with it for years!  Since the inception of this idea about 5 years ago, it's been in my mind and on paper in so many different iterations.  And I've thought about it so much, have done so many revisions on the design, and have taken hundreds of photos of all my different Wrap and Thread necklaces that creating the various looks with one necklace is second nature for me.  Obviously, this may not be the case for most people browsing my jewelry.  Sorry for the momentary lapse of clarity, everyone.  I'm happy to announce that I finally got a clue.  :)

So for the next few installments on my blog, I'll highlight the different Wrap and Thread styles I've come up with so far, and maybe include with each post a tutorial on how to create several key looks.  Do you think a tutorial would be helpful at all?  I'd love to hear your opinions on this!