Jewelry Makeover - Episode 2 - The Hawkeye Necklace

This is the second in my series of taking old jewelry 'mistakes' and remaking them. These items include jewelry I made when I was first starting to bead, 9 years ago, or things that have simply been in many, many shows, or items that scream "What were you thinking?"

To see the first in the series click here.

The article is for my 'Hawkeye Necklace'. I live in Iowa where we love our gold and black Iowa Hawkeye sports teams. I was looking for something that  Hawkeye fans would like. Since this has been in show after show, and marked down multiple times, I obviously missed the mark.

Here is the before photo:

This was a mix of gold and black beads with a 'gold turquoise' donut pendant on black leather.

I cut the necklace apart and made the following necklace and earring set. I have the black beads and two of the orange rectangle beads left over.

The chain is natural brass and is nice and long - about 24.5". Perfect with a light sweater or turtleneck.  The earrings are also natural brass and use the matching crackle glass beads.

Here's another view of the necklace.

Hopefully you'll agree with me that the new design is better - but I would appreciate your comments either way.
If you enjoy these before and after articles please consider sharing my blog on twitter, facebook etc. I look forward to your comments.

Update as of November 16, 2011: This item sold at the first show it was displayed at -so the makeover was a success!

Jewelry Makeover - Episode 1 - The Bauble Choker

Every designer has it, a pile of jewelry that has been around forever and just doesn't sell, no matter how much you mark it down. After a while (years) you start to think - what was I thinking when I made this and what am I going to do with it now?

For some reason it's hard to take any piece, no matter how uninspired, and cut it apart. This series will show how I've taken some of my past 'mistakes' and try to remake them into something a little more desirable.

The first in this series is this choker necklace that I made a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away).  The idea was OK - I wanted a choker that might appeal to a younger audience.  The main problem is that the necklace would barely fit Barbie, let alone a customer. And yet out on the table it went, over and over.  Finally it got moved to the "forget this" bucket.

So, out the cutters came and I made them into two pair of funky silver earrings. I'm hoping these have slightly more appeal...

As of today they are available in my Etsy store. Click here to see the listing.