The Tartuffo necklace...

This one has been inspired by food. The taste of black truffles. Italy again, up in the North this time. I think the colours try to convey a certain subterranean, underground quality that we associate to the truffles, or "black gold"...

For Tartuffo I used:

- 1 black and purple lampwork (paperweight style) pendant, probably Chinese;
- Under it, 3 or 4 small Czech seed beads to hold it in place and make a smoother curve;
- Small chrysocolla beads;
- Bigger dark amethyst beads;
- Tibetan silver spacers and clasp;
- Czech silver-lined bugles and opalescent beads in various shapes;
- Czech fire faceted beads;
- Swarovski bicones as accent beads.

As for the chrysocolla beads, I am not sure if they are 100% natural or man-treated, ie, dyed. They have for sure a nice purple colour (not entirely discernible in the shots, I'm afraid), but the texture is kind of rough. I have some green and blue ones in my stock here and, although they look beautiful, I don't quite like their texture, very heavy and harsh.

Some close-ups:


At the left you can see the lampwork pendant in detail, along with some tiny silver balls, lantern-shaped Tibetan spacer and two Czech fire faceted beads. In the right, a close-up of the seed beads used under the pendant. You can also see one of the chrysocolla purple beads.


Details of the Czech beads, Swarovski crystals and various Tibetan silver spacers.


The big amethyst beads, silver spacers and two of the chrysocolla beads. Also, the clasp, one of the accent Czech fire beads and silver-lined bugles.