Prosperity Fish Necklace by Manya Vee

Many of you already know I taught English in Asia for close to 8 years back in the late 80s and early 90s, spending time in China, Taiwan, Japan, and Indonesia, and also traveling to many other Asian countries.  It was there I fell in love with the miniature sculpture of beads - handpainted porcelain, carved stones, antique and contemporary silver, etc.  I taught myself how to put necklaces and earrings together, and voila!  An artist was born.

Naturally I was greatly influenced by the designs I encountered there as well.  I collected a lot of unusual components there.  I part with them slowly over time, creating unusual one-of-a-kind necklaces jam packed with interesting beads with their own history and meaning.  Here's my latest piece, just completed a couple days ago.

 

The pendant is hand-carved stone, and features a prosperity fish (that's why there are always fish tanks at the entrance to Chinese businesses).  There are also several longevity peaches below, and a blossoming lotus flower at the top, which I've embellished with a copper spiral of life.

Hand-carved stone with prosperity fish in center

There are some very old, as well as unusual beads here.  There are 4 brown and ivory patterned beads made of carved water buffalo bone.  The ivory part had wax applied before dying it in a brown dye, then the wax was removed leaving this intriguing design.  There's a pair of Venetian glass beads from the 1800s that were used as African trade beads.  They're yellow with red circles and blue lines.  Also enjoy the hand-carved bone tube at upper left.  I collected a bunch of such beads in Indonesia.  No two are alike, albeit they are similar.  The detail just amazes me.

Detail showing some unique beads

The red spherical glass beads were brought back from Africa by a friend around 1994.  They show signs of having been lovingly worn, but are still in great shape.  They're probably not very old, but they are certainly very pretty.  You can also see 3mm tiger eye spheres on the lower strand, neatly dividing sections.  There are some disk-shaped wood beads, and gold-plated heishi beads highlighting certain beads.

Here's what it looks like on someone (me!)

It's a bit longer to better capture the drama and show off more of the beads.  The two strands are joined in back with a connector and a large lobster clasp.  Simple coordinating earrings are also available.

The earring picks up beads from the necklace without overpowering it.

I have such fun making these unique and pretty pieces from time to time!  If you love it, go up to the first picture to find the "buy now" button, and purchase it with PayPal!

Manya Vee