Hot Off the Workbench...

I just finished making this necklace yesterday. For something that appears simple, it took me a long time to work out the design kinks.
What I set out to achieve in this design was to create a cherry cluster that was made from a single piece of wire. I hate clutter (even though I am entering this post at a cluttered desk) but I especially abhor a cluttered design. I wanted the stems to come up and create the loop from which it would hang. Sounds easy, but I went through A LOT of brass wire (that's what I use when I'm working out a design because it's pretty cheap) before I figured out just the right stem length, curve, size of loop at top and how many wraps of the wire I could do around the loop for it to be secure yet not look like a noose.
Attaching the leaf was easy and I got it to look right on the first shot.

The chain for the necklace was another issue. I thought a regular oval link chain would be fine, but it really didn't do anything for the cherries. After scrounging around in my supplies I found some bar and link chain that I forgot I owned. After polishing the bar and link chain, I slid the cherry pendant on and was satisfied with the overall look.

Necklace measures 16" in length and is available for sale in my etsy.com store, Girl Tuesday Jewelry.