Fire and Ice

Fun and contemporary, this intense and vivid necklace is a wonderful and exciting combination of blue and orange beads of varying shapes, sizes, textures, materials and hues. This fascinating necklace features a beautiful and distinct handmade heart from the remote mountains of Thailand, more specifically from the world famous silversmiths of the Karen Hill Tribe. Give this necklace as a gift of passion and love you feel for someone special this Valentine’s Day or any time of the year.

In addition to the sterling silver heart, the two triangle charms at the necklace ends are also handmade by the artists of the Karen Hill Tribe. Most of the silver components designed by the Karen Hill Tribe are made of 99% pure silver and each bead is individually handmade. The beads are made in their villages completely by hand using traditional silversmithing methods that have been passed down from generation to generation. Much of the village is involved in the beadmaking process, as this artwork is what is sustaining the Karen Hill Tribe people. The recent interest in their silverwork has enabled them to rely mainly on their traditional craftmaking and silversmithing abilities rather than having to look for work in the city.

With one side of the necklace being orange tones, and the other blue, Fire and Ice made a perfect and appropriate title for this piece. I always loved the poem of the same title written by Robert Frost about desire and passion and life.

I used almost every imaginable material in this piece. I was initially inspired by the large agate rings to make the half orange, half blue necklace. Some of the other materials I used include lampwork glass beads on the necklace ends, pewter pebbles along the back of the necklace, turquoise, lapis lazuli, amazonite, blue jade, blue and amber mother of pearl, blue and orange coral, orange and red aventurine, carnelian, Czech glass beads, terra cotta, blue and orange buri seed tubes, turquoise South Sea wood discs, blue and amber tone resin, orange batik bone and madre de cacao wood.

This necklace is 28" in length and is designed to go on right over the head. There is no clasp. The tassel portion of this brilliant artisan necklace is about 3.5" in length. I added a piece of dark brown leather cord just to give the necklace a tiny bit of rustic earthiness to help balance out the definite modern, polished overall tone.