Important question here: How do you wear your jewellery? I like to give my jewellery a multi-use purpose wear - be the ones I create or the ones from other artists, too.

Brooches and earrings can serve as a button, rings can tie up a scarf or become a pendant... I need to write a whole post about using jewellery in 100000 ways.

With the long necklaces, of course, I can make them shorter with several rounds, but I also like to wear them as a belt, bracelet or one of my favourites, just as a crossbody necklace. It is such a simple way to give a random necklace a special touch. 

And, of course, I am always paying attention to how people wear their jewellery, and I must say I haven't seen many crossbody necklaces around.

Naturally, my mind is just shouting, 'Why not create one?' and BOOM  (excuse the awful pun), the Balloon Necklace was created.

Ok, first, before any crossbody necklace idea came to mind, I was already playing around with making balloons from Jesmonite, a type of concrete resin. I wanted to contrast the balloon's lightness with the weight of the concrete. To be honest, I had no final purpose for this; I was just experimenting, but then I thought that it could be a good idea for the crossbody necklace.

I started creating the balloon and choosing its colour and final shape. I tried black, red and white, but in the end, I decided to go with black. 

Then it was time to think and create the chain. Still playing with contrasts, I created this iron link chain so that, while it looks thin and delicate, it is strong enough to hold the pendant. 

The final piece is a playful crossbody necklace that I believe belongs to those who choose to be seen. The ones who understand how jewellery talks and know how to express themselves, and I hope that whoever chooses it has as much fun wearing it as I had creating it. 

X

Joana