. . .AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

There is a WOW! factor to this necklace which looks like someone had strung five different pieces on their neck. I saw something like this at Neiman Marcus by a jewelry company that specializes in mixtures of huge, wildly colored beads. Thought I'd make my own version and this is what I came up with. This thing has more stuff in it than the kitchen sink: Starting at the top -- peach jade and Sleeping Beauty turquoise; then lovely fat ovals of prehnite, followed by some sparkly man-made goldstone. The prehnite kites are really fabulous and I thought about making a single strand of them, but I like this better. Finally, finishing it all off, faceted coins of deep rust carnelian. The findings are sterling silver. While you don't necessarily have to be a big person to carry this off -- you'll probably need to come equipped with a soupcon of attitude!