Celtic Knot Loomed Necklace

Full length Celtic knot loomed necklace

This past week I have exchanged comments with Gwen Fisher on a variety of topics including loomed bead work and Celtic knots.   Gwen created a short video showing how she creates Celtic knots.  I wish I had seen something like this when I was painstakingly graphing this necklace. 

I love this necklace.  I love the colors: amber beads with an iris finish, silver hued dark green, and ivory colored beads with a pearl finish.  I love the crystals and pearls of the fringe.  I revel in the feel of this necklace; it is smooth and silky to the hand and let me tell you that fringe is great fun to play with when you are wearing the necklace

What I don’t like about this necklace is the length.  From end to end this necklace is 27 inches.  When I designed this necklace I counted the rows of another loomed piece.  What I didn’t count on is that my size 11 beads were larger than the beads in the necklace I used to calculate the number of rows I would need. 

Despite the length, and my short stature, I wear this necklace on occasion.

For those of you with an interest in extraordinary loomed pieces, please see Erin's blog: Beads Beading Beaded.  I guarantee you will be inspired.

Following are more pictures of my loomed necklace.  Click on the pictures for a larger view or visit my Flickr stream which can be found on the side of my blog.

Front center knot, showing fringe

You will note on some of these closeups a bit of fuzz where the nymo has frayed a bit with age and wear.

Finished end of knot work pattern.

Another closeup of the finished end of the center knot work pattern.

I used the knot pattern below as a "spacer" between parts of the necklace

Repeating knot work pattern

Middle knot work pattern

The back part of the necklace was a rather more simple braid pattern.

Back or Top of necklace featuring braided knot work.

Finally, below is the back center of the necklace.