Old Flowers, New Flowers

The theme for the latest round of the Artbeads.com blogger program was "What's Old is New Again!" The idea is to take a vintage or antique item and combine it with modern elements to create an entirely new design. As I previously mentioned, I chose a cloisonné necklace that I received from my grandmother for this project, and decided to make little flowers out of Swarovski pendants and Japanese seed beads to match the flowers on the cloisonné beads. Here's the final result:

And the original necklace for comparison:

The project theme was announced at about the same time that Swarovski announced their new spring innovations, and I thought that the new chrysolite opal color would best match the green flowers. Unfortunately, this color was not yet in stock at Artbeads.com, and it isn't available in the top-drilled bicone shape anyway, so I settled on the peridot hue instead.

I also paired it with aquamarine...

... and rose, for all three flower colors on the cloisonné beads.

The flower design is a variation on the Sakura Charm pattern, which is available at beAd Infinitum.

The new necklace is shorter than the original, and I think that the crystals lend a much brighter air to it as well.

What's your favorite way to reimagine vintage jewelry?

Full disclosure: The swarovski crystals used in this necklace were received as a gift from Artbeads.com. No payment was made for the review of these products.