My grandma had a wonderful crystal beads necklace – even at the time it looked vintage and she claimed she had had it in her youth so it really was old when I was a child, but it was well preserved.
Sadly, I don’t have it – my cousin inherited that piece, but I can vividly remember putting it on along with some of her “ball dresses” for our pretend plays.
The story of the chandelier necklace and the ball dresses
My maternal grandma was a professional seamstress and she could sew the most dazzling dresses. She loved telling us about dresses she made for her to wear at the balls and dances organized by what was called the Officer’s Club which represented the most prominent building with many luxuriously furnished halls and rooms adorned with enormous Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers.
Albeit the name, the club was open for the elite, the representatives of the city class and other prominent people and a membership card verified by certain chambers and acclaimed associations was the entry to the numerous balls, dances and recitals organized by various cultural, artistic and sport associations.
The balls were something we, the grandchildren – all girls – were most interested in. And grandma could weave the most magical stories of those parties spent dancing in sateen and tulle dresses, wearing her glass necklace under the luxurious chandeliers in the hall. Sigh….
Which brings me to my necklace.
So it happened that we had a huge chandelier, heavily adorned with big and small glass beads, and when my mother renovated her place she decided to get rid of it.
Of course, I couldn’t let her throw all those wonderful glass beads away! I thought of grandma’s necklace immediately!
There are about 50 of the small crystals- just a tiny portion shown here and a number of big ones which I didn’t save all – took just about 10, for something I will dream of. I wanted to make a crochet necklace with the big ones – I made a crochet case for one but that project is UFO classified until further attempt.
Finally I decided to put those beads to use and make myself a remembrance necklace – my chandelier necklace in honor of my beloved grandma. She is the one smiling from my photo album . The design of the necklace is simple but the effect is wondrous.
Now, I am waiting for my ball to wear it to.
