All that Glitters

The original necklace by Jenny Packham

The crystals I bought from Ralph

When I was trying on wedding gowns I fell in love with a beautiful necklace that my sister found for me to try on. Unfortunately this beautiful necklace by Jenny Packham is $1200! Slightly out of my budget to say the least. Well being the ambitious craftser I am, I decided to try recreating something inspired by this necklace myself.
I went right to my friend with the most sparkle - Karl (aka the fabulous drag queen Manila Luzon on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race)! He of course knew a guy who has the best rhinestones this side of the Mississippi. Enter Ralph - about the cutest little old guy you've ever seen - picture the wandmaker in Harry Potter. Ralph has this tiny room inside a high rise near Times Square where he sells his hand set rhinestones. I went there on Friday and he had all of my crystals set and ready by Monday - awesome!
I will be documenting my progress on my necklace as it goes - thankfully I've given myself plenty of time to experiment!