Sad Crafting: "Always" Snape Tribute Necklace

Several months ago I had an idea for a necklace, bought the supplies... and promptly left them in a drawer.

'Til yesterday, when Alan Rickman died.

I was fresh off writing a little Bowie tribute for Sunday Sweets, so the news of Rickman's passing felt that much more shocking, more brutal. We'd just been discussing Snape with friends at dinner the night before, and now, gone? Too many icons, too soon. 

So I dumped all my work for the day and spent the afternoon doing this, instead. It took me four tries, one rage quit, and a lot of dithering on which charms to use, but here 'tis:

My Severus Snape tribute necklace.

This was my first attempt at making letters with wire, and lemme tell ya: I have a whole new respect now for people who do it well. Like I said, this is my fourth one, and it still has plenty of small nicks and kinks.

 I think I looked at every doe charm there is online, and this was my favorite. Even better, you can get 12 from this Etsy seller for less than $3.


The other charms are vintage bits from my grandmother: a clear acrylic heart and the tiniest locket, fitted with an even tinier photo of Snape. (The locket is half the size of my thumbnail. I'm amazed my printer could even PRINT this small!)

Originally I was thinking of hanging a little potion bottle, too, but it was too cluttered. I also have a green crystal for the doe's eye, but it seemed too distracting with the other charms. Maybe if I make another one with just the doe?
 

 Here's a cellphone snap of the doe with the green eye:

 I do like the simplicity of this style. Hm. Maybe I *will* make another one...

 
If you'd like to try this yourself, all you need are some small chain-nosed round-nosed pliers, a lot of patience, and a spool of jewelry wire that you can still bend a bit with your hands.

I used 16 gauge, but that was almost too thick, so you may want something a little thinner.

Start by writing out your word on a sheet of paper, so you can plan ahead where to curve and loop the wire. Then use embroidery thread to roughly trace your word to see how much wire you'll need.

(I used just under 18 inches of wire for mine, so that's a good starting point.)

Other than practice, the best advice I can give you is to twist your overlapping loops, like those in my Ws here:

See how my Ws are all loopty-loops and hard to read? Twist those loops 90 degrees so the wires overlap from the front, and your W will be infinitely more legible:
 

See?

Also, I think that's my favorite photo. I like the shadow on the heart. 

Aaaand now I'm sad again. [sniff]

I hope you guys enjoyed my little sad craft, and are maybe inspired to try your own.

 

 Now, turn to page 394...