Craft: Restringing my Amber & Jet Necklace

Back at Lammas, disaster struck. My amber and jet necklace broke.

I was at a camp with some fellow witches where I had been wearing my necklace. When I took it off one evening, the string broke. Beads scattered everywhere and, despite searching the ground for hours, one piece of jet seemed to be completely lost.

A broken necklace and a lost bead might not seem such a huge disaster in the great scheme of things, but I was very upset. It was an item of jewellery that had a great deal of significance to me within the craft as well as being something beautiful that I loved.

What stopped me immediately restringing the necklace was the missing bead. In order to get a balance of amber and jet beads there needed to be an even number. I could have left out one of the amber beads, but that didn't seem quite right. It also didn't feel right to simply buy a new jet bead.

Then, at the end of the summer, I found a tiny stone with a hole when I was exploring rock pools on the Sussex coast.It wasn't jet - it was probably chalk - but stones with holes have their own meaning.  I knew I had found the thing to replace my lost bead.

In traditional folklore, holey stones offer protection, among other things. It might not look quite as professional as a proper bead, but magically it was perfect.

At the Autumn Equinox I restrung my necklace, including my stone with a hole. The equinox is when the day and night are of equal length - the perfect time to make a necklace that balances both the light and the dark.

First I set everything out on a beading board, then I used a proper beading needle and elastic thread to string them together. You can see the finished result on this post.

That was my Autumn Equinox magic and I will now wear my renewed necklace with even greater happiness than before it broke.

Links and previous related posts
get name necklace
Winning Day
Making a Terry Pratchett Style Shamble
Folklore and Lucky Charms at the Horniman Museum