Our *Necklapouch (TM) bags are compact, worn like a necklace. They're not only earthy, whimsical, and unique pieces of jewelry, but they also stylishly keep your cellphone, cash and other small items readily accessible. 

Each Necklapouch is a one-of-a-kind creation by two collaborating artists. 

The pouches are designed and hand-hooked by Bedford, MA fiber artist Phyllis Poor (bowerbirdstudios.com). Phyllis combines mixed fibers in her meticulously hand-hooked designs, creating rich, varied textures and an organic look. 

When the pouch is complete, a necklace strap is designed and hand-knotted by me, Bonprise Designs jewelry artist Sue Doctrow.  Inspired by the colors, patterns and textures of Phyllis's hand-hooked creation, I combine hand-selected materials such as gemstones, Swarovski crystals and pearls, and Czech glass to create a necklace strap that perfectly complements the hooked pouch. 

The strap is removable and can be worn alone as a necklace. This will also enable other straps to be interchanged to vary the look of the bag.  Once you buy your Necklapouch, you can order additional custom necklaces to mix and match!  


The top three *Necklapouches shown here are available for sale in our new online Etsy shop. Click the photos to reach the listings and browse around our Necklapouch Creations shop to look at other designs. The fourth Necklapouch is available at the gift shop in the New England Quilt Museum (Lowell, MA) and the fifth is for sale at Firefly Moon (Arlington Heights).  

Our logo was designed for us by Arlington graphic artist Lisa Berasi.
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*Necklapouch is a trademark.  All rights reserved by the artists.

Lately, I've been researching pearls, and have learned that Tahitian pearls, saltwater pearls raised in the black-lipped mussel in French Polynesia, are the only naturally colored black pearls.  "Black pearls" are those with a very dark color, including with rich overtones of green, blue, browns or other hues.  All freshwater black pearls, and most saltwater including Akoya Japanese cultured pearls, are naturally light and must be dyed or otherwise treated, for example with silver nitrate, to get these rich dark hues. They can be very pretty, and I myself like to use them in my designs (you can see the gorgeous dark green "Peacock" pearl necklace in a recent post here), but they are not natural black pearls.  Only Tahitian pearls are naturally black, and they are relatively rare so they tend to be more expensive than other types of pearls.  They also have a very thick nacre, and are quite heavy compared to other pearls. 

I was able to buy a limited number of Tahitian pearls at a gem show recently.  One necklace and pair of earrings already sold in my Etsy shop.  Three pairs of earrings are still available.  After this, it's the end of my Tahitian pearl stock!  I will be searching for more, though.  They seem difficult to come by.
 

Hand-knotted Tahitian baroque pearl necklace, sold online.  The variations in texture and gorgeous range of luminescent colors are really clear in this photo.  I hand-knotted these with black silk into a necklace about 17 1/2 inches, finished to the buyer's specifications with a handcrafted sterling silver hook and eye clasp.  Click photo for more information, even though the necklace is no longer available.

Tahitian Sunshine features baroque Tahitian pearls with bronzy brown overtones, with handformed hammered embellishments and leverback earwires in 14 kt gold-filled.  Click on photo to reach the link.

Tahitian Swirl features baroque Tahitian pearls with green and bronzy brown overtones and a rounder look than the others.  The handformed textured and oxidized fine silver disks were made by me, using PMC3 (silver clay).  These are for sale in my online shop (click the photo to link).

Tahitian Baroque pearl earrings feature Tahitian pearls in the classic "baroque" shape, with green and brown overtones.  They have hand-hammered sterling silver embellishments. Click on the photo to reach the link.

Thank-you to Anita Muise from Anita's Beads for inspiring me to learn how to handknot my necklaces. As many of you know, this is a classic method of stringing pearls.  The knots between every pearl makes it secure, because, if the strand should break, only one pearl will fall off.  But, more important, it gives the necklace a beautiful, flowing drape.  It's very labor intensive, but, I think well worth the effort. Generally, the thread that is used is silk but, also, there are some very strong synthetic silks available in a wide array of colors.  The key is to ensure that the knot is placed snugly against the bead.  This takes practice and concentration but, again, results in a beautiful piece of jewelry.  Here are some examples of knotted necklaces I've made lately.  Many are listed in my online shop (click photos to find the listings). 

This necklace is called "Peacock Pearls", not because these rich green pearls are what is commonly known as a peacock pearl but, instead, because they actually do look like the color of peacock feathers!  This necklace with matching earrings is for sale in my online shop (click the photo). And, here's a little secret..this is the first knotted pearl necklace I ever made.  It took me over 4 hours.  I'm getting somewhat more efficient at it.  Knotted in black silk, with one of my hand-formed, hammered hook and eye clasps.

The "Caramel" necklace features these incredibly gorgeous freshwater "pebble" pearls from an Arlington treasure-trove of a shop called Things We Love.  The pearls are deliciously bronzy brown, irridescent with golden, green and pinks.  They're handknotted in black silk, along with tiny gold Swarovski pearls, an exquisite grade of crystal "pearl".  The necklace also closes with a hand-formed hammered hook and eye clasp (not shown), this time 14 kt gold-filled.  Matching earrings are also available separately.  Both are available for sale at Firefly Moon in Arlington Heights (MA).

"Porcelana", for sale online with matching earrings, features nuggets of lovely, pastel porcelain jasper from Anita's Beads (Wakefield, NH) combined with rich deep grey Swarovski crystal pearls.  It closes with a handcrafted sterling silver hook and eye clasp (not shown). Click the photo to reach the link. 

"Lights of Dawn" features lavendar freshwater pearls with a golden lustre, combined with sparkly yellow faceted beads of the gemstone citrine.  All hand-knotted with grey silk.  Exquisitely elegant, also featuring a handcrafted sterling silver clasp and matching earrings and available in my online shop (click the photo for more information).  

This necklace is called "Thundercloud" and is an elegant combination of soft grey freshwater pearls with a peacock finish of blue, violet and pink highlights, matched with the gorgeous gemstone labradorite. The labradorite is grey with flashes of blue in chunky, organic shapes.  It's hand-knotted in blue-grey silk with a handcrafted sterling silver clasp. It comes with a dainty pair of matching earrings, and is available in my online shop.  Click the photo for the link.

Anita's Beads in Wakefield, NH has the most unusual treasures!  My most recent purchase is several strands of exquisite, chunky/nugget-ty beads of naturally gorgeous jaspers.  Olive green spotted "green breccialated jasper", with peachy and gold highlights; Black, white and grey "crazy lace jasper", and incredibly rich deep green and dark red "dragon's blood jasper".  I've combined these with complementary glass, crystal or gemstones in distinctive necklace and earrings sets.  All necklaces close with my handcrafted fine silver toggle clasps, organically textured and finished like the jaspers.  All earrings feature sterling silver hand-wirework.   From top:  "Tortoise Shell" earrings, "Sand and Fog" necklace, "Lifeblood" necklace and "Tortoise Shell" necklace.  Click the photos to see listings for "Sand and Fog" and "Lifeblood" in my online shop.  The "Tortoise Shell" necklace shown has already sold, but a similar set using this design, but with 14 kt gold filled earrings, is available in my online shop (click the photo).

I gently dome these textured fine silver disks with my dapping block for these graceful convex shapes.  They're oxidized and handpolished, then combined with gemstones such as fancy jasper and amazonite (top) or actinilated quartz (not shown, check Etsy shop).  They're also lovely with a simple Swarovski crystal (below). (The small photo with the dime shows the concave back face of the earrings.)  Click the photo below, and browse around my earrings section to shop for these unique new earrings in my online Etsy shop.  Contact me for a special order similar to the ones shown her

Two quite unusual new necklaces are cameos in fine silver.  I made them by preparing a mold from genuine cameos, then using it to cast the metal clay.  The final silver pendants were oxidized and polished to show the detailed carving.  The back is nicely textured (not shown) where the fine silver loop is attached.  This one is called Heirloom Cameo necklace, because I molded it from a cameo I inherited from a family member.  The Greek leather cord shown in the photo, with sterling silver clasp and findings (not shown) is included.  This necklace will soon be for sale at Firefly Moon in Arlington Heights (MA).

The other one, shown below, is called Tiny Cameo, and is small and dainty.  It was made in a similar way, using another genuine cameo in my collection to form the mold.  I've paired it with a complementary necklace strand made from delicate matte black Japanese glass seed beads and small sterling silver beads, closing with a sterling silver clasp.  It suits this sweet little pendant very nicely. Either of these cameos can be worn instead with a silver chain or neckwire, or any other necklace you want (both are easily removable from the strand that they come with).  Click on the photo for more information about Tiny Cameo.

The last two photos show the cameos with their original counterparts.  Notice how much smaller they are.  This is because precious metal clay shrinks after firing.  The metal particles are suspended in an organic matrix. The matrix burns away in the kiln, and the metal particles sinter, or fuse, together, forming pure, solid silver. 

I'm introducing a new series of earrings that all feature fine silver elements I made with precious metal clay (PMC).  (Fine silver is 99.99% silver, versus the 92.5% of sterling.)  The organic texture is oxidized and polished to get the dramatic contrast.  Take a look! 

Some are on sale online or at DSG, or have sold already, and other designs are also available.  Click on the photos for those listed online and look at the website for new ones.  The earrings shown in the last photo, Organic Peaches, are available at DSG. 

Some of my favorite gemstones are those that have fossilized coral or other ancient creatures embedded in them. The patterns formed in these stones are intricate and, to me, fascinatingly beautiful!

 

This one you've seen on the Front Page.  It's called "Fireworks" and is now for sale in my online shop.  The design inspired me to add the hand-stamped fireworks pattern on the silver.

These fossil coral beads are drilled, fanning out in an overlapping pattern.  I made this necklace from another necklace I bought at a craft fair.  I rearranged the existing beads, added freshwater pearls and copper, and a handcrafted copper clasp (not shown).  This was sold in my online shop awhile back. 

This is a necklace I sold at Don's Salon89.  The pendant features a gorgeous simulation of fossilized coral, done in polymer clay by a wonderful artist named Sandra deYoung. Sandra called her pendant "Faux Fossil Agate".

Fabulous Petoskey stone is a special fossilized stone found in and around Petoskey, Michigan.  I bought these cabachons awhile ago and haven't decided what to make with them yet.  But, I really love this stone.  The pattern and color remind me of the undersides of mushrooms.  I have had trouble finding nice drilled beads of Petoskey, but am always on the lookout for them.  Suggestions would be welcome.