With 16, hand-selected beads of lapis lazuli sewn along the sides, this collar provides a rustic, yet natural beauty to the wearer. The bright blue contrasts nicely against the two earthen tones and soft, rabbit fur liner. This piece is something that I've wanted to try out for quite some time, but just hadn't gotten around to doing so due to other business and thread that would fit the holes in the beads. In all honesty, lapis wasn't my original choice in beads for this! I had bought some African Blue Apatite (think mother nature's blue raspberry jolly ranchers), but my thread was just barely too big. Alas, while I'm sad I couldn't use it, the substitution isn't any less striking and beautiful.

A small note about lapis that I find great!
In ancient times, lapis lazuli was highly prized by the wealthy and powerful for its vivid, ultramarine pigment that could be acquired by crushing the mineral into a powder. They'd use it for textiles, paints, dyes, etc. What I find ironically funny though is that for such a sought out item, it's frequently found with pyrite mixed into the mineral. Something fought over by ancient aristocrats had fool's gold in it!

Check out an up close shot of the lapis beads over on my twitter!
https://twitter.com/BigCatDenCrafts/status/1159227702093799424?s=20

Like this or see something else in my gallery? I take commissions!