DIY Valentino SS16 Inspired Necklace

I love going through the pictures from Fashion Week Catwalks. There are tons of inspiration in them, all you need to do is to look for it. Because who doesn't search, never finds.

One of my favorite recent shows though was Valentino SS16 with his African tribal theme that has been interpreted in such a tasteful way that it makes me want to wear tie-dye. What struck me though was the accessories. First, I would never expect ear stretchers in Valentino show and second they had these amazing ceramics pieces that shone layered on the dark colored surface. It almost looked like those cute lace collars (those you can make to make your outfit look like cute nerdy librarian) except they were ceramic spikes. They have been made in collaboration with artist Alessandro Gaggio.

Plus they looked so easy to make at home and there is nothing more I love than making designer pieces at home. And now you can make it too.

Supplies:

air drying ceramic clay in white
leather string
some water
moist cloth
ceramic tools (optional)

Step-by-step:

Moist your hands a little so the clay does not dry fast.
Take a small piece of the clay and work it in your hands to make a thinker cylinder shape. Flatten it with your fingers and moist the stripe again. It does not have to be even and absolutely perfect. I suggest to have it thinker in the middle.
Now the critical part - fold the stripe in a half and press the ends together but leave out the fold to keep the loop as shown on the picture. You have to be careful because the fold tends to crack. If that happens and the fold is still strong, just run over it with wet finger to smoothen those small cracks.
Smooth out the pressed ends by rolling them in your hand, with a finger or with a tool so you don't get visible seam. The bead should look i little like a pointy tooth.
Let the beads dry. It should take around 24 hours and you can speed it up by putting it nearby heat source. Just don't bake it or use hairdryer because it could crack. It still needs some time to settle and dry thoroughly.
Lay dry beads on the table to design the order in which you want to wear them. Pull the leather string through them and tie a knot at the end of the beads s they don't move around much. And you are done!