Mom's Zebra Bead

A while back, my mom hosted some children from an African children's choir that was touring the U.S. She bought a couple of mementos from them that they sold as fundraisers. One of the items was a necklace with a small bead--presumably soapstone--carved into a zebra. The rest of the necklace consisted of a suede cord, some jump rings, and some red and blue, plastic beads.



A few days ago (or was it a few weeks ago?), Mom gave me the necklace to see if I could possibly transform the necklace into something that she would actually wear.



This afternoon, I bought some beads to see what I could create. The beads I bought are bone, shell and resin. "Resin" probably doesn't sound as classy as "bone" or "shell" but these are really, really neat beads!



Here's an extreme closeup of the zebra:

Trust me, it IS supposed to be a zebra!

This is the first half of the necklace that I made:


So now, I'm working on another layer to this necklace using the resin beads. Mom doesn't like things (necklaces, shirt collars) right up against her neck, so I really hope that the second layer will be long enough for her. The stand shown in the picture is just under 20" long, including the clasp. I'll add another post when I get the next strand complete. IF it doesn't turn out too short. If it's too short, then she's just going to get the necklace as you see it here!