Miss Anne de Bourgh, Mrs Jenkinson and Mr William Collins

Her necklace seems to be a chain with drops in jet, possibly. I created a version with Swarovski faceted beads in Jet Hematite (a special coating which gives a kind of steely shine) and combined it with drops of sparkling Black Diamond:

Wire wrapped choker

And then I made matching earrings:

Wire wrapped matching earrings

I have just added a new site which will be concentrating on all of my jewelelry inspired from the big and small screen called Jewellery ASOS.

Here we see her wearing some simple-looking drop earrings, possibly coral judging by the colour and from the fact that coral was available around this time. I personally do not use coral as a material, but I do have some plain rounds of rose quartz! To match the colour better I should use Cherry Quartz, a dyed version but I prefer the subtler, more watery natural version.

Various Rose Quartz Beads

In order to make them look more “vintage”, I worked in some Bali silver components. Although jewellery components with filigree work such as this might have been around, they would almost certainly have been in gold. But no matter, you can still see the “the look” I’m aiming for here:

Rose Quartz Earrings

I thought them rather pretty so I added a bracelet too:

Rose Quartz Bracelet

Everywhere in the BBC adaptation she seems to be wearing this very simple cross, even on her wedding day:

Mr Charles Bingley, Miss Jane Bennet, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet

In my interpretation I decided to use a Swarovski cross, but only the simplest one available- crystal clear. I wrapped it with some heavy-ish gauge Sterling and another Swarovski bicone to create a bail:

Elizabeth: Swarovski cross and 5301 bicones, free rainbow with every one!

Then I also wrapped each end of the Sterling chain with a little crystal, including at the back. it’s such an over-looked area but highly visible if you have short hair or wear your hair up. And here’s the finished article:

Elizabeth: 46cm chain with a 3cm drop

Diana Scarisbrick has written a number of books on jewellery. I have one of her books, “Jewellery in Britain, 1066-1837“, a heavy and serious-looking hardback which I confess I haven’t read from cover to cover but rather, dip into as and when the need arises. Such a need has now arisen as I was interested to see the comparison between the BBC interpretation and the research in this book.

Our interest lies in the Regency period, which I believe is the period in which all of Jane Austen’s novels were set, and lasted from 1811 to 1820. In the book this period falls under the chapters of “The social context of later Georgian jewellery 1790 – 1837″ and “The categories of later Georgian jewellery 1790 – 18372″.

Apparently it was a time of opulence and wealth, in 1817 an American ambassador was reportedly astonished by the lavish range of luxury goods including expensive gemstones. The prince regent, (appointed in 1811 and the reason for the naming of “The Regency Period”) led the way with very high expenditure on jewellery. Other foreign visitors remarked on the “gems and plumes and pearls and silks…”.

A contributing factor to the abundance of gems could be the fleeing émigrés of the French Revolution which finished just over a decade earlier.

Pearls were highly popular, but other materials were also used: amber, ivory, elk claw and bog oak!

Here are a few picture from the book, as you can see they all fit very well with the styles displayed in the BBC adaptation.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in the fashion of the era, then the Pemberley site has a wonderful collection of images.

Grace and Serenity Personified: Joanna David as Mrs. Gardiner

I re-created a version of these, pausing for thought on whether I could possibly squeeze in some sparkly crystals, but decided against it, and so here is the resulting pair of earrings:

Mrs. Gardiner’s Earrings

BTW I’m sure you know this already but here’s a piece of trivia- in real life Joanna David is the mother of Emilia Fox, who played the young Miss Darcy in the same BBC adaptation!

I haven’t been successful thus far in capturing her necklaces, and I only had fleeting glimpses of her earrings, but they seem to be pearl drops, so I designed a pair with wire wrapped loops in a heavy gauge of Sterling silver wire and made them as important-looking as a simple pair of pearl drop earrings can look!

Lady Catherine Earrings: Fancied-up Ivory Pearl Drops

BTW For Her Ladyship I used Swarovski pearls, as I thought the slight, natural variations to be found in freshwater pearls (at least in my stock!) would have been found wanting…

Well I obviously couldn’t just string some pearls and leave it at that, could I? So for fun I interspersed some extra Swarovski Silver Rondelle Spacers, in a prime number pattern:

Charlotte: Swarovski 5810 and Swarovski 5820

And here’s a bit more of the detail:

Charlotte: Close-up

Plus a little pair of earrings I put together to match:

Charlotte Earrings: Swarovski 5810 and Swarovski 5820

I thought it would be fun to “re-invent” some of the pieces, or if you like, use them as inspiration.

So here is Part II, the star of which is Jane Bennet.

The gleefully awful Mrs Bennet with Lizzie and Jane

I noticed she was wearing a dainty string of pearls with a pendant, possibly a pearl drop. I liked the idea of a drop, but I also wanted to add some crystals in the mix so I used a small Swarovski flat briolette in silver shade to give it sparkle and add a little more interest, without going crazy with a large focus pendant. And once I had started with the silver shade crystals I kept going…interspersing 5301 bicones, take a look:

Jane: Swarovski Pearls, Crystals and Briolette

Jane: close-up

Although I didn’t actually notice Jane wearing earrings on screen, I made a little pair of earrings to go with the necklace anyway.

Jane: Swarovski Pearls and Crystals

Pretty Enormous Pile of Pearls

At long last it has! I was watching Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC adaptation) while making jewellery this morning and saw some simple little necklaces using pearls. This one is based most closely on the one Mary Bennet wears when playing the piano at one of the gatherings. Her version is with white pearls, this first example is a salmon pink or coral colour:

Necklace and Earrings Set

Very simply it consists of only Sterling silver and freshwater pearls. I used lengths of chain and some simple wire-wrapping to join the pieces of chain together and finished with a simple lobster clasp. The earrings are based on the little drop at the front of the necklace. I have called this set “Mary” and I’m sure I will add more colours, and probably a bracelet to match…