- Wrap embroidery floss and metallic embroidery threads around a plastic card (an old bus pass in this case). Tie off the middle on both sides with additional embroidery floss (this is the top cord).
- Cut the threads away from the card along the two edges using a small pair of scissors or Xacto knife.
- Holding the top cord in one hand, comb the skirt threads into some semblance of order and wrap the neck a couple of time. Use an embroidery needle to stitch through the neck to make it more secure, then stitch down through the center.
- Wrap the tassel in paper like you're rolling a cigar, with the top cord sticking out one end and the tassel's skirt ends sticking out the other.
- Pull the tassel until the shortest threads are just visible beyond the paper. Trim the ends neat and tidy with a pair of sharp scissors.
Here's where I admit to one of my faults - I'm great at taking pictures at the start of a project. But the further into it I get, the more likely I am to be caught up and forget all about my camera.
So, using right angle weave and netting, I stitched up a beaded collar for each of the tassels. Working around the tassel is frustratingly fussy as my beading thread likes to catch on the tassel, so I do as much as I can working flat - first two photos.
Then I join the two ends of right angle weave around the neck and finish the netted skirt. It takes a lot less time this way.
And then I added them to my necklace, which is finally, at long last, finished!
And there was much rejoicing on the home front. This piece was a lot different than my usual work and took a while to tell me what it needed. But I really like the finished results.
Oh, one more note with the tassels, I didn't want the top cord to show, so once I was done beading the necks, I threaded the top cords back onto my embroidery needle and stitched the ends down through the center. Then covered the still visible cording with bead work.
If people are interested, I could work up the pattern for the beaded collar; its really pretty simple.