Product Idea |

Rebuildable Necklace With Jewelry Box

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We all love that feeling we get when someone says: “That’s really Lego!?”
 
Designed to look like a realistic handmade jewelry piece, this necklace can be customized or rebuilt several ways to suit the situation of the owner. There are 157 pieces dedicated to building the main necklace, as seen in the first photo. The other necklace variants represent only a few of the possible alternatives that can be assembled using only the sum of the parts.
 
The matching jewelry box is designed as storage and is large enough to accommodate additional items. Composed of 345 pieces, the walls remind me of a mosaic mother-of-pearl or opalescent glass box. The bottom of the interior is tiled in white so that light can refract inside the box and make it easy to see the contents.
 
I think that this would be a great Lego set because the concept is unique—Lego jewelry that looks real and is customizable! Although designed to be worn, I believe that this set would also make a nice display piece!
 
Background
I have been making jewelry of various types for many years and enjoy creating traditional looking pieces out of nontraditional objects such as fishing tackle, hardware, computer parts or sewing notions. When I got back into Lego, it wasn’t long before I was making jewelry with it!
 
In July of 2022 I made a necklace for the Steampunk Activity. I had finally achieved my goal of a 100% Lego Jewelry piece! Although it looks great in a photograph (my avatar), the necklace itself couldn’t be worn effectively—too thick, too fragile, and it snagged on my clothing. Based on the positive responses I received both here and in real life, I decided that I would continue to refine the concept!

I have been actively working on this ever since, refining and testing designs, and I am very excited to share it with you!
 
More about the Build
Based on my jewelry making experience, I made it a point that durability and connection integrity were thoroughly tested using realistic situations because “wearability” matters!
 
Key features include:
  • Attachment rings are used as a clasp for each necklace because they are designed to be opened and closed, which minimizes the wear-and-tear on the grip-factor of other elements.
  • The chains are stacked alternately for both aesthetic (weight of chain) and durability (stress reduction).
  • Inverted tiles are used on the back of the necklace plates so that they are comfortable against the skin as well as to minimize snagging on garments.
 
This set is entirely brick-built therefore the color palette was determined by piece availability, however long-term wear-and-tear was also a main factor.
  • Warm Gold is the color of the “metalwork” because it is the most realistic color with the widest variety of available elements. Due to the matte quality of the color, any blemishes blend in and are nearly unrecognizable. 
  • Black is the base background color because it is the least likely to discolor over time and it also alludes to onyx or enamel.
  • Transparent with Opalescence was chosen because it alludes to opals, pearls, moonstone, or shell which are all neutral in color and complement nearly everything.
 
Creating different designs from the same parts is the best feature of the entire concept! Here are more details of what is shown in each image:

  • Photo 1: Uses all 157 pieces that are dedicated which includes 42 chain pieces and 2 attachment rings. This version uses the attachment rings as a decorative element amongst the 3-2 stack of chains and represents the longest necklace possible in this configuration at 29.5-inches. The pendant is 3.625-inches in diameter.

  • Photo 2: Uses the same pendant configuration and also uses all dedicated elements which demonstrates that multiple pieces can be built simultaneously from the sum of the parts. Using the 3-2 stack, this represents the shortest possible necklace at 15.75-inches. The bracelet is 7.5-inces long, uses 20 chain pieces and one attachment ring and also demonstrates the greater possibilities.

  • Photo 3: Same main pendant, only the length has been modified to 22-inches which uses a total of 32 chain pieces (the remaining parts are in the box).

  • Photo 4: By taking away 4 pieces from the necklace in Photo 3, we now have a cool variant!

  • Photo 5: A view of the inside, which also shows the assortment of parts available for use.

  • Photo 6: By swapping pieces previously hidden, this simple Art Deco style variant becomes possible!

  • Photo 7: Using a combined total of 150 pieces (75 each), these two twin necklaces can be assembled simultaneously. The only difference is chain placement, which also highlights possible alternatives.

  • Photo 8: By taking away 1 corresponding piece from each necklace in Photo 7, a nice variant is revealed!

  • Photo 9: This is an example of two necklaces that can also be built simultaneously but look different!

I assure you that it is great fun creating a variety of pieces from the same grouping of parts! If this were already a Lego set, I'd likely have two or more.
 
 
I would greatly appreciate your support and thank you in advance. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think. 😊
Keep on bricking and Leg Godt!

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