Make This: Tribal Jewelery

At risk of going over board on jewelry posts here is another one:

While I usually try to make my own jewelry because is it fun and saves that cash money,  I am a strong believer that a DIY project should not turn out looking like an actual DIY project. Although I have some experience in casting and fabrication my DIY attempts are more likely to scare my friends when I wore them than yield any “wow, Tricia what a pretty necklace” that I’m looking for.

So since I can't make these or afford to buy all four without switching to a strict diet of Ramon noodles for the next two weeks I tried to track down some cheaper alternatives on eBay and discovered that they are all just marked up reproductions of traditional tribal necklaces.

So I wanted to share because not was it fun learning about the necklaces' tribal origins, I ended up getting all four necklaces for less than $100.

Samanca Jewelery's Lapis Ara Necklace: $145 available at Planet Blue's website, here. 

This necklace is a reproduction of the traditional lapis bib necklace worn by the women of the Kuchi tribes in Afganistan. You can find easily find them on ebay for 20-30 dollars.  I got a necklace identical to the one of the right for 30 dollars with shipping last week from this seller here and I couldn't be happier.

 Vanessa Mooney's Spear Me Layering Necklace: $70 also available Planet Blue, here.

Vanessa Mooney's pendant is a replica of a tuareg pendent necklace worn by the Kel Imashaghen people in Western Sahara.

he pendants are believed to have great spiritual properties among the tribe and are used as a symbol of identity, conveying the origin and heritage of its owner. 

Although the pendants can come a variety of shapes and sizes they always contain four distinctive points. The points are believed to represent the four corners of the earth and shield off evil.

These two pedants below are listed a 20 dollars each and are even prettier than the spear me pendants.

Samanca Jewelry's Efi Necklace: $105 again from Planet Blue, here. 

This is a replica of a turkoman pendant. You can find tons of them on eBay.

This pendent necklace is  little pricer than the previous two but doesn't run over 50 which is still less than half the price of Samance's version.

 These two below are listed for only 35 dollars

 Carol Marie's Double Shanghia Pendant Necklace: $195 on Free People's website,  here.

This necklace is the extremely over priced. You can easily make it your self with two chains and a pair of Ethiopian cross pendants. The prices varies with the size. The crosses on this necklace are pretty small and can easily be found for less than 10 dollars. The two crosses on the sides for example are only listed at 7 dollars a piece.