The Power of Flowers Necklace
©2021 by Cynthia Rutledge

Floriography, known as the language of flowers, has been attributed to the meaning of flowers for thousands of years. William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) used the language of flowers and the word “flower” over 100 times in his plays and sonnets. References to flowers, and their meaning, occurred in Hamlet, Ophelia, Oberon, The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A “language of flowers” craze was introduced to Europe by two women, Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762), who brought it to England in 1717, and Aubry de La Mottraye (1674–1743), who introduced it to the Swedish court in 1727. Following this huge surge of interest, the first floral dictionaries were printed in 1809 by Joseph Hammer-Purgstall.

In the Victorian era, flowers were primarily used to deliver messages that couldn't be spoken aloud. In a sort of silent dialogue, flowers could be used to answer questions, make a declaration of love, or show signs of happiness or sadness. Armed with the language of flowers dictionaries, Victorians would exchange small “talking bouquets” called nosegays or tussie-mussies. These were worn or carried as a fashion statement accessory, sending silent messages.

A woman had to be very precise as to where she wore her flowers. Say, for instance, a suitor had sent her a tussie-mussie/nosegay. If she pinned it to the cleavage of her bosom, that would be bad news for him, since that signified friendship. Ah, but if she pinned it over her heart, that was an unambiguous declaration of love!

The Power of Flowers Necklace begins with a cubic-right angle weave (CRAW) collar of sorts. The collar straps are held open with round graduating rings of CRAW. The “fantasy’ flower takes center stage with its bezeled CZ bullet and graduating rounds of embellishing. The bottom portion of the collar stops short and wraps around the embellishments ending in two pearl caps. The necklace finishes off with two beautiful, beaded buttons and a connector.  

Workshop: This is a one-day workshop

Skill level: Intermediate to advanced

Necklace length: As desired. Sample is worn short at 17 inches

Techniques:

• Bezel work

• Cubic Right-angle weave

• Embellishing techniques

• Petal variations on netting

• Stitching-in-the-ditch

• Tubular peyote stitch, even count

• Tubular peyote stitch with increasing