I know this is an old post but I ran across this Beautiful necklace read all the comments and had to say No matter who made it DO NOT let it go! it IS worth money! and Was made for a reason/purpose which is Obvious due to the stones put in it and their healing/metaphysical/energies/meanings. Every stone on there depicts energies of Love, Protection and ability to transform negative energy to positive energy, so I would guess this was giving as a wedding or engagement gift.. I read everyone saying the heart pendant stone is dyed or fake But it is Not! it is a Beautiful piece of Mookaite and in the body of the necklace I see what appears to be Amber, Turquoise, Rhodonite, Sugulite ( comes in several shades of purple and can have bands on it sometimes the darker shades are heat treated ), what appears to be either Beeswax Jasper or Calcite, the tiny stones close to the pendant may also be mookaite as it can range in shades of barn red all the way to wine purple.. Take it to a crystal shop to help you as it helps to see the stones in person to properly identify, but this piece was made to give and wish the person nothing but Love and Loving things, protection and good in abundance in their life and possible marriage! This is a Beautiful Loving piece you have Treasure it!

Too, I agree with the idea of putting them on a black leather or rubber cording necklace. Don't cheapen them with an inexpensive chain - when people get them, and the chain looks or feels cheap, they will assume the pendant is of less quality as well. Try Fire Mountain Gems for chains, cording and leather, plus the jewelry clasp ends. You will die when you see their catalogue! Shipping is good and they are nice to deal with. fire mountain gems

Sheila, I use a "pin" (looks like a straight pin without the point), put the beads on it, make a loop in the end with a pair of pliers and fasten it on what they call a double ring. A double ring looks like the ring you put your car keys on. My problem is, I can only find 7mm double rings in my craft store. I need to check out firemountaingems.com and see if they have any that are bigger. They come highly recommended to me with very reasonable shipping, I understand. Tami

Ah, well - it's only ridiculous because you can make it yourself - possibly even out of the stash you have at home. If the shop is selling them for $160-$200, let's work out where the $$ are going... Usual markup for retail is 2.5 times, so the store bought it from the knitter for around $64-$80. Artists' rule of thumb is to mark up materials by 3, so materials could have cost around $21-27. If the ribbon was actual silk, and the beads swarovski, then that could be about right. Depends on whether they got wholesale or not. Or used Michael's coupons or whatever. Plus you'd want to count something for shopping time. And either gas or shipping to get materials. That leaves $43-$53 for the actual labor. If it takes an afternoon to do one, say 4 hours, then the artist gets $10.75 - $13.25 per hour for their work. (And delivery to the shop is free, with no allowance to pay for parking, gas or time required to get there.) Of course, that $10.75 - $13.25 per hour is gross, so take out 25% for taxes and the artist's take home is $8.06-$9.94 per hour. Where I live that ain't raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money. As consumers, we just get used to seeing Asian labor prices on everything. Unique handmade designs are expensive. We knitters are lucky that we can DIY.