I'm a jewelry lover, who's allergic to costume jewelry. For instance, I could never wear this pretty necklace from Tarnish:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ta.....ce/3167755

But... I could reconfigure my existing jewelry to try and imitate the look. And of course, once I got started, I kept thinking of new ways to hook my pieces together. Thought you might like to see some of what I came up with.

1) Three lightweight gold and silver chains attached to a single end of a heavier silver chain.
2) Heavier weight silver and silvertone chains attached to the end of a gold chain.
3) Closeup of different chain types in #2.
4) Thin gold chain + pearls by the yard necklace hooked together.
5) Closeup of the clasps hooked together in #4. You really don't notice the bulk.
6) Freshwater pearl necklace and bracelet strung on some sort of memory wire. The necklace is too long to be short and too short to be long. The bracelet is too large.
7) Let's wrap the necklace around my wrist and turn it into a bracelet.
8) Let's interlock the bracelet with the necklace, giving the effect of a long knotted strand of pearls.