Pig's Ear to Silk Purse Stash Buster

This was an interesting challenge introduced by Coral Tuttle Egelund; we were to take a pig's ear (something ugly, plain, unappealing etc) and turn it into a silk purse (something beautiful, appealing, etc). We could only use items that were in our "stash". Since I have quite a few things in my office I looked through and finally settled on this item:

White plastic rectangle

I ordered this rectangle a couple, maybe even a few, years back because I was excited to play with it and see what I could create.  When it arrived, I noticed that the edges were thicker than I expected and so adding seed beads would be a challenge.  I threw it to the side and really never gave it much thought until now. I still think the rectangle is an interesting piece, however, the pig's ear aspect is that this piece is quite plain, just a white rectangle.

First i wanted to add something to the rectangle, it is just so plain, so I added some silver and white glass pearls and some bicone crystals.

Then I added two chains, one is silver plated and the other is gunmetal tone.

Last, I added just a few charms made from the pearls and crystals to balance the piece.

I thought adding the embellishments to the sides of the chain rather than just have them hang from the bottom. I took this approach because the chains are quite decorative and I wanted the chains to get just as much attention as the embellishments.

The jury is out as to whether this is a silk purse, maybe a rayon or damask purse, but not certain if it has reached silk. I don't hate the piece, I think it is just so outside my design realm since I am so use to working with beads. However, I did enjoy the challenge and find the piece interesting and quirky and the chains are absolutely lovely.

Silk purse? You be the judge.