Steampunk: Necklace-choker and Brooch WIP -part 1

In my 'research' (i.e.- googling and Pinterest for reference images) I noticed various ladies wearing lovely chokers around their necks...well, I don't actually 'have' anything like that, so I decided to make my own:

Right now I'm nearly done with this, but I'll go ahead and post my Work-In-Progress pics up to this point:

I saw the large, black ruffle lace and went from there. So this choker is made of 3 different lace styles all in black and brown:

-All glued together with Aileen's clear craft glue.

I bought two different pendants, I just couldn't decide...so I went with both. The girl's silhouette is, of course, far more Victorian...and the 2nd pendant with the gem looks more 'art nouveau', but together...they look really nice.

It took me a while to decide on how I wanted to do the enclosure..I thought about possibly hook'n'eye clasps, or an ornate button, even a metal clasp with a chain...but I finally decided upon just an eyelet to lace closed:

-The bias tape on the edges is hand sewn on.

I was looking at my gears and stuff and decided that I wasn't done with the decorative brooch area, so I started playing and came up with this:

I really like this.  But then I thought that maybe I should add in some crystal gems I've got:

The more I'm looking at it though...not sure I'm liking the gems...

I think I'm going to go with no gems, afterall....not liking it so much and I like it better plain.