Here's the new strand. I love it! It's lively and lustrous and looks so different in different light. I opened the box in the car and it looked like liquid gold.
After consulting the wonderfully helpful comments above, I bought stuff and husband and I practiced wire-wrapping for four nights with the inexpensive stuff, as advised. Then husband made the necklace for me (with 14k wire) because he is better at it than I am.
Now we're waiting for a couple of little gold split rings. I'm afraid otherwise there might be too much tension on the gold wire loops and they might break.
Anyway, ta-dah! It's about 17 inches long with a 4 inch extender. I'll post photos with it on in a little while.
ETA: I also have nine pearls left over, the smallest ones from the back. Hmmm...
Did you mean split rings or (open) jump rings? I'd prefer jump rings in a medium weight. As for split rings, I never had any success with using the base metal ones-- they were so stiff, hard to use, and the overlapping ends of the ring always scratched my neck and itched. Maybe 14K gold ones are easier to use, but I'd want to use a split-ring pliers to avoid stressing and risking breaking your wire loops.
I love that you both were involved. It looks great!
I tried to use split rings (like the ring on a key chain) and they were too small. I gave up and set them aside. If I had three hands, it would have been easier. You have a partner to help you with the third hand!