Trawling through my bead collection the other day I found a selection of old earrings looking tired and dated. So I decided to make myself one of those wonderful, long necklaces that I keep seeing in the shops, but never get round to buying. Why do I always see something and believe that I can make it better myself? Ho hum, many many projects...so little time.
So this is how I made said necklace with a small length of grey chain, some 0.6mm grey coloured copper wire and the beads.
The tools I'll be using are some round nosed pliers, flat nosed pliers and a little file.
This necklace will be a combination of beads on straight wire with chain inbetween. First you need to cut a length of wire with enough room for maybe 3 beads and coils on each end. I find that a thumb width is enough for each coil.
Clamp the very end of the wire in the round nosed pliers and using your thumb, roll it into a loop.
Keep rolling the loop until you have almost 3 layers. I stop there as I find that any thicker coils don't fit inside the chain links.
TIP: Don't forget to place whatever you are attaching
this loop to inside the coil before you complete the first circle. Don't
worry, this can be fiddly, but managed with a bit of patience.
Finally here comes the fun bit. Start adding on bead in whatever order takes your fancy. This one was a bit vintage so I didn't need to worry about making it completely symetrical. Just enough to provide balance.
Each straight bead section was quite small to stop it from being too rigid. This also saves on chain, which can be more expensive than wire. I also made sure that the necklace was long enough to slip over my head so that I didn't have to worry about a clasp.
I hope i've inspired you to upcycle some of your old, unwanted jewellery. I think it looks just as good as the ones on the high street.
Let me know what you think!
