DIY Diaries: Chunky Beaded Necklace.

This somewhat easy DIY took forever. Mainly because I’ve been lazy. And although I’ve been dying for a turquoise piece, I still managed to sleep on this project for months. Yes, I have become that girl. I’ll have an idea for a project, go buy all of the materials impulsively, and then all of a sudden the thrill is gone. I know, I know. I’m working on it. But back to the necklace.

What you’ll need:

• Bead wire
• 10 packs of beads.
• Flat nose pliers
• Lobster clasp
• Jump rings
• Wire cutters
• Multi-connector jewelry finding
• Crimp beads
• Design board for measuring

The Multi-connector is used to connect several strands to one closure.

The crimp beads secure the ends of the bead wire.

I used clear, flexible wire.

Now for the fun part…stringing the beads. I found this wiki article extremely helpful. I used their technique as a step by step guide. This Internet thing is pretty freaking awesome. LOL.

I chose to design the piece with eight long strands of beads, four in each color. I then looped and twisted the white strands around the turquoise ones. I love it. The colors look great together and I die for the chunky, high quality look.

A note about beading.

It can get expensive. I spent around $50 on materials alone. Which means a necklace like this would retail for $125 or more. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably questioned the cost of jewelry before. The quality of the materials is usually the difference between the products at J. Crew and and those at Forever 21. I could have used cheaper beads. But after all of the procrastinating effort I put into this project, I wanted something that would hold it’s luster for seasons to come.

I may be crazy enough to make a few more for the store. What do you guys think?

Tagged as: DIY, Jewelry Beading