This was a fun necklace to make. I bought the components at my local bead shop and they gave me the instructions. I believe it was last months class. The instructions do not have a title for the necklace, nor is there a designer, so I am going to call it the Sweet Heart Necklace. I think the little hearts above the silver bugle beads are sweet.
I made two errors that I know of in this necklace. One, I was too lazy to go back and fix. I didn’t notice the goof until I was two thirds of the way done. I caught the other mistake and was able to correct it. I sort of like how it looked though. So I am going to make a second necklace and I’ll take photos as I make it so that you can see where I goofed. I liked how it looked, but I’m not sure how it will affect the drape of the necklace. There is only one way to find out though!
Tomorrow I am going to hit the bead shops for more supplies and I hope to have the second version of this up in the next couple of days. I might look for different dangles though. Swarovski crystals add up pretty quickly!
Happy Beading!
This is another simple necklace to make. I thought that the silver heart pendant would look nice if I mixed a little silver in to the strand of beads. My silver daisy spacer beads were a little bit too big for the rubies, so I decided to try them with a strand of garnet beads that I have in my stash.
I crimped the ruby beads, but I decided to go back to my roots for this necklace and use thread. I think that silk and nylon beading thread has a much better drape on the neck than wire does.
My preference is for silk, but nylon thread does have some advantages as well. One advantage is that it melts. I tied a knot in my thread and then I clipped it off. The next part is fun, although it may take some practice. Light up a lighter and very slowly bring it close to the knot. You do not want to burn the thread so do not allow the thread to touch the flame. This is done very quickly. You want to bring the flame in close enough that the thread just starts to melt together. A knot that is melted together will not come untied. A knot that is melted to much, will easily fall apart. When I first learned this technique, I practiced this step over and over again until I was comfortable with it.
I used sterling clamshell bead tips for this project. I ran the thread down through the bead tip, closed the shell and then it was ready to be attached to one side of my clasp.
The jump ring that was attached to my pendant was pretty large. It slides freely over the strand of beads so this next bit wasn’t an issue for me. However, if my beads had been larger, or my jump ring had been smaller, it would be important for me to make sure it was centered in the necklace. If your focal bead or pendant needs to be centered, it is a good idea to divide your beads in half. I’m not to picky on the length of my necklaces. If you want your necklace to be a particular length, it is a good idea to lay your beads out on a Bead Board “bead tray so that you can see how they will look. This goes along with the saying “measure twice and cut once”. If you take a few minutes to arrange your necklace, you will have a good idea how long it is going to be and what the finished project will look like. I tend to just jump on in.
For my necklace, I strung three garnet beads and followed them up with a silver daisy spacer. I followed that pattern until I ran out of beads. Initially I counted the beads out and I determined that I had enough beads to do multiples of three, with two left over on each side. So I started and ended my strand with two beads.
Once I got to the other end, I pulled the beads to make sure they were taught, then I ran my thread up through the clamshell and tied another large knot. I melted it just as I did the other end and then attached the second half of the clasp.
This was a very simple necklace to make. It went together quickly and easily. My daughter already has her eye on it!
I prefer the color of the rubies, so I will probably remake the heart necklace again with rubies and silver. I need to dig through my stash a bit and see what I can find.
I am a big fan of easy. The jewelry that I wear most of the time is very simple in design. For this necklace, I simply strung a strand of Ruby beads with a plain toggle clasp. Before adding the clasp I slipped on the heart charm. My charm came with a closed jump ring, so it was important that I slide it on to the strand of beads prior to adding the second half of the clasp and finishing it off.
Ruby beads are fairly expensive, so it is best to shop the sales when you can. I’ve had my eye on this particular strand for quite a while, but at $98 I was a bit hesitant to buy them. I finally snagged it when my local bead shop was having a sale: buy 10 strands, get 10% off. Buy 20 strands, get 20% off and the pattern continued up to 50% off if you purchased 50 strands of beads.
Even at 50% off, 50 strands of beads adds up quickly.It is quite a bit of money to spend, even more so if you are eying the gemstone beads. The neat thing about the sale was that it applied to ALL bead strands. I took the opportunity to load up on some of the less expensive fire polish beads. I bought 49 strands of fire polish beads that averaged about $2 a strand. At 50% off, they cost me roughly $49. I then also got my strand of ruby beads for 50% off. It also cost me $49. So, for $98, I got the ruby beads, plus another 49 strand of beads. The way I look at it, I paid just over full price for the ruby beads, and then I got another 49 strands for free. I actually paid a little bit more than that, because some of my strands were a little over $2, but I still feel like I got a smoking deal. If I had been less picky about the beads that I wanted, I could have gotten a much better deal. There were quite a few beads for sale that were less than $2 a strand. Sales are a great way to beef up your bead stash!
I learned two things in my class on Thursday. These may be pretty common place for some of you, but since I am just learning how to work with the seed beads they are new to me. I’m also pretty sure that they will be new to some of you as well.
To start with, the instructions said to wax the wax the Nymo or C-Lon thread. I of course asked why this is necessary. I was told that you want to wax the thread because sometimes the edges of the crystal beads are sharp. That makes sense to me, after all they are glass. After repeatedly pulling the thread through the crystal beads, the thread can start to fray. I imagine it is possible that it could also break. Tremaine recommended that if you want your piece to hold up over time, to use fireline. Fireline does not need to be waxed. So that is the first tip, if you are working with crystal beads, use Fireline.
The second tip has to do with constructing the bracelet. I think that this technique could be used in any pattern, if is it possible to work the design either direction.
I worked the bracelet from the center out, but I only used one length of thread.
The design called for 5 yards of thread.
That is a pretty long thread to work with.
So, I unwound about half of that. (I guesstimated) and then I attached the thread to the spool with a piece of tape.
Do not cut the thread.
I started the center of my design.
I brought the beads around in to a circle and then tied it.
I threaded my needle and then then passed it through the first bead.
I then made my first motif.
Once I finished the center motif, I had to weave my thread out to the edge of the design.
You can see in this picture that the piece is still attached to the spool of thread.
I then worked the first half of the bracelet.
Well, I would have, but I accidently used to much thread.
The neat thing about this particular pattern is that it is repeating, so I just continued the pattern until I had about the right length of thread to finish it off.
So in this case, I did about three quarters of the length of the bracelet instead of just half.
This is a good thing, because if I had cut it off at the half way point, I would have been wasting some of my thread.
Once I finished off the first end of the bracelet, I was ready to work the other side.
I did not need to pull off as much thread for this side, because most of the bracelet was already done.
I only unwound about a yard of thread, and then I cut it off.
I then re-threaded the needle.
The thread was still in the center of the motif, so I had to weave it back out to the edge of the bracelet so that I could continue the pattern in the reverse direction.
This required me to pay a bit more attention, because in this bracelet I am using a variety of colored fire polish beads.
Instead of all being the same, they resemble more of a fan pattern. The way the beads went on was exactly the same, I just needed to be more mindful of the colors I was using.
This is the finished bracelet. I love how much it catches the light. I can see though in this picture that I made an error in the pattern on the bottom, just to the left of the center. If you look beneath the green beads, I used one to many seed beads. That sucks. I doubt that anyone else would notice while I am wearing it though.
I really like the idea of working a piece from the center out while it is still attached to the spool. I can think of an added benefit straight off the bat. If you decide that a necklace needs more (or less length) you won’t need to restring the whole thing.
