Bead Necklace-Tutorial

I was planning to start Jewelry making from a long time. I can hear some of you saying "Me too", so this post is for you. After I attended a free jewelry making class at Michaels, I couldn't stop any further from stepping in. Great reason, my niece birthday was coming up and I thought why not make her a pretty necklace. My niece loves pink as much as I do. So I grabbed few white and pink glass pearl beads to get started.

Supplies I used for necklace:

• Darice White glass beads
• Darice pink glass beads
• Crystal Rondelle Spacer Beads
• 2 Crimp Beads
• Heart shape toggle clasp
• Darice Made with love metal charm
• Beading wire
• Jewelry making tools: Side cutter pliers, Flat nose pliers, Crimping plier, Round nose pliers(not needed to make this chain but for earrings) 
• Bead Board (optional)

Arrange beads in a pattern you like. Just play around a bit with beads you have and you can create something unique. This is where a bead board comes very very handy. It not only helps you keep your beads from rolling all over but also gives you a vision of how your design looks even before you make it. However, if you don't have one then use cotton fabric as a bead mat. It just helps a little.

Once you are happy with your design, go ahead and start adding beads to the beading wire from one end. Don't cut the beading wire yet, just let it stay in your spool and keep adding the beads at an open end. (If you cut the wire prior to adding beads chances are sometimes while you add beads on one end they slide off the other end or sometimes you can fall short of wire to crimp at the end)

Check if you are satisfied with the length of necklace. Hold the beaded ends tightly and place around your neck to check the length. If you are satisfied, leave 3 inches of extra wire on both ends and cut the wire. (Incase you want to lengthen the necklace, cut few more extra inches of wire and add extra beads to both ends to keep necklace symmetrical.)

To one end of  the wire add a crimp bead, ring part of toggle and an optional charm.

Enclose the clasp, charm in wire by bringing back wire into crimp bead. Crimp the crimp bead using crimping pliers.

Source: Beadalon.com

Above instructions found on beadalon website describes clearly how to crimp.

After Crimping, tug on wire to check if the wire is secured properly. Go ahead and cut the wire leaving about half inch of wire (using side cutter pliers). Pull the beads back in to place. Beads will cover the half inch piece of wire we left.

To the other end of necklace add a crimp bead and rod part of toggle clasp. Enclose the rod part of clasp with wire by bringing back the wire into crimp bead and few white beads(or which ever color beads you used). Tug on wire tight enough so that there is no gap left in necklace anywhere. Crimp the crimp bead using above instructions.

Tug once again to ensure the wire is securely crimped. Cut the extra wire with side cutter pliers.

Tada!!! Your first pretty necklace is ready :) Adore it by wearing with a proud smile.

I am glad my niece loved it and she could appreciate the fact that its handmade.

I hope this tutorial helped you. I love to hear your comments. In next post, I will show you how easy it is to make an elastic bracelet.

P.S: Make sure you like my Facebook page Let's Make it Lovely to stay connected.

Have a good day :)