Hi there, Sandy here.
Welcome to another jewelry making video at
KeepsakeCrafts.net.
Today we're going to let the beads shine and
be the stars of the show and just use a very
simple technique to make a really beautiful
and elegant necklace.
So for today's video I actually had something
very complicated planned and then it turned
out I was totally not in the mood for it,
but I had come across on Pinterest a necklace
design that was connected with pieces similar
to this and it was a multiple strand necklace
and I went digging through my supplies to
see what I had.
This was something that was on a card of weathered
charms and I thought they were perfect, just
these links with some pretty crystal rhinestones
and a loop on two sides and I went to look
and see what I had for beads that I thought
would be simple and elegant.
Since I recently reorganized my beads and
sorted them by type, I realized that I had
rose quartz beads in 8mm and some 6mm.
I also actually have them in a smaller version,
but I'm just going to do the 8 and the 6 today.
And we're going to do a super simple technique
of just connecting them together into beaded
strands using simple loops.
So what I have here is some antique brass
wire.
Since the chain and the findings I wanted
to use are these are kind of an antique gold/antique
brass look, I thought this wire would be just
right.
And the best way to do this is just cut yourself
a length.
Figure somewhere around an inch per bead,
but don't cut more than 12"-15".
Cut yourself a nice length of wire and I have
just a piece here that's enough to make a
few links.
And I'm using my One Step Looper because it's
awesome.
If you want to know more about this tool you
can check out my Friday Findings video which
will be linked.
And there you go.
It makes a loop for you so simply and so quickly.
If you have a lot of loops to make, this is
the tool to use.
So I'm just gonna flatten that and make sure
it's closed.
Slide on my bead.
So if you have a long piece, like I said,
a 12"-15" piece, you just have to do it the
same way and just have a little bit more sliding
to do, which is why I say don't do it much
longer than that.
And then you just slide it down to the bead,
squeeze and it makes a loop for you.
Isn't that wonderful?
And you do that for all of your beads.
You can see I have a few here that are already
started.
Once you've done that, you just go ahead and
open up one of the loops, connect it to another
one and then close it securely.
I did take a little time with all of my loops
and I went through and made them all facing
one direction.
It's not a big deal.
It will hang fine, but it's just kind of a
detail where the beaded chain is the focal.
It just gives it a nice consistent look to
have all of your loops, somehow I missed it
on this one, just on the same plane.
You can see the splits of the tools in the
same spot.
That also helps harden the wire, giving it
that little twist inside the bead.
So you do that a whole bunch of times until
you have as much beaded chain as you want.
So I'll just add this to the piece I have
and here I have about 9" of chain.
Make sure those are all closed nice and tightly
because of course that's what's holding your
necklace together.
For these smaller ones, I decided to do something
a little different.
Instead of just having a strand with a bunch
of them, I've got chain in between them, just
little 1/2" pieces of chain.
You make your bead links the same way, open
up the loops, but then you just add the end
link of a piece of chain.
Again close up those loops securely.
The way I like to work with the chain for
something like this, I measure it and count
how many links I want.
So my 1/2" is about five links.
That's easier than getting out a ruler every
time.
You can just count and I like to leave the
chain whole in a long piece.
It's much easier to manage that way.
So you open up one of your bead links, pop
on the end of the chain, close it and then
count.
One, two, three, four, five.
So that sixth one, I'm not going to try to
save it.
You could by opening it with pliers, chain
nose pliers, but it's so small for me it's
just a sacrificial link.
Now you have a length of beaded chain.
And so you go ahead and make that as long
as you want it to be.
I'm going to make mine a little bit shorter
than this length.
Once that's done we can join them all together.
So I have my two chains all made.
This one is a little bit shorter than the
other one so it will hang nicely inside of
it.
I've separated out these pieces and it turns
out it's a good thing there were three on
the chain because they were actually soldered
closed.
So I ended up having to sacrifice the middle
one and snip off the pieces, but I imagine
I can find a use for that at some point.
So those will get set aside to be used for
something else.
And I have my favorite oval jump rings here.
I love the oval jump rings because the split
is on the side.
That means nothing is going to accidentally
slip through the split.
So I'm going to pop on...now these you might
notice have the loops going, one is going
vertically and one is going horizontally.
So you want to just make it consistent in
your necklace.
It doesn't really matter which way is going
which.
Just make it consistent.
And I'll just pop on the end link of the chain
and the last link of my beads, close it up.
Make sure when you do the second side that
you don't twist them, but keep it consistent
so that this one is on the top, otherwise
it might hang a little bit funny.
And check it before you move on.
Make sure that you like the way that drapes.
It's hard to show it here.
Yeah, I like that.
And next I'm going to use the same chain that
I used in between these.
So I'm going to use, let's see, these were
6x9 oval jump rings and to connect those,
I'm going to use these 3x6mm jump rings,
also ovals.
So I hope that you've benefited from and been
inspired by my video tutorials.
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Make it as long as you need to make it.
I'll probably make mine about 6" long.
fasten the other side the same way,
add a clasp and your necklace is done.
Now I always get asked in the comments where
I got certain supplies and what I want you
to know is that for every video tutorial I
make, I also write a blog post.
There's additional information that I thought
of later on.
There's always a supply list and links to
as many of the products as I can get you links
to.
Of course some things have been in my stash
for awhile, but I'll always try to find you
something close.
So if you're ever interested in a tool or
a supply that I use, instead of asking in
the comments, click on the link in the description
box or the tag in the upper right of the video
and that will bring you to my blog post where
you'll get that information right away instead
of having to wait for me to get it back to
you.
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tutorials.
Happy creating!
Bye bye.
