Day 130 - Handmade purple swarovski necklace

I confess that I made this last night when looking at my outfit for today! I used a left over Swarovski crystal (I had some left that I bought last year to make my bridesmaids' jewellery) and using a chains that arrived last week from Japan. So the majority of this necklace comes from eBay!

You'll recognise the simple style from the one I put up on here on Sunday in the jewellery masterclass. I'm wearing quite a busy outfit so I wanted something simple.

The Sunday Summary - jewellery master class

I wanted to do a bit of a jewellery making master-class this week so my mini focus on shop of the week this week is eBay. I know how random that is but as all of my supplies used in this post are from either Smitten Beads or eBay (and Smitten Beads has already been my shop of the week) so eBay it is. You can get some great bits on eBay, and good deals if you buy in bulk - for example I get a load of silver chains from Japan for much less than you get them from sellers in the UK! I'm making my friends bridesmaids jewellery for her (I am one of said bridesmaids!) so I thought I'd show you how I made the simple, classic, necklaces we're each wearing. It's really easy - there are only 3 steps!


You will need (pictured above):

• A pair of round pliers (you can get these from craft shops)
• A necklace (I tend to use silver chain and like 1mm or 2mm snake chain especially)
• A silver head pin (you buy these in bulk for next to nothing)
• A pearl (you can get these from bead/craft shops or by recycling existing pieces!)
• Possibly some wire cutters (not pictured)

Step 1 - Threading the pearl

It really is as simple as it looks like it's going to be - there really isn't much science to it! You simply thread the pearl on to the head pin, like so... The pearls all come pre-drilled, I got mine from Smitten Beads and these are the 10mm ones in sage green, you get about 20 for £1.

I always thought that making your own jewellery was really hard but actually its pretty simple. You can learn a lot by watching videos on YouTube or by trial and error - I suggest just getting a starter kit online (or from craft shops) and trying it out to see if you like it! 

Step 2 - Attaching to the necklace

Now take the chain and hold it under the head pin. Using the pliers, loop the head pin over and then under the chain to create a loop and then bend the head pin, using your fingers, over the pin to seal the loop, like the picture to the right. 

See, this is all still pretty basic stuff, and actually writing it down makes it sound more difficult than it is - its kind of common sense once you're doing it!

Step 3 - securing the head pin

Finally you can either use your hands or another pair of pliers and simple twist the wire round itself to create a pretty swirl - see photo to the left. Depending on the length of the head pin you may need to trim the end with some wire cutters. If the loop is a bit off centre you can use your pliers to tweak it or to flatten the wire swirl so its flush against the pearl. And that's it! Told you it was easy!

The finished piece