Simply Turquoise Necklace

Turquoise is more popular than ever and the look of leather with a chunky pendant is also a look that seems to be around the neck of all kinds of celebrities. The look is simply and so is the technique. You can make this necklace and have it around your neck in just a few minutes.

You'll need the following:

18 inches of 1mm leather cord
1 sterling hook and eye clasp
1 - 2 inch sterling head pin
2 - 4mm daisy spacer beads
1 imitation coral teardrop bead
1 large oval turquoise bead
round-nosed pliers
flat-nosed pliers
scissors

1. Begin by creating the pendant for your necklace. Slip on one daisy bead, your turquoise bead, another daisy bead, and your imitation coral teardrop (point down) onto the head pin.

2. Then use round-nosed pliers and flat-nosed pliers to create a wrapped loop at the top of the head pin.

3. Now slide your pendant onto your leather cord.

4. Create a loop on both ends of your leather cord using an overhand knot, and trim off excess leather if its long.

5. Finish by attaching the hook and eye pieces onto the loops on both ends of the cord.

That's it! Time to wear it and look just as chic as any Hollywood star.

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Floating Flower Necklace

You'll need:

2 sapphire colored AB Czech teardrop crystal beads
2 light blue AB Czech 4mm crystal beads
2 light blue 4mm freshwater pearls
1 flower lampwork bead made by D.D. Hess
2 sterling crimp beads
18 inches of blue Beadalon beading wire size .015
approx. 5 inches of sapphire Colour Craft ™ 20 gauge wire
nylon pliers
round nosed pliers
wire cutters
crimping pliers

1. First, start by making a clasp using the same instructions for my Clover Clasp project and some sapphire colored 20 gauge wire. I think this claps also looks like a flower, so I thought it was a good choice to accent the flowers on the lampwork bead. One tip to remember with any colored wire, try to handle it with metal tools as little as possible. It is coated, and if handled too much, you can dent/mark it up. Nylon pliers are great when working with this type of wire. Once you finish the clasp, set it aside.

2. Now cut about 18 inches of beading wire. I use my wire cutters to cut the beading wire.

3. Slip on a crimp bead onto one end of the wire, and loop the wire back through the crimp bead.

4. Use crimping pliers to crimp the bead and thus hold the bead in place. If you’ve never used crimping pliers, refer to my Using Crimping Pliers instructions. W. Scott Bartky also has a wonderful animated demo on his site.

5. Once you get one end crimped, use wire cutters to cut off excess beading wire.

6. Now slip on your beads in the following order: teardrop, pearl, 4mm crystal, lampwork bead, 4mm crystal, pearl, teardrop. Make sure that the teardrops have the smaller ends pointing in towards the lampwork bead.

7. Finish the other end of the beading wire with a crimp bead as you did in steps 3 to 5.

8. Now, get the clasp you made previously.

9. Open the eye part of the clasp a little and slip the loop on one end of the necklace onto the clasp, and close the clasp back up.

10. Tread the loop of the other end of the necklace through the clover/flower of the hook side of the clasp. 11. Once you get it resting in the center loop of the clover/flower, use nylon pliers to flatten or press the clover/flower. This will help to keep your beading wire loop inside the clover/flower.

This small grouping of beads in this necklace float because they are not anchored into position. They will slide and move as the person who wears the necklace moves. I used blue beads, beading wire, and craft wire to create this necklace in order to accent the gorgeous lampwork bead. I wanted the lampwork bead to stand out and be the focal point of the necklace. With all the choices in colored wire and beading wire, you could use this technique with any of your favorite lampwork beads that you’ve been hoarding.
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