Monday, August 20, 2012

A Birthday Present - Beaded Necklace Set



My niece, Patricia, is like the daughter I never had.  From the time she was born (a couple of weeks before I got married) til now, she has always been a wonderful part of my life. As a toddler I would play dress-up with her and make clothes for her to wear.  I was no seamstress by far, but enjoyed putting little outfits together for her. When it came time for picking out her prom dress, we had the worst experience going from store to store looking for something Patricia liked that would fit both her top as well as her bottom and still look stylish. This was back in the late eighties when most fashionable items were made in smaller sizes and if the "well-endowed" found something that fit, it was either matronly, too risque, or out of our price range.  I offered to make her dress and she agreed. It was adorable! Her date said she was the "best looking chick" at the prom!
                                                                                                                                                                        
Cute, isn't she!!!                           

Fast forward to the present .  .   .  . it has been a number of years  since I've made anything wearable for Patricia.  She loves jewelry, so I decided I would make a pendant and matching earrings for her birthday. I know, I know,   .   .   .  . no one wears matching anything nowadays.

To get started, I found a stash of seed beads and wire I had from a previous project. My skills for beading are almost non-existent so you'll really have to stay with me on this, although the earrings and pendant are pretty simple and easy to make.


Materials Needed:
asst. seed beads    (silver and gold)
24 gauge silver plated jewelry wire
3 silver plated jump rings
1 silver plated 18 inch chain
2 silver plated fish hook earrings
1 silver neck chain
round nose pliers
wire cutters




For the Diamond-shaped Earrings:

1.  Cut a length of wire about 20 inches long. Thread one silver seed bead onto the center of the wire, 
forming a u-shape.











2.  Thread two silver seed beads next to the first bead.  Take the other end of the wire and pass through the two beads.






3.  Pull both ends of the wire from one another, gently, but tight.








4.  Thread three beads, one silver, one gold, one silver onto the wire toward the two beads. Take the other end of wire and pass through the three beads, pulling both ends of the wire from one another, gently, but tight.







5.  Thread four beads, one silver, two gold, one silver onto the wire toward the three beads. 
Take the other end of wire and pass through
the four beads, pulling both ends of the wire
from one another, gently, but tight.









6.  Thread five beads, one silver, three gold, one silver onto the wire toward the four beads.  Take the other end of wire and pass through the five beads, pulling both ends of the wire from one another, gently, but tight.







7.  Thread four beads, one silver, two gold, one silver
onto the wire toward the five beads.  Take the other
end of the wire and pass through the four beads, pulling
both ends of the wire from one another, gently, but tight.








8.  Thread three beads, one silver, one gold, one silver
onto the wire toward the four beads.  Take the other
end of the wire and pass through the three beads, pulling
both ends of the wire from one another, gently, but tight.







9.  Thread two silver beads onto the wire toward the
three beads.  Take the other end of the wire and pass
through the two beads, pulling both ends of the wire
from one another, gently, but tight.










10.  Thread one silver bead onto the wire toward the
two beads.  Take the other end of the wire and pass
through the one bead, pulling both ends of the wire
from one another, gently, but tight. The diamond shape is
finished.








11. Use your fingers to twist the wires together at the top of the diamond.
                                                                                                         


12.  Gently grasp the twisted wires with round nose pliers, just above the end of the diamond shape. Pull the wires down on the other side of the pliers and wrap the wires around the base of the loop two times.
Use the wire cutters to cut close to the wraps. Squeeze the wire ends flat against the wrap.
Attach an open jump ring to the loop on one end
and the fish hook earring on the other end.
Close the jump ring.
.



           




                          Your earring is now complete!   
                                                                     






Repeat all of the steps
to make the second earring.    




For the Diamond-shaped Pendant:
Follow the same steps for making the earrings except you will need to cut about 30 inches of wire. You will  be threading 10 rows initially:  For example,
  1. row 1    thread 1 silver bead
  2. row 2    thread 2 silver beads,                                                          
  3. row 3    thread 1 silver bead, 1 gold bead, 1 silver bead
  4. row 4    thread 1 silver bead, 2 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  5. row 5    thread 1 silver bead, 3 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  6. row 6    thread 1 silver bead, 4 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  7. row 7    thread 1 silver bead, 5 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  8. row 8    thread 1 silver bead, 6 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  9. row 9    thread 1 silver bead, 7 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  10. row 10  thread 1 silver bead, 8 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  11. row 11  thread 1 silver bead, 7 gold beads, 1 silver bead
  12. row 12  thread 1 silver bead, 6 gold beads, 1 silver bead,
    .  .  .  .  continue until you reach row 19, and 1 silver bead.
Complete the pendant by following the same steps, 10 & 11, given for the earrings.
Your set is now complete!

These turned out really great and look even better up close!   I'm sure Patricia will truly love them!             Enjoy!












                            


















4 comments:

  1. These look great and I'll bet she'll love them!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your niece if very fortunate to have an Aunt that is so creative and loving. Nice looking jewelry, beads are chic and never go out of style!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Gail, I love your jewelry pieces! I've dabbled a bit but nothing like this. I'm sure your niece will love. I too don't have daughters and loved spoiling my nieces; still do when I get a chance. But there are so many of them now. I also, have 3 granddaughters now so concentrate more on them.
    Thanks for linking to Frugal Treasures Tuesday party; you've been FEATURED! Hope you'll join again this week!
    Barbe
    By the way, sorry about the button mishap! It's fixed now so feel free to grab your featured button. -_^

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful jewelry!! This is one area where I have not tried my hand at.
    Thanks so much for your visit and kind words!!

    Congrats on also being featured by Barbe!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete

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