necklace | Lorelai's Beads and Things

SUPPLIES:

your choice of beads, lots of pretty beads
wire cutters, small pliers, and crimp pliers
soft flex beading wire
18 crimp beads
26 open jump rings
two 9 hole end bars
large toggle clasp
tape
felt (or the like)

Measure your neck to see how long your necklace should be.

Start by cutting your Soft Flex wire, add at least 8″ to your neck measurement… you will need extra wire to work with while beading. Cut 9 wires; one for each end bar hole.

Assembling the necklace
Start by adding jump rings to your end bars; these will hold all your bead strands. Make sure to completely close each jump ring with your pliers. Complete both end bars.
The next step is to form a jump ring chain to add each piece of the toggle clasp to each end bar. The more jump rings you add, the easier operating with the clasp will be.

Now add each of your cut pieces of Soft Flex to one end bar.

Add all nine pieces of Soft Flex to one end bar.

Start beading each of your Soft Flex wires! You should bead at least the amount that you measured earlier… if not a little more just in case. When braiding and wrapping the strands, you will need a little slack.

When you are finished with each strand, tape it off so you won’t loose your beads.

Finish all your strands.

And now the twist!

The next step is to finish the necklace. Start in the middle and work out. Carefully remove the tape from the middle bead strand, add a crimp bead, and then thread through the appropriate jump ring…

Then thread back through the jump ring and pull the strand tight, making sure there is no slack throughout the entire strand. There is nothing worse then a gap in the strand! Then crimp the bead and trim the excess wire.

Keep crimping and moving along through the strands until complete. Carefully cut off excess Soft Flex, making sure not to cut what the beads are strung on!

FINISHED ~ and gorgeous!