Jewelry Making

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Chunky, Funky Heart Necklace


While I love traditional jewelry, I also like to make jewelry that is "outside of the box." This necklace design was inspired by the thought of Valentine's Day and by this Caymanite heart pendant. I wanted to create a design that had a Valentine theme, but that was not the traditional pink or red heart design. Not that there's anything wrong with that but a theme does not have to limit your creative possibilities.

To make a similar piece necklace, you'll need the following:

Selection of size 11 seed beads in earth tones (I used cream, burgundy, and metallic brown.)
Approx. 20 inches of garnet chips beads
Diamond shaped moonstone beads
4 - 6mm limestone beads
12 chunky turquoise beads
12 - 8mm leopardskin jasper beads
26 - 6mm leopardskin jasper beads
12 - 4mm goldstone beads
12 - 4mm tiger's eye beads
5 - 4mm root beer colored Czech beads
Heart pendant (I got mine from Dr. Jo Jackman)
12 inches of 20 gauge sterling wire
6 crimp beads
crimping pliers
Approx. 3 feet of beading wire
Approx. 6 inches of beading thread
1 beading needle
Scissors
Shallow bowl
Round nosed pliers
Wire cutters

1. Start by string up your 3 strands of beads. For the garnet chips, secure the end of your beading wire with a crimp bead.

2. Then string on about 20 inches of chips and secure the end with another crimp bead.

3. Now make a second necklace and start by securing the end of your wire again with a crimp bead.

4. The next strand includes a number of chunky stone beads in the following pattern that you will repeat until you have a 20 inch necklace: turquoise, 6mm leopardskin jasper, 4mm goldstone, 8mm leopardskin jasper, 4mm goldstone, 6mm leopardskin jasper, turquoise, 6mm leopardskin jasper, 4mm tiger's eye, 8mm leopardskin jasper, 4mm tiger's eye, 6mm leopardsking jasper. Repeat this from the first turquoise bead until you have reached 20 inches.

5. For the third strand, start by pouring a few different colors of seed beads into a shallow bowl and mix them up with your fingers.

6. Again, secure a piece of beading wire with a crimp bead.

7. Now string on your seed beads by using the end of your wire and poke it into the bowl of beads and scoop it out. Poke and scoop repeatedly until you get a few inches of beads onto your wire.

8. Every few inches add a 6mm limestone bead, leopardskin jasper bead, Czech bead, or moonstone bead.

9. Repeat the scooping and adding various beads until you get a 20 inch necklace.



10. For the clasp, I use a similar technique to my Clover Clasp, and create a hook using the same method as my Hook & Eye project. You could either make your own clasp as I did, or there are many available from finding suppliers as well.


11. Use some beading thread, a needle, and the same seed bead mixture used for the third necklace strand to create the bale for the heart pendant. Connect the thread using a few overhand knots and hide the thread back into the beads. Make the bale so it is about 1 ½ inches in length, and then slip it over the three strands.

When designing this piece, I focused on the heart and selected stone and glass beads that had an earthy tone to them. I'm sure you could come up with your own bead selections that will work just as well.

All graphics created by Tammy Powley.

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