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Ribbon Heart Choker


With ribbon, beads, and findings, you can create a romantic choker. I also used rose quartz beads in this piece along with a heart shaped lampwork bead. Some believe rose quartz brings the wearer love. And the lampwork bead has a rose on the front, which is also a symbol of love.

To make one, you'll need the following:
26 - 4mm rose quartz beads
2 - 8mm rose quartz beads
2 - 6mm rose quartz beads
8 inches of 1 inch wide ribbon
choice of seed beads
needle and thread
4 crimp beads
2 - 6 inches of beading wire
1 head pin
1 hook and eye
1 lampwork heart bead
1 small crystal flower bead
wire cutter
crimping pliers
round-nosed pliers
flat-nosed pliers
scissors

1. Begin with your ribbon. If you'd like, you can adorn it with seed beads as I did in the picture below. However, depending on what sort of ribbon you use and your own personal taste, this is an optional step.


2. Now you need to make a casing on each side of the ribbon. Starting at one end, fold it over about ¼ inch and fold it again. If you have ribbon that frays a lot, you may want to use a product like Fray Check.

3. Take some thread and needle (I used a beading needle and sillamide and whip stitch the casings closed.


4. Now take one piece of beading wire, and thread on your choice of seed beads so that together the length of beads is a little longer than the width of your ribbon.


5. Insert this are of your beading wire so that the beads are inside one of your ribbon casings and a few beads are visible on either side of your wire.


6. Now string on 4 - 4mm rose quartz and 3 seed beads so that they alternate.

7. Repeat this on the opposite of your beading wire, and bring both piece of wire together so that one end is shorter than the other: the long end should be at least 3 inches or more, and the short end only needs to be about a half inch past the beads just added.

8. Slip on a crimp bead onto both pieces of wire so that you have created a loop that goes through the ribbon casing.

9. Use crimping pliers to close the crimp bead, and add one 8mm rose quartz bead and push it down so it covers both piece of beading wire. If necessary, use wire cutters to trim off the short end of the wire so that you only have one piece of wire coming out of the 8mm bead.


10. Alternate one seed bead and one 4mm rose quartz bead 5 times, add another seed bead, and end with a 6mm rose quartz bead and a crimp bead.

11. Insert the end of the beading wire back down through the crimp and 6mm bead and close the crimp bead using crimping pliers.


12. Add a hook onto the end of the wire.

13. Repeat steps 4 through 11 for the other side of your choker.

14. Add an eye hook on the other end of the wire.

15. Now it's time to add the lampwork heart bead in the middle. I got mine from D.D. Hess, who is my local lampwork guru. Create a pendant with your lampwork bead by slipping on a small bead (I used a small flower crystal bead) onto a head pin, and then follow this with your lampwork heart bead.

16. Using round-nosed and flat-nosed pliers, make a wrapped loop at the top of your heart bead.


17. To create a bale so that you connect your heart bead pendant to your ribbon, bring your needle and thread through the bottom-center of your ribbon, leaving about a six inch tail of thread.

18. String on about 12 seed beads, and slip the loop of your heart pendant onto your thread and over the seed beads.


19. Bring the needle back through all the seed beads so that you create a loop or bale of seed beads, and continue going through the beads and the ribbon a few more times to make the bale of beads secure.

20. Then tie two overhand knots, insert the need back through a few seed beads, and trim off the excess thread.

This was just a proto-type design, but I think it came out pretty well and it has a lot of possibilities. You could add extra dangling beads or even bead around the ribbon with seed beads to create a ruffled affect.

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