Beaded Eye Glass Chains

I saw a thread on our forum recently about eye glass holders, and it reminded me of how popular beaded eye glass chains were a few years ago. Actually, they still are popular today. I used to sell a lot of these, and many I adapted so they could also be worn as necklaces.

You’ll need:

your choice of beads
*eye glass holders
your choice of thread (either nylon or beading wire) about 28-30 inches
2 bead tips
2 jump rings
flat nosed pliers
round nosed pliers
bead board

*First, a note about eye glass holders. Most companies who sell findings will have these, and there are a number of different kinds. The ones pictured below are my choice because I’ve had pretty good luck with them. They are made with elastic loops and a base metal corrugated bead. The eye glass holders I would not recommend are the kind made from rubber and have a metal coil around them. I’ve used them, and they didn’t last very long. I had to replace them a number of times for customers, so I no longer use them.

1. To start, arrange your beads in the design you prefer. If you plan to make this into a chain that will only be worn with glasses and not also made into a necklace , then you just need to concentrate your bead design on the ends of the chain and not worry too much about the beads in the middle. If, however, you want to use this for both a glass chain and necklace, make sure your design is all around the chain and that it looks good up side down and right side up. I have found that 24 inches is a good length for string the beads.

2. Once you’ve determined your design, add your bead tip to one end of your choice of thread. I like to normally use nylon, but I use tiger-tail or beading wire when I use heavy beads such as hematite.

3. String on your beads.

4. Finish off with your second bead tip.

5. Open a jump ring, slip on the eye glass holder, and close it up. Do this for both holders.

6. Add a jump ring/holder to both ends of the bead string by using round nosed pliers to curl the ends of the bead tip around the jump ring.

That’s it! You’ve got a very fancy eye glass chain. As you can see, the one below is made with freshwater pearls and chips of tourmaline. You can also make this chain into a necklace using a Wire Adapter.

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All graphics created by Tammy Powley.

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