One of my favourite pastimes in summer is jewellery making. I get lots of books out of the library to teach myself new techniques and of course for inspiration. I always look for unusual beads, colour combinations that I haven’t tried before and interesting finishing techniques.
In this necklace I used recycled bottle glass beads from Ghana, they are semi-translucent and really beautiful. The bell in the middle is made from recycled brass. I joined the necklace to a leather cord, this way I can wear it at different lengths and of course I like the look of it.
And here is how I made the necklace.
What I used to make it
- recycled bottle glass beads, recycled brass bead
- spacer beads
- stringing wire 22 gauge
- 2 clamshells
- 2 jump rings
- round leather cord, 2mm
- small piece of leather
- round-nose pliers
How to make the recycled bottle glass bead necklace
Step 1 Beading
Bead all the beads onto the wire.
Step 2 Attaching the clamshells
Use the clamshells to connect the beaded part of the necklace with the leather cord.
Thread the beading wire through the hole between the two little cups.
Make a double knot into the wire, fold it into the cups and squeeze them together to cover the knot up.
Step 3 Attaching the jump rings
Attach the jump rings to the loop on top of one of the cups. Close the loop with round-nose pliers.
Step 4 Joining the leather cord
Thread the leather cord through the jump rings.
To hold the leather cords together, I punched a hole into a small piece of leather and threaded the cord ends through it. I knotted the ends of the cord to prevent them from sliding out of the hole accidentally.
You can open and close the necklace by sliding the small leather piece to and fro.
I bought the beads at the African Fabric Shop, there are different sizes and shapes available, mine are the small (5mm), round glass bottle beads.
I like these jewellery making books Beaded Jewelry: Create Your Own Style and Compendium of Jewellery Making Techniques. 200 Tips, Techniques and Trade Secrets.
Check out my post on how to make a turquoise clay bead necklace where I made my own beads out of polymer clay (Fimo).