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Bountiful Garden Necklace
Project N661
Designer: Julie Bean
An abundance of colorful flowers overflow their boundaries in this decadent necklace. It's a true show-stopper!
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What You'll Need
Purchase All Supplies
Specialized Tools
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Instructions:
You will also need a clear acrylic spray sealant for this project. Mod Podge puts out a good one and can be found at most art stores.
- Start by applying a light coat of African Bronze Gilders Paste to both sides of all 12 of your lucite beech leaves in matte frost white and let them dry. You can see how to do this in the video HERE. After they have dried, spray several light coats of clear acrylic spray sealant over both sides of all the leaves, letting each coat dry for 15 minutes before applying the next. Let fully dry.
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To make this necklace, you are going to be stringing 6 individual strands of flowers, leaves, and beads. Each will be strung in a random pattern using a combination of Miyuki Delica bead mix size 10/0 in metallic iris gold, 14mm lucite vinca flowers in matte dark amethyst purple and also pastel lilac purple, the beech leaves which you Gilders Pasted in the previous step, and 10mm lucite marigold flowers in topaz yellow. Keep in mind how many lucite flowers and leaves you have in total and try to space them out so that you have plenty for each strand.
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Cut 6 lengths of Beadalon gold colored wire, 18" long each.
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Take one of the 18" lengths and place a bead stopper 3 inches from the end.
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Onto the strand, string 1 brass crimp bead and some Miyuki Delica beads (I strung about 1" Delica beads to start out with). When you get to the point where you want to add your first lucite flower or leaf, string it onto your beading wire. Next, string another Delica bead. Now take your beading wire and go back through the hole in the lucite flower (not around the flower and back through, but actually back through the hole in the same spot you first came through it). The Delica becomes the only thing that is preventing your wire from pulling all the way through. Now string some more Delica's, some more flowers, more Delica's, more flowers, etc... all in a random pattern until you have strung around 11 inches. String another brass crimp bead. Your strand will be kinky and will not lay flat, this is what you want. Place a bead stopper on the end.
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Carefully open up the bead stopper which you started with and insert another beading wire tail next to the one which is already there. Again, leaving a 3 inch tail. String this strand the same was as the previous one and then place a new bead stopper on its end when finished.
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Repeat the above step with your 4 remaining cut pieces of beading wire. So all 6 strands will be attached to one bead stopper and there will be an individual bead stopper attached to each of their ends.
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Take one of the strands off of the bead stop which holds all of them and thread the beading wire through a closed 5mm brass jump ring. Loop the beading wire around and go back through the crimp bead which has already been strung. Thread the tale of your beading wire through several of the beads next to the crimp bead. Pull snug so that the jump ring is tight against all your beading. Crimp the crimp bead. Snip off excess beading wire with flush cutters.
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Repeat the above step with your 5 other stands of beads - attaching them all to the same jump ring. When all 6 strands are attached to the single jump ring and all their tales have individual beads stoppers on them, proceed to the next step.
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Thread 14" of your dark raspberry ribbon through the jump ring which is connected to all the strands of beads. Tie a simple knot.
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Somehow affix your silk ribbon, via the 14" tail, to a stationary object. I used my lamp. When it is secure, randomly go about twisting your beads strands and the silk ribbon (the longer tail) together. There is no right way to do this. You just want the strands tangled, almost braided, together along with the ribbon.
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When you get to the end of your strands and they are all twisted together, remove the bead stopper from one of the ends and thread that end through another jump ring. Loop it back around and through the crimp bead. Thread the tale of your beading wire through several of the beads next to the crimp bead. Pull snug so that the jump ring is tight against all your beading. Crimp the crimp bead. Snip off excess beading wire with flush cutters. Repeat this step with your other 5 strands of beads.
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Take the tail of your ribbon and thread it through the jump ring. Tie a simple knot around the jump ring.
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Now take one of your antiqued brass floral cone bead cap and thread it onto one end of your ribbon, facing downward. Slide it until it covers the jump ring. Repeat on the other side.
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All done! To wear, simply take the ends of ribbon and tie a bow with them at the back of your neck.
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Variations
There are so many different color combinations you can make with this pattern. Also remember to look at the different shaped flowers available. Have fun playing!
When substituting in items, pay attention to sizes and styles to make sure all your pieces will fit together.
Keywords: spring, flowers, garden, leaves, textile, fabric necklace, btq-nature
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