So back in the day when I wrote my original wedding report on a well known wedding forum, I was asked where I got my wedding day necklace from. It was a double stranded pearl and crystal necklace with 2 back strands.
(Contra’s wedding photography by Raw Photography)
Actually, I made it. And I’m pretty proud, for 2 reasons. Firstly, I saved myself around £400 on the one I wanted and secondly, it turned out pretty well! When the ladies who saw the necklace found out that it was made by me they asked that I tell them how-to and I promised a little DIY tutorial. And here it finally is!
You could apply this to making any kind of jewellery, it’s all the same principal so adapt it as you wish!
And DON’T BE SCARED! It’s a little tricky, and when I say that I mean ‘fiddly’ but it’s really NOT difficult.
So here is my personal Christmas Gift to the Rock My Wedding readership… Enjoy!
Yours Truly,
Contra
xoxo
PS! Special and massive thanks to my fab friends Roger and Laura who assisted me by taking the photos below with his sweeeeet Canon 7D. Love you guys! 
What you need…
1. Jewellery making wire, also known as ‘Tiger tail’ – basically a stainless steel (for strength) plastic coated wire.
2. Crimping beads (above right), (made of silver, not just silver coloured – there’s little in it price wise)
3. Some pliers. (Those shown above are very crude and what I have used for years of making jewellery at home but were from B&Q and are not intended for this purpose! To make my necklace I used my mums crimp pliers which were much finer. I’d recommend making the purchase, again it’s only a small increase in price.)
4. Some wire cutters. (You can use kitchen/heavy duty scissors, but you’ll blunt them and the finish won’t be as nice!)
5. Beads. My Necklace was a combination of pearls and swarovski crystals. I chose to go for the real deal in terms of materials as it was my wedding day and I wanted to be able to keep them, however you could use faux pearls and non-swarovski crystals for a fraction of the price.
Pearls: Mine were from Oriental Pearls.net and I ordered 3 strands; One each in 5mm round, 7mm round and 10mm oval, all in white.
Swarovski Crystals: I bought mine from Crystallized off Regent street in London (opposite Liberty’s) and I would thoroughly recommend it.
The majority were bi-cones, but I also bought some 18mm Briolettes for the ends of the back strands and some 18mm flatter ones and 18mm long ones also for the back.
For the bi-cones, I bought 20 x 10mm’s (which come in packs of 10) and 40 x 8mm’s (which come in 20 packs) and some 4mm’s which help to stop the whole thing looking ‘heavy’. I bought all of them in ‘crystal’ (above right), which is their name for what is essentially a colourless crystal with no sheen. In the end, the necklace required 13 x 10mm and 25 x 8mm’s and I used a further 3 x 10mm’s and 9 x 8mm’s for the bracelet.
6. 1 xlobster clasp, also in silver and a ring for it to attach to. These things can also be purchased from the Crystallized shop or online.
I would recommend that you go and choose all these bits yourself then you can get a feel for the sizes and how chunky it will be etc. The staff are really helpful and will get everything out for you/offer help. You can even make it there with them if you want!
7. Blue-tac! ( – you’ll see!)
Phew!
The How-To (Easy Bit!)
1. Cut a piece of wire at least 6 inches longer than you think you will need for the length of your necklace. Use a blob of blue tac to make a little stopper at the end of it so when you start to thread your bead onto one end they don’t slide off the other!
2. Start threading on your beads at random. Try to vary the sizes so for example: Large pearl, medium pearl, small pearl, large crystal, small pearl, small crystal, large crystal, large pearl, medium pearl, large pearl, etc.
As you go, keep checking to see that it looks right and just random enough. This can be the most difficult part, but don’t despair! If you’re not happy, just slide off the part you don’t like and re-jig it.
3. Keep holding up the necklace (with care – don’t let go of the end or they will all slide off. I know because I’ve done it!) to your neck to see if it’s the right length yet. You may need a second pair of hands for this.
4. Before attaching your fastenings, use a jump ring to extend the lobster clasp. Bend the ring open and attach it to the built in hole in the lobster clasp, you will see why this is later.
5. When you’re happy with the length, to attach the lobster clasp, first thread on a crimping bead. Next thread on the lobster clasp. Take the wire and bend it back on itself (don’t fold it – the wire will ‘kink’) and thread it back through the crimping bead. Pull it all the way through, so it forms a tiny loop with the lobster clasp dangling from it. Leave it big enough to allow a bit of room around the lobster so it is flexible. When you are happy, use your tools (pliers) to ’squash’ the crimping bead really flat.
Hey Presto, the end is secure! If you are very dexterous, you can trim the wire prior to crimping the beads and shove the end down the middle of the bead next to the crimping bead to tidy it up. However this is often impossible so it’s perfectly acceptable to just wriggle your wire cutters in and trim the end close to the crimping bead whilst being VERY careful not to cut the remaining wire that you want to keep!!!
You can do exactly the same with the end of the necklace that is blue-tac secured. Thread the wire through a single jump ring, (which will be used for the lobster clasp to attach to on fastening the necklace,) first threading on a crimping bead and recreate the crimped loop as above.
If all you want is a single stranded necklace then you’re all done! However, if you want to recreate mine… you will need to make another strand, slightly longer, to sit nicely outside the one you have made already.
6. While you thread the beads on try to make sure that when they are lying next to each other the beads from each strand don’t end up with the same run of different sizes and shapes. Ideally to give a random effect, the large crystals on strand 1 shouldn’t sit next to large crystals on strand 2 for example.
7. For the back strands, instead of using blue-tac to secure the end first attach your briolette to the end of the strand using the technique above. Next thread your strand, using 2 larger crystals interspersed if you wish, until you are happy with both the arrangement and length.
8. When you are ready to attach the strand, it gets a little tricky. It’s the same method as above, but you must loop it through the ring at the side of the lobster. This is the main reason for using them, as they allow free movement and swinging of the strand. Once again, thread on a crimping bead, thread the wire through the ring and back down through the crimping bead. Pull tight (but leave a little slack to allow for movement,) and crimp!
This picture shows the six strands attaching to the rings at either end of the lobster clasp. ie the 2 back strands, bottom left and right, and each end of the 2 necklace strands on the top left and right. You can see that I use 2 crimping beads for extra security.
9. Repeat to make another back strand and attach it to the ring on the other side of the lobster clasp. Make the second strand a different length to the first either longer or shorter depending on your required finished length.
You can of course make a matching bracelet using the same methods as I used above.
Et voila!
If you still don’t feel confident, this last picture is to give you a clear idea of how to thread the strand ‘at random’.
I know these instructions are long winded but it’s really easy! Please do have a go anyway, and let us know how you get on!
Any questions, either comment below, or email me on rebecca@rockmywedding.co.uk and I’ll do my best to help!
Yours Truly,
Contra
xoxo
PS. For those of you who were disappointed to find that this wasn’t my DIY Veil tutorial, watch this space – it’s coming soon!
) 
