Tutorial: Everything Necklace

Got a box or drawer filled with ‘miscellanous’ items? You know the one—filled with keys that no longer have a partner lock, beads and charms left over from old projects, little bits of chain and buttons that fell off clothes so long ago you don’t even have those clothes anymore. 

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This is a project great for using up those surplus items to create a statement necklace!

Although time-consuming, this project turns out a really eye-catching accessory; I never fail to gain compliments when I wear mine!

I’m calling it an ‘Everything Necklace’, because it pretty much used everything I could think of that was suitable for necklace-making!

Want one of your own? Go get your box or drawer, turn it out, and check out this how-to.

Time needed: 3-4 hours

You’ll need:

Lots of split rings, assorted sizes (I really mean lots)

Several metres of chain, different styles

Three clasps

Head pins and/or eye pins

Whatever beads, charms, etc you have--I used everything from old charms from childhood necklaces to beads to safety pins and paper clips!

1. Decide on your colour scheme and get together chain, beads, etc to match. I opted for black and silver since I have a lot of bits and pieces in those colours!

2. Cut three 4.5 inch lengths of chain and attach jump rings and clasps thus:

A. Clasp on each end
B. Jump ring on each end
C. Clasp on one end, jump ring on the opposite end

(If you want your necklace to be longer than the one in the picture, cut longer pieces of chain for lengths B and C)

3. Connect the chains together with the clasps to make a triangle, length A at the bottom.

4. Add a 2 inch piece of chain to either side of the necklace. Connect another length of chain between these pieces, beneath length A.

5. Fill up the space between the two 2 inch chains. I added one length of chain for each link in the 2 inch lengths.

6. Use split rings at random places to join the neighbouring lengths together, creating a chain net. I used around 1 split ring for each inch of chain.

7. Add on your bits and pieces until the chain net is completely covered!

In some cases, I attached charms directly to the chain net (using jump rings), in other cases I cut random lengths of chain and added things to them before connecting the chain to the necklace. I also threaded beads onto safety pins and created chains of pins and paper clips. Sometimes I used safety pins to join things onto the necklace, too.

Here’s a list of what I used to decorate my necklace:

Beads

Charms

Small metal pendants

Tiny old coin

Small keys

Paper clips

Safety pins

Large flat-backed gems/rhinestones

Buttons

Embellishment from a Christmas cracker

Chain

Pleather cord

Broken ring base

Pieces of broken necklace

9. Wear your necklace out and soak in the compliments :)


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