Ombre Necklace Tutorial

Thanks to everyone who voted on So You Think You're Crafty last week! My Ombre Necklace ended up in 2nd place! Here it is -and a tutorial!-if you didn't see it last week! 

I'd love love for you to go on over and vote for your favorite "Let's Hear it for the Boys" craft! Voting ends Thursday and it's a close race right now!

The Ombre trend is so fun right now. I love it on anything-furniture, home decor, desserts... hair! What about on jewelry?! I love the idea of it making a statement with your accessories without being too over the top. I thought this Ombre Necklace was a great way to do just that.

  Since Ombre is such a trend right now in the crafting world, I really love it, but I also know it may not be around forever. I wanted to create something that would withstand the trend. The colors are so pretty and really pop against that white top. I think the necklace would be really great with a fancy dress or a simple t-shirt and jeans.

Want to make your own? It's really pretty easy. Let's do it.
Materials

Clockwise from left:
 wire cutters, flat nose pliers, bent nose pliers, round nose pliers
chain (a little less than 8 ft)
beads in graduating colors (teardrop beads work best for this design!)
2 jump rings
lobster clasp
head pins

First, create simple loops with all beads and head pins.

1. Place your bead on your pin 2. Bend the wire at a 90 degree angle over the bead. 3. Place your needle nose pliers above the angled wire and bend the wire over the needle nose as seen here and in step 4 below.

4. As explained in step 3, bend the wire around the needle nose. 5. Reposition your pliers so you can continue to wrap the wire around the needle nose so that the wire creates a circle. 7. Use your wire cutters to trim off the excess wire. 

Next, cut and attach chain.

Cut chains into 4 pieces in graduated lengths: 20 inches, 18 inces, 16 inches, and 15 inches (I did 15 instead of 14 because the beads I'm using on that chain are smaller. If yours are the same size as the others, then you can make it two inches shorter as well). Then place the chains on an opened jump ring,  longest to shortest and add the clasp. Close jump ring.

 Keep chains straight and put the other ends onto the other jump ring. If you want the necklace to be adjustable, you can add a short length of chain on here too. Close the jump ring.

Here's the chains all ready. 

I find it easier to work on big necklaces that involve lots of chain (that can get easily tangled) on a bust/necklace stand. If you pin the clasp to the center of the back of the neck of the bust, the chains will lay flat and will not tangle as bad while you're working. (This also prevents me from dropping my work!)

Then attach the beads.

 To attach the beads open up the simple loop of each bead by simply using your round nose pliers and pulling the loop apart. Hook it into the chain and then close the loop again. 

Start with the bottom/longest chain and work your way up. Find the center of the chain and put the first bead there. Then space them evenly outwards from that center bead. You can measure using a ruler if you like to make sure beads are evenly spaced, but I found it easier to count links in the chain. To determine how many links apart each bead should be on each chain just test out what you think looks good and allows the beads to lay correctly and then keep it consistent on that chain.  This seems tedious but it makes it look very professional.

After you finish the longest chain done, move on to the next chain up. On each chain up, be sure to line up your beads in the "windows" of the beads in the chain below. 

See how the two beads in the chain above the bottom chain are surrounding the bead on the bottom chain? Start with that and get that right and then build outwards on each chain. 

Here's the beginning of the last chain. See how all layers line up nicely?

And finished! 

I can't wait to wear it soon!! 

I hope you love this fun Ombre idea!


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Making the World Cuter Monday and Liz Marie Blog and The Train to Crazy