DIY Teardrop Statement Neckace

 

This is my new favorite necklace. Hands down. It's gold, it's white, it's kind of neutral, but it's still ultra glam. It can be dressed up or down. I finished it a week or so ago and I've probably worn it a few times already. Love it. My favorite way is to wear it over a simple top and cardi outfit to make it extra fancy.

That's me. Feeling fancy.

Let's make one. 

Gather your materials.

Materials Needed: Gemstone Chain ( I found mine at JoAnn's last summer sometime...I'm not sure if they have them still, but you could get these pretties that are similar, or these, and create your own chain), mix of white faceted round beads( about 12), champagne faceted round beads (about 18), clear teardrop beads (about 16) (not pictured), some little metal rondelle beads (5 or more) (here are some similar), gold head pins, gold cable chain. Pictured are also some bead caps, but I decided not to use those.

You'll also need a lobster clasp and some jump rings- a few big and a few small. 

Jewelry Tools: flat nose pliers, bent nose pliers, round nose pliers, and wire cutters. 

Cut your chain and create the necklace base.

My teardrop chain was about 7 inches long and I wanted the other two strands of chain to lay easily under that so I cut 2 lengths of chain 8 1/2 inches and 9 1/2 inches. I added a tiny jump ring to each end of my teardrop chain to enable it to lay correctly. If you make your own teardrop chain, you'll put a tiny jump ring between each teardrop and then put one on each end. 

Add the teardrop chain and the other two chains to a large jump ring, shortest to longest. Close the jump ring. 

Do the same with the other ends of the chains on another jump ring ensuring all chain is laying flat.

Next you'll create the chain that attaches the bottom part of the necklace to the closure. Cut length of chain at 11 inches and then cut it in half.  Use a small jump ring to attach a lobster clasp to one of the chains and attach a medium jump ring to the other. This will be your closure. You can add a small chain to that jump ring if you'd like to make the necklace more adjustable. I usually do. When you hook them together, the closure will look like this below.

Set this aside. We'll attach it later. Or you can do it now. Whatever you like.

Let's bead up the necklace. 

Create simple loops above all the beads.
Here's a reminder on how to make a simple loop if you need it...

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. 

Once that's done we'll need to attach the beads to the necklace.

Before attaching beads, safety pin this portion of your necklace to something stable. I like to use this bust. It's easiest. Twist open the simple loop with the bent nose pliers, slide it around a link in the chain and then twist back closed. 

Attach the white beads evenly on both chains. Start in the middle on the top chain and work your way out. I only had 5 metal rondelle beads so I spaced those out best I could-use as many as you like! Place them in the windows of the white beads. Fill in the empty spots with the champagne beads. 

The necklace seemed like it still had empty spots and needed something different than the champagne beads. I had these tiny clear acrylic teardrop beads, but was not really sure hot to create a simple loop above them. This may not be the best way, but it's what I came up with. Slide in some wire (if you don't have extra wire laying around (I used excess wire cut from creating simple loops from long head pins- I'm a weirdo and keep this scrap wire for times like this and making my own jump rings). Then use your round nose pliers to to mold one side of the wire into a loop, then the other side. Use the round nose pliers to continue to mold the two ends together in a circle above the bead. Use the wire cutters to cut the wires directly above the point of the teardrop. Done. It goes fast, once you get the hang of it. Attach these to any holes you see to add a little more shine. 

Finally you'll attach the closure chains to either side of the bottom part of the necklace by twisting open the large jump ring and sliding on the chain and twisting the jump ring closed.

Oh, yeah.

Statement Necklace Goodness.

Hope you love it. Thanks for reading!  

I have been sharing most of my jewelry tutorials over at 30 Days blog lately, but starting next month I will be a craft contributor there instead of jewelry contributor which means I get to share more jewelry here! Get ready for more great jewelry ideas! 

I'll be sharing this necklace tutorial at my favorite link parties.