* The supplies for this tutorial were provided to me free of charge by FizzyPops.com. The design and opinions are my own.
The 4th of July is coming! I adore holidays and I adore my little girl, so I always make sure that she has a ridiculous holiday outfit. I’m going to dress her up for as long as she will let me! Luckily, we share a mutual love for bling, so it is very easy to get her to wear jewelry with her ensembles, on holidays or otherwise. Naturally, I couldn’t help myself when I got the opportunity to make her a patriotic necklace using beads from Fizzy Pops.
I checked out the supplies at Fizzy Pops and had my eye on the gigantic gumball beads, but I accidentally ordered small ones. I’m so glad that I did, because I ended up being inspired to make this necklace and we are both delighted with how it turned out! I wanted it to look full and wild, a bit like fireworks. I think it worked, do you?
If you would like to make this necklace you will need the following supplies:
Measure out your chain. My was about 18 inches. You can adjust the length depending on the age and size of the future wearer.
Add a lobster clasp to one end of your chain by using a jump ring.
Lay out your plan for the necklace. I usually try to do a pattern for this type of necklace so that it looks random but all of the colors are still spread pretty evenly.
Now you just have to start attaching beads. This is not a difficult process, but it is a time consuming one when you are dealing with this many beads. Stick it out – it’s worth it! Let’s walk you through the process of attaching a bead to the chain.
First you put an eyepin through a bead.
Take your round nosed pliers and place them near the bead. Bend the eyepin wire to the side, as shown below.
Adjust the pliers a bit and grab the end of the eyepin wire with the flat nosed pliers. Twist it over the top, but don’t close the bottom, as shown below.
Thread the wire through the chain. Hold the loop shut with your round nosed pliers. Grab the end of the wire with your flat nosed pliers and twist it around the wire to close the loop off. Snip off the end with the wire snips.
Now that you’ve seen the wire wrapping process, let me show you my process.
As I showed you earlier, first I lay out a pattern of beads. Then I start adding them gradually. I started with the largest beads, the chunky berry beads. Since I was doing 5 red ones, I folded the chain in half and attached one of them to the center loop. Then I decided how far out I wanted to go and attached the same beads there. Then I added the two in between. Next I added the white berry beads in between the red ones, and so on. I add one type of bead at a time. The nice thing about this type of necklace is that if you make a mistake and it’s not perfect then that’s ok! It’ll be all jumbled up anyway!
Let’s see it in action, shall we? This little goofball did not want to pose sweetly for the camera. Sorry for all of the pics. Couldn’t help myself! 🙂
I love the plastic beads for this design because they aren’t heavy, so the necklace doesn’t get weighed down and end up looking like a V. It stayed nice and evenly curved. She loves it and even insisted on sleeping in it when I gave it to her. I am absolutely planning to make another one like it for Christmas, Halloween, and everyday use!! I can’t get enough! I hope you are inspired to make one like it!
If you like this idea then you are going to LOVE these festive, patriotic hair bows:
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Angie Rose says
May 28, 2017 at 11:00 pmI’ve always wanted to learn how to make jewelry! This looks so cute & easy to make!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
June 2, 2017 at 1:44 pmThis style is time consuming, but easy. Just turn on Netflix and go to town. 😉
Lori Leeper says
May 30, 2017 at 1:28 pmWhat a sweet necklace! She looks like she’s enjoying it! 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Dishing It & Digging It!
Jessi says
May 30, 2017 at 3:11 pmThese are adorable! I’ll need to make these for my kids! Thanks for linking up with #turnitupTuesday
Beverly says
June 1, 2017 at 6:26 amLove the necklace, but she is just too cute.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful posts at Over The Moon Party.
See you next week.
Hugs,
Bev
Katherines Corner says
June 7, 2017 at 11:28 amso cute! the necklace is nice too, wink. Thank you for sharing at TFT, pinned xo
Sarah Westover McKenna says
June 14, 2017 at 2:36 pmThank you! 🙂