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DIY Beaded Necklace Tutorial: Creating a Stunning Strand for Silver Pendants
I love necklaces, but I don’t always need my pendants to sit on a matching chain, sometimes I love the look of metal pendants on a beaded necklace strand. If you love this look too, here’s a fun tutorial that shows you how to make your own so that you can wear your favourite pendants on bead embellished necklaces! Please note that this tutorial contains affiliate links.
You’ll need the following tools and materials to make your beaded necklace strand for your pendant:
1: Some tiger tail wire. I used some thin tiger tail wire. Cut it to length by measuring out the length you would like your necklace to be, and add around additional 15 centimetres.
You can get wire here:
2: Pliers. I used my cutting pliers and flat nose pliers. I kept my round nose pliers on hand in case I needed them.
You can get plier sets here:
3: Some beads. I used these small round garnet beads. (Choose smaller beads to ensure that your pendant will slide over them easily).
You can get round gemstone beads here:
4: A pendant. I used this silver gemstone pendant. Make sure it has a bail (the loop at the top) that is large enough to fit over the beads you choose. I purchased this one at a local flea market, which can be a place to buy interesting jewellery.
You can get silver and gemstone pendants here:
5: Two sterling silver crimp beads.
You can get sterling silver crimp beads here:
6: A sterling silver clasp and additional jump ring.
You can get silver clasps and jump rings here:
Here are the steps to follow to make your beaded necklace strand to wear your pendant on:
1: Add the crimp bead and clasp to the end of the tiger tail wire.
2: Loop the end of the wire around the jump ring on the clasp twice so that it is secure, then thread it through the crimp bead.
3: Squash the crimp bead using the flat nose pliers.
4: Begin adding beads, continue beading until you have a length you like.
5: Add the second crimp bead to the necklace (excuse my bent wire, it got a little tangled, if this happens to you, continue adding beads and it will smooth out, or try to avoid having kinks in the working section of your necklace).
6: Add the second jump ring to the end of the wire.
7: Loop the wire around the jump ring twice like you did in step two.
8: Thread the wire back through the crimp and the first few beads on the wire. Make sure to pull it tight, extra pliers can be useful for getting a tight fit.
9: Squash the crimp using the flat nose pliers again.
10: Trim the excess wire using the cutting pliers.
11: Now you can add your pendant!
12: Once your pendant has been added, your necklace is complete!
Here’s another one I made using a black cabochon pendant on a necklace made with faceted gemstone beads. So pretty! There are so many options using this technique! What combination will you make?
Here are some other pendant necklace tutorials to follow:
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How to Make a Chain Necklace (With A stunning pendant in the middle)
Here’s another way to make a necklace. Using some chain and a handful of beads, this pendant necklace is quick to make and lovely to look at!
You will need the following tools and materials to make this necklace:
1. For this necklace you will need the round nose pliers, flat nose pliers and cutting pliers.
2. Some jewelry chain.
3. Three eye pins.
4. Two head pins.
5. A lobster clasp.
6. Beads for the body of your pendant.
I used a carved bone bead, two round lapis lazuli beads and one round garnet bead for my pendant.
7. Beads for the tassels that will be attached to the body of the pendant.
I used some black seed beads and two carved bone beads to make my tassels.
8. Two accent beads that will be added to the length of your chain.
I used two lapis lazuli tube beads as my accent beads in this necklace.
The Steps
1. Start with threading the pins. Thread your two accent beads onto two of the eye pins.
2. Then thread the beads you’ve chosen for the body of your pendant onto the third eye pin.
3. Finally, you need to add the leftover beads onto the two head pins so that they match.
4. Once all your pins have been beaded, bend the tops of the pin at a right angle to the beaded portion. Make sure you do this for all the pins.
Here are all my beaded pins with the ends bent at a right angle, ready to trim. 5. Trim the pins using the cutting pliers so that you can curl the ends into a small loop. I try to leave approximately 1centimetres (0.4 inches). Make sure you hold onto the pin on either side of the pliers to prevent it from flying away from you.
6. Once all your pins have been trimmed, use the round nose pliers to curl them into a loop that ends close to the bead.
7. once all your loops have been formed you can start putting the charm together. Take one of your beaded tassels and open the loop slightly.
8. Slide the pendant body onto this loop and then close it. Repeat this step for the second tassel as well.
9. Now your beaded pendant is complete!
10. Now you can start preparing your chain to form the necklace. My chain came in a loop, so I had to open two links to form two separate pieces of chain. Open the chain link like you would a jump ring, using round nose and flat pliers to pull the ends apart.
11. Open the top loop on your beaded pendant and slide one end of both pieces of chain onto the loop. When you have added the pendant to the chain you can close the pendant loop again.
12. split the chain again on both sides, keeping close to the center pendant.
13. Open the loops on the accent beads and add them to the gaps you have made in the chain. Once you have done this you can close the loops on the pin. Make sure you add the bead to both sides of the necklace.
14. Now all that is left to do is add the lobster clasp! If you make your necklace long enough you can slip it over your head and skip the clasp all together (you’ll have to rejoin the chain links instead). Otherwise, take the jump rings and open them so that they can slide over the final links of your chain.
15. Slide the clasp and tag onto each of the jump rings and then close them using your pliers.
16. And you are done! Now you can head out wearing your freshly made charm necklace!
