Bejeweled chain necklace DIY for people who can’t make jewelry

Posted on 19. Jul, 2011 by Princess Lasertron in craft, projects

First, I read a lot of blogs written by people who are amazing jewelcrafters and designers (like The Glamourai and Leah Ashley) and I am in complete awe of their creativity and skill. Like many of you, my bracelet and necklace-making endeavors are limited to brief flashes of inspiration I get going through my grandma’s jewelry boxes, or pawing around in baskets of vintage baubles in secondhand stores. I never make jewelry, but sometimes it’s fun to go outside my comfort zone and try to make something different.

I was at Second Chance Antiques last week on a without-Alice day looking for buttons, and I found this long, thick gold chain in a box in the basement. It was just my style for a necklace–bold, singular, a little gaudy–and I got the idea to use some of my favorite pairs of vintage clip-on earrings (with the clip hinge removed) to embellish it.

I had planned to attach the earrings to the chain with jump rings, but I didn’t have the right size, so I just improvised with some 20 gauge floral wire, twisted it around the chain, and snipped off the ends. Below I stepped out my process if you want to create something similar!

This method would be great for any length or thickness of chain, especially if you had the right size of jump ring–ha. If you have to loop the chain around a few times, you can attach the earrings in a way that binds them all together too.

I like it.
xo
meg

Tags: diy, jewelry