Monday, June 07, 2010

Make it: Beach Glass Pendants and Magnetic Pearl Bracelets


Underwater fashions rise to the occasion with elegant pearl bracelets and fun beach glass necklaces. The bracelets are made of magnetic pearls so no clasp is needed. Just wrap the 24" length of pearls around your wrist to wear.

Magnetic Pearl Bracelet Supplies:
Magnetic pearls
Gold spacer beads
Bead stringing wire
2 crimp beads
Flat nose pliers


1. Cut off a piece of bead stringing wire that is roughly 32” long. Begin by threading on a crimp bead and one pearl, sliding them down the wire only a small amount. Bring the shorter end of the wire (the end that is closest to the pearl) around the pearl and through the crimp bead. Slide the crimp bead up as close to the pearl as you can get it and flatten the crimp bead with flat nose pliers. This will leave you with a little piece of excess wire; when you string on the first two or so beads, tuck the excess wire into the holes of those beads.


2. Thread pearls onto the wire in a pattern you like. Add decorative gold spacers between some of the beads for extra sparkle. Note: Because magnets have positive and negative poles, your magnetic pearls may repel one another if they are strung up with the positive or negative sides aligned. If this happens, remove the topmost bead and string it back on upside-down.

3. Once the bracelet is around 24” long, finish it off in the same way as described in step 1.

4. To wear just wrap around your wrist - no clasps needed!


Wire Wrapped Beach Glass Pendant

Supplies:
Piece of beach glass
Jewelry wire
Round-nosed jewelry pliers
Flat-nosed jewelry pliers
Leather cord

1. Cut a long piece of wire. A few inches away from one end, twist the wire over to make a loop, and wrap the shorter end of the wire around the loop, leaving a short piece of excess wire sticking out.

2. Wrap the rest of the wire around the glass in a freeform design. When you are happy with how your pendant looks, twist the two ends of the wire together using your fingers and round-nosed pliers. Clamp the wires with flat nosed pliers and tuck the ends into the back of the pendant to prevent the ends of the wires from rubbing against the skin.

3. Thread a piece of leather cord through the loop. You can tie the necklace on with a knot or add a clasp.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:22 PM

    I love beach glass! One of my favorite things to do when we head from AZ to the shores, collect REAL beach glass and see the woodies at the car shows! They are both oldies but goodies, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love to take wire and my jewelry pliers to the beach. Never know what I might come up with :).

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and questions. Sometimes it takes me a few days to reply. Have a wonderful day!

Cathie

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