27 July 2007

DIY Pearl/Ribbon Necklace

I made these for my bridal party to wear at the wedding. One of them is allergic to most metals so I am hoping that the rings wrapped in ribbon and the crimp bead lifted off her neck will be fine.

First you need the pearls. I bought a strand of champagne-colored, freshwater ones long enough for 3 necklaces from eBay for under $10 including S&H.

After procrastinating all month I finally got my stuff together. For each necklace I used clear filamentous string (a.k.a. fishing line), crimp beads (.06 per necklace), 2 7mm double rings (.14 per necklace), between 70 and 74 pearls ($3.33 per necklace), scissors to cut the line, and multi-purpose tool with needle nose pliers for the crimp beads.

Run a line through a crimp bead, around a ring, back through the crimp bead, and crimp the bead close to the ring so that there is hardly any space. Leave a 3" tail and begin stringing the pearls so that 3" of them are run through both pieces of line. At the end of the string run the line through another crimp bead, ring, crimp bead again and string 3" of that line back through the strung pearls. Pull the string as tight as you can so that you can crimp the bead as close to the ring and pearls as possible. Nothing is connected at this time.


Cut a 24" to 30" piece of 1" satin ribbon (.34 to .50 per necklace). Notch the ends. Run this piece of ribbon through both rings and tie in a bow. Here is my wonderful fiance modeling the back of the necklace for me.


Each necklace turned out to costs about $4 for supplies alone. If you won't ever use the rest of the supplies again this necklace turns out to be $6 with a bunch of wasted supplies. However I am sure that you will finish using the spool of ribbon (I am a ribbon fiend) and fishing line is always handy. The crimp beads and rings were $1.99 each from JoAnn's Fabrics in quantities of 70 and 30 respectively. You can give them to a crafter or even ask for a few from a friend that makes jewelry.


I love that I did these and they took like 45 for 3 of them. I just need to notch the ribbon better.

3 comments:

Kia said...

As a note, silk cord would work better but I didn't have any and my craft store is out. The monofilament's strength can be compromised when squished with the crimp bead. Tiger tail and other metal strings don't drape as nice but hold up for a while too.

LEwalt said...

I'm very interested in your idea. I have 8 Bridesmaids and have been trying to figure out a necklace for them. They will be wearing strapless dresses and I think these would be great. I wnated to use silk cord like you suggested. How long would the silk cord need to be? I found some silk cord at 42" for $2.50 each. Would suggest I purchase it? Also, where should I get the beads. I was thinking white pearls. Any suggestions would be great help! Thanks again for such a creative idea.

Anonymous said...

what do you mean by "notch" the ends?