Hi everyone! This is my first official post so I wanted to make it a cool one. I'm a big fan of pendants and earrings, and since I'm not a millionaire sometimes it's easier to just make these things ma'self.
In honor of my BFFs birthday this weekend, we went up to Rockport, MA to partake in the epically delicious Roy Moore's Lobster Shack, and ended up stopping by the local beadery as well, www.shopbeadles.com. The had a pretty stunning display of very cool looking beads, especially all the turquoise, for which I'm a sucker.
BFF came away with a beautiful teardrop pendant (Turquoise of course), but I couldn't stop myself from diving into the bargain bin. Found two sets of discount beads and couldn't wait to get home and wire them into some kind of adornment.
Pictures are blurry and weirdly lit, sorry but I took these on my sketchpad in my tiny bedroom. I'll refine my methods soon, don't worry :)
First things first, the tools for this project. Two old-ass needlenose pliers from my childhood tool shed, and a wire cutter that my grandfather may have owned.
Obviously I don't throw down for the actual tools that you're supposed to use, just see what I can refashion from stuff lying around my apartment.
The findings, a.k.a. anything that makes up the jewelry aside from the actual jewels (and by jewels I mean the pretty pieces of plastic we're using in place of jewels).
So, my first step was to put one of the beads on the head pin (the tiny delicate looking nail), and start crafting the loop that'll hold the pendant on a necklace chain or earring hook. A couple of millimeters above the top of the bead, bend the head pin at about a 45 degree angle away from the center.
Make sure to leave a little space between the bend and the top of the bead so you can wrap the head pin back around itself to make a circle.
It helps if you can hold the head pin in place with one set of pliers, then use the other pliers to wrap the end of the pin back around itself. Takes a little dexterity and I find that swearing profusely helps a lot.
I try to wrap the end of the pin back around itself as far as it can go, then snip off the last remaining bit of pin with the wire cutters. I then try to smoosh the raw edge of the cut pin back into the metal coil of the pendant loop USING THE PLIERS. Smooshing ragged metal pin tips with your bare fingers is tetanusy and frustrating.
If you look really close up, it's not the prettiest loop in the world, but hey we're not winning prizes for neatness up in here. Most people don't closely scrutinize other people's jewelry and how it's put together, so I wouldn't be too worried about making it perfect. As long as it holds together and doesn't skewer you in the neck, you're good.
I take a little jump ring, open it a bit and pop the new pendant on there. Since the loop we made on the actual pendant is kinda small, it helps to have a slightly larger one hold it on to the necklace/earring hook. Also I like to mix and match pendants with each other, so the easier it is to take on and off a chain, the more sane I'll be by the time I make it to work.
Here's what the final product looks like. Simple, but effective.
