Eclectic Braded Necklace Tutorial by The Scrap Shoppe Blog

Eclectic Braided Necklace

http://www.thescrapshoppeblog.com/2013/02/eclectic-braided-necklace.html

I am so excited about this week!

Why? Because I am teaming up with the Jewelry Queen herself, Bev at Flamingo Toes, to cohost

Jewelry Week! 

Every day this week Bev and I will present you with a new jewelry tutorial.

I can't wait for you to see everything we've made!

I'm kicking off the week with a little knock of myself!

A couple of years ago I made an eclectic braided bracelet and ever since I have wanted to try making a necklace in a similar manner. A few months ago I participated in a handmade jewelry swap and I knew it was finally the opportunity I was waiting for to make the necklace!

Suppplies:

beads

chain of various sizes

2 3-ring spacers

crimp beads

thread

jump rings

necklace clasp

First you need to decided how many pieces you want in each of the 3 strands of the braid. 

I'm going to use 3 pieces per braid strand.

Two of the three pieces will be chain.

I went ahead and decided which pieces of chain I was going to use for each of the 3 strands and trimmed the chain to the length I wanted.

The 3rd piece of each strand is going to be beads.

To create the bead pieces we need to start with a jump ring, thread, and a crimp bead.

Thread the crimp ring then wrap the thread through a jump ring then back through the crimp bead once again.

Cinch the crimp ring and start threading your beads. 

Once all of the beads are threaded, finish the strand off with another crimp bead and jump ring.

Repeat the process two more times for a total of three strands of beads.

Line of the chain and beads into the sections of the braid they will be in.

Attach the three pieces of each strand of the braid to a large jump ring.

Attach each large jump ring to the 3-ring spacer.

Spread the strands out so you can see each of the 3 sections well.

Begin braiding the strands. 

(Tip: I set something heavy on the spacer to keep everything still as I braided.)

Continue braiding until you reach the end of the strands.

Attach large jump rings to the end of each of the 3 strands then attach the jump rings to another 3-ring spacer.

Attach a jump ring to the other side of the spacer and attach the chain for your necklace.

Attach the necklace clasp.

Isn't it chunky and fun?