DIY JCrew Costume Jewelry | Pearl and Chain Necklace | Part 2: Process

Let's get down to business. See the post directly below this one for the supplies list.

Start by cutting approximately 1.5" of wire, and place it between your pliers/stationery clamping device (oh how I wish I had a bench clamp...) with about a half-inch sticking up to work with.

Sorry this photo is blurry!

Grab the wire with the round tweezers about 0.25" down from the top. You'll be making a loop and wrapping, so make sure you will have some extra wire to wrap. If you have too much, you can always clip the extra off, so better to have too much than too little. Also make sure you grab the wire a little ways up the shaft of the round tweezers, so the loop you end up with is big enough.

Wishing I had bough tweezers with a lager handle about now... these must have been made for midgets. Or eight-year-old child laborers. Eek.

Grab on and twist around in a clockwise motion, until the wire has crossed itself.

Now you have a little loop.

Thread the end of your 2-inch section of chain onto this loop.

Holding the loop with the round tweezers in your left hand, take the bent-tip tweezers in your right and twist clockwise around the vertical wire 2-3 times. If there are tiny gaps, don't worry -- just take the bent-tip or small pinchers and squeeze the loops together. Then trim off any extra wire you may have, and pinch it down so it's close to the chain.

Imagine my right hand is on those tweezers on my knee, twisting the wire towards myself...

When you take it out of the clamp, you should have this: A section of wire with a loop and chain on one end. There's a nice little glamour shot of my tools I'm using as well, clockwise from left to right: round wrapping tweezers, small pinchers, and bent-tip pinchers.

Now it's time for the first pearl. Secure the looped end of chain in your clamp, with a little bit of wrapping sticking up. We don't want to create a gap between the pearl and the two wrapped ends. We want it snug in between so it looks nice and neat. Now repeat the first part: grab the wire with your round tweezers and twist clockwise, add another section of chain, and wrap around 2-3 times, or until the wire is right up next to the top of the pearl.

I made this piece of wire much too long! I think this piece was 2.5". Guess I need to follow my own directions...

And repeat! Soon you should have something that looks like this:

A close-up so you can see the wire wrapping.

Now it's starting to take shape! Perty.

In total, you should end up with 13 pearls and 14 sections of 2" chain. 

For finishing the ends, you can either use a clasp and two jumpring, or simply two jumprings. In this case, I just used two jumprings. (Its way easier to buy pre-made jumprings than to try to make circles yourself out of the wire -- I tried that and it looked awful.) Simply take your jumpring and bend it open with your tweezers, loop it onto the end of the chain, and close it again with the tweezers.

Good luck with your own projects! I hope this helps you make your own version of the pearl-and-chain necklace.

Please note: I'm pretty much a novice at this, and have just been learning as I go along. If there are any more experienced jewelers who are reading this, feel free to share your knowledge with us in the comments. :)