Keepsake Crafts

You might remember these fancy jasper beads I picked up at a bead show last fall.  (Of course unless if you’re like me… I can barely recall what I did yesterday, ha.)

Gotta love these little brass beads, I think they work perfectly.  The stone dagger beads had so much presence that it seemed like they needed to not stand alone, but be accented by multiple strands.

This technique of going from several strands into a bead cap and down to just a single chain not only makes the necklace lighter and more comfortable to wear, but it helps conserve your precious beads.

Click on any of the pics to see them bigger.

Hope you find some pretty beads you love and give this a try yourself. Send me pics of what you’ve done, if you have a sec.  :-)

Still no joy with WordPress letting us embed videos, so here’s the link to the Jasper & Brass Bead Triple Strand Necklace Video Tutorial on my YouTube channel.

Happy creating!

• 1 strand each:
  • fancy jasper dagger beads
  • 4mm round brass beads
  • 2mm faceted brass beads
  • 6mm wooden disk beads
• black seed beads
• 3 – 20 inch pieces beading wire
• crimp beads
• 2 eye pins
• 2 3-hole spacer bars
• 2 bead caps
• 2 6-inch pieces chain
• jump rings

Tools:

• round nose pliers
• 2 pair chain nose pliers
• crimping pliers, if desired
• wire cutters
• bead bugs or other tool for gripping wire

Instructions:

1. String 16 inches of beads onto each 20 inch piece of beading wire, securing ends with bead bugs.
2. Arrange strands in desired order and slip one wire end of each strand through a spacer bar, keeping strands in order.
3. Add ½ inch of seed beads or small beads to each strand coming out of spacer bar.
4. Slide each wire end through a crimp bead, then feed wire back through the crimp bead, leaving a small loop of wire. Crimp with crimping pliers or flatten with chain nose pliers, testing to be sure crimp is secure. Trim off excess wire.
5. Open loop of an eye pin. Place each wire loop onto eye of eye pin. Close eye pin securely and feed through a bead cap.
6. Use chain nose pliers to grasp wire just at point where it exits bead cap.  Bend wire at 90° angle.  Grasp bend with round nose pliers and wrap wire around pliers as far as possible to start to make a loop. Reposition pliers to finish loop.  Wrap remaining wire around wire below 90° bend. Use wire cutters to trim, if necessary. Use chain nose or crimping pliers to tuck in end.
7. Arrange other ends of bead strands in necklace shape. Determine desired spacing of strands, then remove excess beads as needed and repeat steps 2-6 to finish.
8. Attach a piece of 6 inch chain to each wrapped loop, using jump rings, if necessary.
9. Attach lobster clasp to end of one chain with a jump ring.
10. If needed, attach a jump ring to remaining end of chain.