by: Pam Kearns
No it's not the popular chainmaille pattern; this necklace uses a new product to BeadFX: Silver Silk Galaxy. This wire mesh is great to 'capture' beads within it or to go through beads as a stringing materials. Structurally, it is like Viking Knit so you can pull it through a drawplate to narrow it down (which makes it longer). Likewise, I found that inserting a knitting needle down the length of the pushed open the diameter.
For this project I filled the mesh with 8mm Swarovski pearls.
To start, trim the mesh down to about 20" (you'll trim it down more). Insert a headpin into one of the pearls and insert it into the mesh about 1" so that the headpin extends beyond the end of the tube. Start filling the tube from the other end with all but one pearl (set aside). The tube just fits the pearls and I used a knitting needle to help push the pearl down. A narrow dowel is an alternative to the knitting needle. As with the first pearl, insert a headpin into the last pearl and insert so that the headpin extends beyond the mesh tube.
Because the tube is wire, squish the mesh around one of the headpins very close to the pearl. Insert the headpin/pearl into the bead cap and do a wirewrap loop on the headpin, securing it in the cone. The mesh will tuck itself in the cone.
Ensure that the pearls are snugged up to each other in the necklace and repeat the previous step on the other end of the necklace. You may need to trim some of the mesh.
To assemble, cut the chain into two pieces - one piece longer than the other. In this case, one piece has six links and the other has eleven links. Attach the short piece to one end of the necklace using a jumpring. Attach the lobster clasp to the other end of the short piece using another jumpring.
Attach the longer piece to the other end of the necklace using a jumpring. Attach the fourth jumpring six links from the necklace end; this creates the closure for the necklace. Insert the third headpin into the remaining pearl and complete a simple loop and attach it to the last link of the long chain. The long chain can be used as an extender to vary the overall length of the necklace.
That's it!
Components
Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.
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