Making Beaded Necklaces

Hi, my name is Shyanne Uhrig. As a student at Lake Area Technical College with a part-time job, I like to stay busy with other things to do. One thing I enjoy doing is making beaded necklaces. I am currently working on making it a small business for young adults who enjoy wearing jewelry. Today I will be demonstrating how to properly make a necklace.

First, you will want to gather your materials. You will need a pair of pliers, a bead palette, crimp beads, your choice of glass beads, a lobster claw, a spilt ring, and your choice string I prefer the clear stretch cord with a .5mm diameter.

To begin the necklace there needs to be a desired length of cord. Typically, clients like to have their necklaces shorter. Usually, the length of these are 16 inches. Next, we are going to focus on the lobster claw with the crimp bead and the clear stretch cord. First, you will thread the string through the small hole at the end of the lobster claw. Then thread the cord through the crimp bead, but make sure the crimp bead is as close to the lobster claw as possible to ensure it will not slip. Finally, to finish this step grab the pliers and crimp the crimp bead to lock the cord in place. This is like a clean knot that will not slip giving the end of the necklace a nice clean look.

After the end is tied successfully grab the bead palette and the choice of beads the client prefers. The bead palette is a tray that sets up the necklace pattern and gives a rough estimation of the number of beads that will be needed. After the necklace pattern is chosen to thread the beads onto the clear stretch cord. Continue this until the necklace is all the way finished leaving about an inch or maybe a little less to ensure there will be enough room to tie the necklace off.

Finally, to tie off the end of the necklace it will be like the start of the necklace just with a few other materials. Grab the spilt ring and another crimp bead. Thread the crimp bead and the split ring onto the cord, but make sure the crimp bead stays before the spilt ring. Then loop the cord back around and through the crimp bead. Pull the cord tight to ensure the cord will not slip through and then grab the pliers and crimp the crimp bead down. If there is any leftover string cut it off but be sure not to cut the rest of the necklace.