I've had these large faux pearls sitting in my stash for pretty much EVER so I thought I would finally use them for something. I love how they're graduated in size, and I adore the midnight blue color. They match perfectly with the antiqued brass chain I had laying around here as well. I'll show you how to string the pearls onto beading wire and crimp the ends so they can be attached to chain with jump rings creating a unique necklace.

What you need:

• wire cutters
• jewelry pliers
• crimp forming pliers
• 2 small crimp tubes
• 2 crimp covers
• beads or pearls
• length of chain
• 25ga/45mm metallic beading wire

You can use any type of beads or pearls, and chain that you like as long as they match each other in color and weight. Try to match your beading wire, jump rings, crimp beads and covers to the finish of your chain (I didn't have brass crimps/covers so I just used gold toned ones - w/e works). If you're using large or heavy glass pearls like I am, you definitely want to make sure you use beading wire to string them. Beading wire is strong enough to support the heavier beads, and will last a lot longer without breaking. String or thread would probably break a lot sooner than the beading wire.

Cut a length of beading wire that is at least three or four times as long as the length of the beads would be on the wire. My beads measured 3 inches long when lined up in a row, so I cut my wire to be at least 9 inches. The extra length gives you room to work with when you're putting on the crimp tubes.

On one end of the wire, slip on a crimp tube and loop the end of the wire back around and through the crimp tube again. You'll end up with a loop on one side of the crimp tube with both ends of the wire coming out the other side - one short end, and one long. Pull on the long end while grasping the crimp tube until the loop is fairly small, but big enough for your jump ring to fit through with extra room later.

With your crimping pliers, make your first pinch over the crimp tube using the half-moon shaped portion of the pliers. Ideally, you want each wire separated on it's own side of the crimp after you've pinched it the first time. If they shifted to the same side, it's not the end of the world. Then, using the rounded slot of the crimping pliers, grasp the pinched crimp again and squeeze it closed. If all went well it'll look like the picture below. To secure it even further, pinch it a little more with some needle nose pliers. That baby ain't coming undone!

Now you can slip on the crimp cover, and gently squeeze it shut over the crimp tube using your crimping pliers. Try not to catch any of the wires coming out of the bottom in the crimp cover when you're closing it. Trim the shorter tail so it's about a centimeter long then string on your pearls/beads. You should be able to slip your beads over the tail and hide it. Once you've got your beads on the wire in your desired pattern/length, you get to put on another crimp tube in the same way as the first. Only this time, it's a bit trickier since you have to put on the tube with all those beads in your way. Just take your time and remember to keep the beads in a curved shape as you're securing the crimp tube. Otherwise, the beads won't have enough wiggle room on the wire once you've attached them to the necklace, and they'll sit funny.

Once your second loop is crimped and covered, take the short wire tail and feed it through one or two of the beads next to the crimp, then snip it off with your wire cutters.

The hardest part is over! Woohoo! Now all you have to do is grab yourself a couple jump rings (a size/thickness that matches your chain more or less) and attach each end of the pearl strand to an end of the chain. Lastly, if your chain doesn't already have some kind of clasp attached you'll have to add that on as well with a couple more jump rings.

That's it! You're done! I will probably be making more variations of this necklace next week with different colors and metals and listing them in my Etsy shop. Stop by if you'd like one! :O)

As usual, let me know if you try this tutorial. I'd love to hear from you!

Handmade items by Billie Monster on Etsy.

This project feartured here: One Pretty Thing, also on CraftGawker, Pinterest

Link party ♥: Frugalicious Friday, Creation Corner, Frugal Friday, Sassy Sites, Kojo Designs, My Romantic Home, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Simply Designing, Simply Sweet Home, Fun to Craft, Cookie Nut Creations