Fall Season - Lesson 4: Putting Two Necklaces Together

How do I put two necklaces together?

In the previous 3 episodes, we used Tila beads from Miyuki to create 2 bracelets, 1 pair of earrings and 1 necklace. Today we will also create a necklace, but this time we will use chain to make jewelry and Miyuki delica beads. Delica are another type of beads made by Miyuki. They are small cylindrical beads. These beads which are part of the seed beads are ideal for loom and needle bead weaving. Don't worry, we are not going to do any bead weaving today. We're just going to use these beads to create a simple necklace. But you'll have quite a few beads left over after this project, so if you'd like to try your hand at bead weaving later, you'll have some of the materials to test out. We'll put some links to beginner tutorials to try bead weaving at the bottom of the page.

In this lesson, you will learn how to make a necklace with beads and wire and attach a clasp to the wire. Then we will use jewelry chain to create a second necklace and see how to join these two necklaces to use only one clasp. The method used to create the beaded necklace is the same as in episode 1 summer season: How to make a necklace with beads? We invite you to check out that lesson first, as it is already very complete, and we are in danger of repeating ourselves here. For this other fall version, we will simply add some wire guards.

NB: Some of the products listed have also been used in other episodes of the Fall and Summer Beginner Jewelry Training. If you have followed these other episodes, check if you have these products in your stock and adjust the quantities if necessary.

1- What is a wire guard and why use one?

A wire protector is a small U-shaped accessory made of two tubes on each side and a channel. When finishing the necklace, after threading the bead to be crushed, the wire is passed through the first tube, into the channel and then into the second tube. The wire is then turned around and can be passed through the bead to be crushed a second time. This accessory is not mandatory to make a necklace or a bracelet. You could pass the wire around a closed ring instead. It protects the wire from friction. Normally, it is used with wired wires. These are wires that are made of small braided steel strands. Here, we used nylon wire, but it can still protect the wire.

In addition to the wire protection aspect, this can also be an aesthetic choice. They help give a more professional look to the design. There are different sizes and materials of wire guards available. Choose a wire guard that is a little larger than your wire.

2- Choosing charms and pendants

There is not really a difference between a charm and a pendant except for the size, but that is up to the individual. Charms and pendants usually have a ring welded to the shape. Sometimes they are accompanied by a second ring open or closed attached to the first. Sequins, on the other hand, have a hole and occasionally an unwelded ring.

When choosing your charms for a design on our site, you need to pay attention to several things:

• The size of the charm. Is it proportional to the chain or the beads? The pictures can be misleading. They are very zoomed in and sometimes give the impression that the charm is very large when it is only a few millimeters. Always use a ruler or a caliper to get an idea of the size. The dimensions are indicated on each product page. You can also make a small sketch to scale.
• Is the ring open or closed? If the charm has a ring and you want to attach it to a chain, check if the ring is open. If it is not, you will need to add open rings to your basket to hang the charm.
• The thickness and size of the ring. Make sure the wire of the ring is thin enough to pass through the links of the chain. If the inside dimension of the link is not indicated on the product page, don't hesitate to ask customer service.
• The direction of the ring. In order for your pendant to be front-facing when you wear it and not side-facing, the ring must be in profile. Remember to check this. If it is not the case, you will have to add a ring. This way, the pendant will turn 90°.

3- How to cut jewelry chain?

Fine soft metal chains are easily cut with a small, inexpensive cutter. Soft metals are aluminum, copper, brass, gold filled and 925 silver. For very thin chains, the classic cutter may not be precise enough. You can still use it, but you can also use a flush cutter which will be more precise. These very sharp pliers can also cut metal wires and bead wire accurately.

The thicker the chain, the more difficult it will be to cut. Therefore, choose a strong, but not very expensive cutter to cut stubborn chains and don't use too much force to avoid breaking your pliers. For very thick chains, like XXL chains, you will have to use DIY tools... Large cutting pliers, hacksaw, etc. Big chains need big tools.

For stainless steel chains, which is a very hard metal, you'll need to use shear pliers. It will not work on very large chains either.

4- Beginner tutorials to learn bead weaving

Find below 3 tutorials to learn bead weaving. You will discover 3 different bead weaving techniques: Loom weaving, Peyote weaving and Brick Stitch weaving. These 3 techniques, although very different, are accessible to beginners. To learn more about bead weaving, we invite you to read these articles as well:

• All the materials for bead weaving
• Durability of Miyuki colors

Learn how to weave on a loom

Easy Miyuki Loom Bracelet

Learn Peyote weaving

Peyote Pair Bracelet

Learn Brick Stitch weaving

Brick Stitch earrings