How to ...

So after a long pause, I'm posting to explain how to make a necklace. I saw a necklace on pinterest I liked so over time I hunted down the beads I needed and figured out how to put it together. So now people are asking how to do it and this is the best place for me to put together a picture how to, so here goes. This is the finished necklace.

Here is the layout of each section. There are 11 rows. For each row you need two pins, a big chain and a small chain, two gold beads, a small lime bead, a raspberry bead, a pink bubble gum bead, and an oval turquoise bead. Line up the chains so that you string the first row in the very middle link of each chain. 

The top pin will have the green bead, all the way to the last gold bead on it and the bottom pin will just have the turquoise bead on it.  Here are the first steps: 

See, we have strung the green bead first and then the middle link of the smaller chain.

So as you can see, you simply string the raspberry bead next after the chain, then a gold bead and then a pink bead.

Next, string the middle link of the largest chain on and follow with another gold bead. After this we will use pliers to make a ring to close off the row.

I forget the name of these pliers, but as you can see the tips are rounded. So, you bend the wire back, then twist it around the tip, like so:

OK ,now we will set that down and take the other pin and string the turquoise bead onto it.

We are then going to twist the end just like we did with the top side of the row.

Use wire cutters to clip off the excess wire on both pins.  You can use your pliers to make sure the ring on the top pin is securely closed.  Leave the ring on the turquoise bead side slightly open so you can hook it through the top ring.

Then make sure you close it off tightly as well.  This will all seem quite awkward if you have never done this before.  Practice makes perfect or better yet, good enough, so make sure you have lots of pins to practice on.  Now you will be doing 5 more rows on each side of this one, in exactly the same fashion. Here's the tricky part. 

This is upside down really, but as you string the chains on each additional row, make sure the chain is not twisted. just flatten it out by running your finger down the chain.  

Make sure on the larger bottom chain that you string the next row 3 links out from the last row.  But, on the little chain on top, you are gradually going to string the links closer together so that the necklace curves nicely.  This will depend on the sizes of your chains so just practice stringing the pins through to make sure you find the right intervals.  My first rows from the center on the smaller top chain were 5 links apart and then I went to four and then three links apart. After you do this, you'll want to place the hook and eye closure on the ends of the bottom larger chain

You use a jump ring for this, which we will also use in the next step so I'll move ahead. Choose the spot where the smaller chain will meet the larger chain on a model or yourself if no one will help. (Not sure why boys aren't up for that job, but oh well. ) Open a jump ring, easy with just your hands or pliers,

and hook it to the ends of the small chain and then hook that to the sweet spot on the large chain where it hangs nicely. You can just mark the links so you don't have to do this on a person. Once you thread the jump ring through the two chains, close it back off with the pliers. That's it! Ta da! You can make matching earrings as well!