Making a Blue Necklace

I found some interesting clear glass beads with blue swirls that reminded me of the marbles I had as a kid. I may have lost my marbles (heh!) but inspiration can still strike, so I bought them along with some smaller blue glass beads and made this necklace!

There were only 11 large beads on the strand, and glass beads can get quite heavy. I don't imagine people want too much weight around their necks all day, so I used the smaller blue beads for most of the overall length. Using them as spacers between the larger beads helps keep the piece looking consistent and allows the whole necklace to flex more fluidly. This is especially important because it is strung on beading wire instead of a polymer stretch cord or even monofilament.

As you can see here, I left a few millimeters of room at the end of the strand before forming a loop with a crimp bead. This allowed space for the beads to move as the wire flexes and thus doesn't add stress to the crimp. It also made it easier to affix the crimp bead cover. The crimp bead cover is a C-shaped thin metal piece that looks like a shiny silver bead after it has been properly closed, and makes the ugly crimp mess into something attractive. Finally, to finish the necklace, I used jump rings to link short segments of chain and a clasp for closure. I also made sure several slightly different lengths were all options.

If you would like more details about using crimp beads or any other aspect of making necklaces like this one, please comment below! And I apologize for any typos that resulted from composing my post on my phone