BRACCIALETTO DI PERLE

Golden pearl bracelet project:

I’ve used 10mm golden simulated pearls to make this golden pearl bracelet. You can follow exactly the same techniques for attaching a clasp to a necklace, made exactly the same way as the bracelet. The only difference is that the necklace will be longer than the bracelet.

What you need:

• 19 strand Beadalon or Softflex wire
• golden (or any other color) 10mm pearls
• 10mm silver tube spacer beads
• bead caps to fit the pearls (4mm)
• 4mm Swarovski clear crystal beads
• 3mm silver ball spacer beads
• 1” chain with links of 4mm wide and 5mm long
• crimp beads
• headpin
• crimping pliers
• round nose pliers
• chain nose pliers
• wire or side cutters

Step 1:

This is actually the last step in making your golden pearl bracelet, but doing it first will help you not to loose all the beads that you’ve strung! You will see what I mean when we get to step 6. Cut off 5-10 links of chain. Attach a jump ring to one end of the chain as described on the page how to open and close jump rings. On the other end of the chain you can attach a headpin with a crystal bead as described on the page headpin loop.Put this aside for now, you will need it for step 6.

Step 2:

Cut off a piece of Beadalon or Softflex wire, at least 2” longer than the length of your bracelet. See the Bracelet size guidefor the correct length. You can decide whether you want to use 1 or 2 crimp beads for attaching the clasp. I’ve used 2, not for any particular reason. String your crimp bead/s followed by the lobster clasp onto your wire.

Step 3:

Take the end of the wire and fold it back through the crimp bead/s.

Step 4:

Use your crimping pliers to compress your crimp beads into tiny balls. Click here to see How to use crimp beads and crimping pliers.

Step 5:

Don’t cut off the tail of the wire that is folded back through. Start to string your beads onto both pieces of wire.

String your beads in the following order: silver ball spacer bead, Swarovski crystal, bead cap, pearl, bead cap, Swarovski crystal, silver ball spacer, 10mm tube spacer, silver ball spacer etc.

Step 6:

When you come to the end of the stringing process, string 1 or 2 crimp beads onto the wire followed by the chain extension from step 1. Take the end of the wire and fold it back through the crimp bead/s. Pull the tail of the wire to form a loop, and make sure there are no gaps left between the beads.

Step 7:

Use your crimping pliers to compress the crimp beads into tiny balls. Cut off the extra wire that is left. There might still be a small piece of wire left which can be very irritating and scratchy. To avoid that, press the scratchy piece of wire into the bead next to it. Congratulations, you've just made a beautiful golden pearl bracelet!