Firstly you don’t need much and you may have all the supplies around the house but likewise you can contact me and I can get a pack set up for you to do from home.
What you will need….
• Sea glass from your coastal adventures
• Wire either 0.6mm or 0.8mm (I used 0.8mm in this example) size approximately 25cm and in a colour of your choice…did you know you can get not only silver and gold but greens, purples etc.
• Pliers - cutters (essential), round nose (optional).
• Emery board (optional)
• Cord or chain for hanging.
The main thing you need to remember is that the sea glass is set inside securely and that there isn’t any gaps big enough for the piece to slide out. With this in mind I’m going to give you guide lines of how to do this but you can let your own style take over and have fun!
The steps…..
1. Decide which way you would like the sea glass to sit on your neck….which part is back and which is front, which part is top and which is bottom, (every piece of sea glass is different and one side can have imperfections that you would like to show off so bear this in mind before you start).
2. Once you have this figured out it is now time to start…put the piece of sea glass in your left hand (if you are right handed) with the front of the sea glass facing up and place the wire behind it with approximately one inch coming out over the back.
3. At this stage it is ok the make the loop from the top or leave this until a little later if you would like the sea glass secured in the wire a little bit first. If you start now you need to go half way where the wire meets the top of the sea glass and using your round nose pliers wrap the wire around one of the arms (as you can tell the pliers go from narrow to wider, I suggest going to the widest part to wrap as this is an indication of the size of loop you will get and the loop needs to fit through your chain of choice) once you have done this, wrap the wire around the base of the loop a few times to secure it …you can use all the wire or use your cutters to snip off the excess. The advantage of doing your loop at this stage is that you can decide if you would like your loop overlapping the sea glass a bit or not.
4. Remember to place the wire to the back of the sea glass again.
5. Then take the bottom wire and bring it up (approximately 6 o’clock) hold it there with one finger from your left hand then use your right hand to bring the wire across one side (either 3 or 9 o’clok).
6. At this stage you can turn the sea glass over and bring the wire around the back over the wire that runs from top to bottom and around to the front again right across while turning the sea glass at the same time.
- If you decided to leave the loop until now you should find the sea glass is sitting nice and secure. Make a loop at the top…about 1 cm above the sea glass bend the wire back using the round nose pliers then bring it back and secure it with the main spine of the wire along the back.
7. Now wrap the wire again for the last time around the sea glass near the top (make sure the sea glass is secure in your wrapping).
8. Next wrap the wire around the loop you have made a couple of times making sure it is secure before you cut the excess with your pliers.
9. Check that the pieces you cut with the pliers are tucked in nice and close to the wire, if you find that a piece is rough and may scrape your skin use the emery board to sand it smooth.
10. Attach it to your chain and wear it with pride!
I hope you found this easy to follow and if you did make your own sea glass necklace I’d love for you to share your photos with me either below in the comments, or by sending it to me in an email or tagging me on my social media channels.
If you don't have everything you need, here is a link to sea glass necklace making kit.
Well that is all for this week folks, I plan to do another one of these how to blogs only next time for shell necklaces so keep an eye out for that. If you would like to see what happens here daily then please do follow me on IG or FB and if you would like to be apart of my Jewellery FB group ‘For the love of jewellery with Katrina Lucas’ you can do so here. To be the first to find out about new collections or any offers then please do sign up to my newsletter (bottom of page) you get 10% off on your first order.
Until next week stay safe, keep communicating and always sparkle!
Katrina x
Comments