We are now in week three of April, which means it's time for the third tutorial on how to make jewelry from vintage single earrings. Week one's necklace was a design using only one single earring. This week's project is a necklace made from three single earrings. See photo below!! Digging through my cabinet of vintage earrings, I spied three sparkly single rhinestone earrings that all had this fantastic peridot color! I laid them out on my table and instantly envisioned how magnificent they would look together in a necklace design. I'm calling this design, my "Pretty in Peridot" necklace.
(Below) Single earring project #3, "Pretty in Peridot" necklace
The collage of seven photos you see below show you the materials I used to make this necklace. This project is a TWO DAY project. Day one, you will want to work with the components that require epoxy, and then let those dry overnight. Day two, you can finish the necklace. A detailed list of the materials and tools I used is at the bottom of today's post.
As I mentioned in last week's project, working with epoxy is messy and can ruin your work surface, so be sure to lay down some paper or cardboard on your work surface that you don't mind throwing away. Also, work in a well ventilated area and wear disposable gloves if you don't like getting glue on your fingers. Have some paper towels handy....you will be glad you did.
The first thing I did was prep 2 of my earrings. The earrings on the left and on the right in the photo below needed their mechanisms completely removed. The center earring's mechanism was not removed entirely, and I will show you why a bit later.
(Below) I used my metal cutters to remove the mechanisms from the backs of two of my earrings.
(Below) Once the mechanism were off, I took my jeweler's file and smoothed the rough bits of metal that remained on the backs of the earrings.
(Below) I used a section of linked chain that has these nice round, flat pads for gluing on objects. Below you can see what the front and back of the chain looks like. If you have a hard time finding chain like this, try running a search on Etsy for "glue pad chain" or "glueable bracelet blank".
Here's a link to some for sale on Etsy (sold in lots of 5 bracelets) -
https://www.etsy.com/listing/121923674/link-bracelet-blanks-5-gold-plated-round?ref=shop_home_active
(Below) I separated the chain to get two pieces that would perform the function I needed. Each piece has one round flat pad with a jump ring on each side.
(Below) I grabbed my two-part, 5 minute epoxy. I put some epoxy into a disposable paper tray and mixed it together with a popsicle stick. When thoroughly mixed, I used my popsicle stick to apply some of the epoxy to the backs of my earrings.
(Below) I then set my linked components on to the backs of the earrings and let them dry overnight.
(Below) The next morning I continued working. I took my center earring and removed only part of its mechanism. The two loops in this mechanism are going to come in handy, so I did not remove them. I did, however, flatten them out with my pliers.
(Below) I cut two small sections of cable chain that contained only 3 links each (about 5/16" total length). I put both chain sections on to a small jump ring. I then attached the same small jump ring to one side of my center earring (see how those loops on the center earring's mechanism come in handy?) With another small jump ring, I attached the other ends of the chain sections to my other earring (small jump ring attaches to the large jump ring on the back of the earring).
(Below) I did the same thing on the other side to join my third earring.
(Below) My focal section is completed, and looks like this.
(Below) These crystal beads and rhinestone bead caps came off of a pair of broken vintage earrings. For this project I will need two beads and four bead caps.
(Below) I strung one bead and two bead caps on to some gold filled wire, like this.
(Below) On one end of the wire, I made the beginning part of a wrapped loop with my round nose pliers. If you do not know how to make a wrapped loop, you can easily find instructions using Google or YouTube.
(Below) I slipped my two 1-5/8" sections of chain on to my loop. I then finished making my wrapped loop.
(Below) This is what my completed wrapped loop looks like.
(Below) On the other end of the wire, I also made the beginning of a wrapped loop. I then slipped two of my 3" sections of chain on to the loop. I finished wrapping the loop. On the other side of my necklace I did the same thing, until I had this -
(Below) Then I connected my 1-5/8" sections of chain to each side of my focal piece using jump rings.
(Below) Now, all that's left to do is add the clasp and the extender chain. I attached a lobster clasp to one end of the necklace using a jump ring. I attached some extender chain to the other side of the necklace using another jump ring. I used one more jump ring to attach a vintage Swarovski rhinestone component to the end of the extender chain.
(Below) This is what the completed necklace looks like.
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Here is a detailed list of the materials and tools I used to make this necklace.
Materials:
- vintage single clip-on rhinestone earrings that complement each other (3)
- 2.5mm wide cable chain (I used 4 sections that are 5/16" long, 4 sections that are 1-5/8" long, and 4 sections that are 3" long)
- "bracelet" chain containing 10mm round flat pads made for gluing on objects (a section long enough to get 2 glue pads and 4 jump rings)
- vintage 12mm faceted crystal peridot color beads with aurora borealis finish (2)
- vintage 9mm Swarovski rhinestone olivine color bead caps (4)
- 5mm jump rings (9)
- 24 gauge gold filled wire (2 sections, each 3" long)
- 12mm lobster clasp
- 2-3/4" section of 5mm wide curb chain to use as an extender
- vintage 11mm Swarovski rhinestone 1-loop drop component
- 5 minute, 2 part epoxy
- disposable paper tray
- popsicle stick
- brown paper to cover my work surface
- paper towels
Tools:
- chain nose pliers
- round nose pliers
- metal cutters
- jeweler's file
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