strand necklace – Bead Yarn & Spatula

During a shopping trip to my local A.C. Moore I came across this pendant while perusing the jewelry section that immediately caught my eye.

I knew that I wanted to use it as the focal point of a multi-strand necklace. At first I wasn’t sure what type of multi-strand – all chains, a combination of chains and stones or all stones. After attending a bead show and a few trips to A.C. Moore and Michaels I was able to find strands of stones that perfectly complemented the colors in the pendant.

I started off by laying out the strands using a multi-strand bead board.

Once I had them strung on beading wire I haphazardly intertwined the three strands.

I actually got these three hole end bar links on clearance at Jo-Ann’s (what can I say I’m a craft store junkie) and they ended up being just what I needed for this necklace. It’s not pictured here, but, I attached a toggle using jump rings to the single loop side.

To attach the pendant to one of the strands I created a messy wire wrapped loop .

And as simple as that the necklace was done.

After making the Teal Multi-Strand Necklace that took a few mishaps before getting right I decided my next necklace should be something a bit simpler. So I opted for a basic stringing technique to string semi-precious dyed agate oval beads and dark green dyed jade nuggets using natural silk bead cord in carnelian size 8 – even though you can’t see the thread I still like to use a color that’s complementary to the beads. I also used gold-tone beads as spacers between the jade nuggets and some left-over metal pieces from my Necklace Makeover as spacers between the agate beads.