Little Red Heart Lampwork Necklace
Though I do like the color red, I am not that comfortable wearing a lot of it. I just don't feel I have the "out there" personality to pull it off. But, hey, I do like red, so just because I do not want to wear a lot of it does not mean I cannot wear it at all in my jewelry wardrobe, and that is what I was thinking when I was digging around in my bead stash. I was looking for a "little bit of red." What luck!
I found a forgotten lampwork bead made by ArtFire seller DeeDleBeads. It is a cute little red heart bead with a pretty flower ornament on it. Perfect!
To make a Little Red Heart Lampwork Necklace, you will need the following tools and supplies:
1 - 15mm Red lampwork heart shaped bead
17 inches Copper antiqued chain - medium sized links
6 to 8 inches Copper 21-guage dead soft round copper wire
Wire cutters
Chain-nosed pliers
Round-nosed pliers
Nylon-nosed pliers
Jeweler's file
Triple Loop Head Pin
1. Using round-nosed pliers an the Triple Loop Wire Technique, make three loops on the end of the copper wire.
Add Heart Bead
2. Slip the lampwork heart bead onto the wire.
Connect to Chain
3. Start a wrapped loop.
4. Locate the center of the chain, and insert this link into the loop started in the previous step.
Wrap Loop Closed
5. Once the center chain link is in the unwrapped loop, you can close the loop up. There are a few ways to do this. You can place the nose of the round-nose pliers back into the loop, hold your pointer finger against the loop so it stays in one spot on the pliers' nose, and then use chain-nose pliers to wrap the wire around itself. I show how to do this in this part of the Wrapped Loop Tutorial.
6.
Use wire cutters to trim off any excess wire, and gently press the three loops at the end of the heart bead to flatten them just a little.
7. Now it is time to make a clasp for this necklace. I have a number of tutorials on making clasps and other findings posted here, but for this particular necklace, I made a simple hook that is from my Hook and Eye Clasp Tutorial. You will have more than enough wire left over from the heart bead pendant you made previously to make the hook, and though I did not include a "eye" component for this necklace, you could add that if you wish.
8. After making the hook, slip the loop of the hook onto one end of the chain, and use chain-nose pliers to close the loop around the link in order to secure the hook to one end of the chain.
The links on my chain are large enough so that the hook easily fits onto the last link in the chain, so that is why I did not make an additional "eye" component.
The finished necklace is about 18 inches long. To chance the length of the finished necklace, you can simply use more of less chain, depending if you want it to be longer or shorter. I was also toying with the idea of turning this into a bracelet, but I would suggest using a more secure clasp if you were to do that such as lobster claw clasp or spring ring clasp.
The "antiqued" chain that I used has some dark areas as well as some brighter areas to it, so I am find with not antiquing the wire parts I added to the chain.
However, you could darken all of the metal if you want that look. See my Tips for Adding Patina to Metal Jewelry.
Though I do like the color red, I am not that comfortable wearing a lot of it. I just don't feel I have the "out there" personality to pull it off. But, hey, I do like red, so just because I do not want to wear a lot of it does not mean I cannot wear it at all in my jewelry wardrobe, and that is what I was thinking when I was digging around in my bead stash. I was looking for a "little bit of red." What luck!
I found a forgotten lampwork bead made by ArtFire seller DeeDleBeads. It is a cute little red heart bead with a pretty flower ornament on it. Perfect!
To make a Little Red Heart Lampwork Necklace, you will need the following tools and supplies:
1 - 15mm Red lampwork heart shaped bead
17 inches Copper antiqued chain - medium sized links
6 to 8 inches Copper 21-guage dead soft round copper wire
Wire cutters
Chain-nosed pliers
Round-nosed pliers
Nylon-nosed pliers
Jeweler's file
Triple Loop Head Pin
1. Using round-nosed pliers an the Triple Loop Wire Technique, make three loops on the end of the copper wire.
Add Heart Bead
2. Slip the lampwork heart bead onto the wire.
Connect to Chain
3. Start a wrapped loop.
4. Locate the center of the chain, and insert this link into the loop started in the previous step.
Wrap Loop Closed
5. Once the center chain link is in the unwrapped loop, you can close the loop up. There are a few ways to do this. You can place the nose of the round-nose pliers back into the loop, hold your pointer finger against the loop so it stays in one spot on the pliers' nose, and then use chain-nose pliers to wrap the wire around itself. I show how to do this in this part of the Wrapped Loop Tutorial.
6.
Use wire cutters to trim off any excess wire, and gently press the three loops at the end of the heart bead to flatten them just a little.
7. Now it is time to make a clasp for this necklace. I have a number of tutorials on making clasps and other findings posted here, but for this particular necklace, I made a simple hook that is from my Hook and Eye Clasp Tutorial. You will have more than enough wire left over from the heart bead pendant you made previously to make the hook, and though I did not include a "eye" component for this necklace, you could add that if you wish.
8. After making the hook, slip the loop of the hook onto one end of the chain, and use chain-nose pliers to close the loop around the link in order to secure the hook to one end of the chain.
The links on my chain are large enough so that the hook easily fits onto the last link in the chain, so that is why I did not make an additional "eye" component.
The finished necklace is about 18 inches long. To chance the length of the finished necklace, you can simply use more of less chain, depending if you want it to be longer or shorter. I was also toying with the idea of turning this into a bracelet, but I would suggest using a more secure clasp if you were to do that such as lobster claw clasp or spring ring clasp.
The "antiqued" chain that I used has some dark areas as well as some brighter areas to it, so I am find with not antiquing the wire parts I added to the chain.
However, you could darken all of the metal if you want that look. See my Tips for Adding Patina to Metal Jewelry.
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