DIY Copper and Crystal Necklace – How To-sday

Last time I was at the hardware store, I saw this little bit of copper tubing and realized I hadn’t done a jewelry tutorial in ages. Like I mentioned last week, I decided to make a DIY copper and crystal necklace out of it!

I decided to go for a raw, elemental look with this, incorporating rough quartz crystal points and an unfinished wooden bead to really bring out the vibrancy of the copper.

Supplies:

• Thin silver chain
• Copper tube, approximately 3/4″ long and 1/2″ diameter
• Round wooden bead, approximately 3/4″ diameter
• Top-drilled quartz crystal points, approximately 1/4″ wide by 1″ long
• Eye pin
• Clasp in the style of your choice
• Jewelry pliers

1.   Cut a length of silver chain as long as you want your necklace to be, plus three extra inches of length. You’ll have one long piece of chain.

Set it aside for later.

2.   Thread three quartz points onto an eye pin.

Use round jewelry pliers to create a similarly-sized loop on the other end of the pin, locking in the three quartz points.

3.   Thread one end of the chain onto a loop of the eye pin.

4.   Tighten the loop of the pin closed, and leave the other end of the chain hanging loose.

5.   Thread the loose end of the chain through the copper tubing.

6.   Loop the chain through the other end of the eye pin so that the crystals are attached to the copper tube by a tight piece of chain. Cut off the excess chain.

7.   Loop the rest of the chain through the copper tube. As you can see in the picture above, you’ll have a closed loop of chain holding the crystal onto the copper and a separate piece going through the tube.

8.   Thread the two loose ends of the chain through the wooden bead, and slide the bead down to the copper tube.

9.   This part’s a little bit harder to explain, but to lock the bead in place, you’ll thread the ends of the chain back through the same side of the bead you originally put them through.

You can see in the picture below that the chain wraps around the edges of the round bead.

10.   Finish the necklace off by adding a clasp.