DIY: Bubble inspiration Necklace

October 26, 2012 Business.Blueprints.Brides

I made a necklace using the ever so popular Bubble necklace from j.crew as inspiration. It was harder than I thought and it took about 3 tries to figure it out. Hopefully this tutorial is clear enough that it only takes you one try!

I bought:

Necklace pack, it had the straight bead wires, and 18" chain, and links all for $2! It was on sale and I had a coupon
I got one string of round flat beads and 1 string of round beads
I also got a bag of bead caps
Pliers will be nice for this project

Step 1: Realize that not all bead wires are the same!! Pick the ones with flat ends on the bottom, you do not need to link the small beads on the bottom at all. So, ignore the picture that has the loop on the bottom - it should be flat. This was literally my third attempt, and 100th picture and nap time was running out! So get all your small beads ready. I used 13. So thread the straigh wire with FLAT bottom and loop the top and cut off the excess (don't close the loop all the way just yet)

Step 2: attach to bead caps. Now, I originally attached them all using the links - this will not work! Your bead will not lay flat. You have to use the smaller, less bulky wire instead. I didn't close my loops all the way and once I put them through the cap, I plied them shut.

Step 3: Attach all the beads to the caps. You will need:

4 caps with 2 (see picture below for spacing)
3 empty caps

Step 4: Start building the necklace. Thread a bead wire with a loop on the bottom, not a flat bottom and make a look on the top. Glue on a bead cap that has 2 beads. Attach a third bead to the bottom loop. You are going to repeat this except you are going to use the flat bottom this time. The flat part is going to be the TOP, not the bottom. You will have:

1 bead that has 3 attached and loop at the top
2 beads that has 3 attached with a flat top.
1 bead that has 2 attached and a loop on the top and bottom
2 beads that have 1 bead attached to the bottom and a flat top
and a bead that has a loop on the bottom and a flat top (no beads attached)

Connect! Use the links to connect the loops. I would recommend using only 1 link, otherwise it is too flimsy and it flips around too much.

Here is a close up! I ended up taking out a link between as I said above, it flips too much! But I think it is super cute and I am getting a lot of use out of it!

Happy Friday all!