How To Make A Handmade Glass Bead Necklace Jewelry Tutorial

To make the Lampwork Bead Necklace you need three lampwork beads. These are oval lampwork beads. The size is 15 millimeters by 30 millimeters. Then you'll need 16 round faceted beads. These are peach and they're eight millimeters. We have four faceted rondels in black, six millimeters by ten millimeters. Four faceted oval beads, also in black, eight millimeters by ten millimeters. And four faceted rondels that are a little bit smaller than the other ones. They are five millimeters by eight millimeters, also in black. We've got some seed beads here. These are size 15 Delica seed beads and they're kind of a black oil slick fire polish color. For bead stringing wire we're using 19 strand bead stringing wire in gold. You can see the gold finish here. And then we have crimp beads. We're using number one size crimp beads and we have two of them but we've got them in the little tube because otherwise they'd be all over the place. Then we've got two clamshell bead tips in gold and a toggle clasp also in gold. Then we have a bead bug and this is optional. For tools we have chain nose pliers and wire cutters. To get started we're going to figure out the design of our necklace by laying out our beads in a pattern. And we like to start with a focal bead first which is this beautiful lampwork bead. And when we picked out these colors we actually took the lampwork bead around the bead show with us and picked out these gorgeous peach beads and these black beads just because we thought they looked beautiful with that color. So I'm gonna just lay out the peach bead next because I like it right next to that lampwork bead. And then I'm just going to make a little pattern using the peach beads. I think we'll do a peach bead in between each of our black beads and I think we'll do one of each of these black beads. And I think why don't we start with this smaller one, small rondel between those two peach beads. Then we'll do this oval bead and we chose the oval bead because it kind of mimics the oval shape of this lampwork bead but in a smaller size. And then we'll do our large faceted rondel next. So on our necklace we're just going to do the same order and repeat it using all of the rest of the beads. So we can just leave that pattern there and it just helps make the bead stringing go faster to have it laid out. And you can just leave that there and keep beading until you get to that last part and then put that on. In between each of these beads we're going to put three of our delicate beads and that's going to create give a little bit of space between the beads and add a little shine and color. We went ahead and cut a 20 inch piece of our bead stringing wire and I'm going to take a bead bug and put a bead bug at the end of the bead stringing wire. And if you don't have a bead bug it basically is going to keep the beads from sliding off. You can take a piece of masking tape and just fold it over one end of your bead stringing wire. Then I'm going to take the other end of my bead stringing wire and I'm going to start beading. So we'll start with our delicate beads and we're going to put three delicas between each of our beads. And I like to put them in the palm of my hand. I think it's easier to work with them that way. And you can just fish the delicas onto the bead stringing wire kind of by tipping them onto the wire. So there are three delicas. And then we're just going to follow our pattern by looking up here. So I'm going to start with this left hand bead which is our peach bead and feed that on. And then again we'll do three delicas. And this is going to be our pattern throughout is including these delicas in between each of our beads. And what that does is it's going to give a little bit of space between the beads and also it's going to add a lot of shine which I think is really nice. Let that slide down. Then we'll do our large black rondel and three more delicas. We chose delica beads instead of regular round seed beads because we like the way they're cut. They sit right next to each other. They almost look like a bugle bead which we just think is interesting. So that was our large rondel. So now we do another peach bead followed by three more delicas. We love the finish of the delica beads too because it really does look a little bit like an oil slick or it's got a little bit of green, a little bit of purple. So now let's see where we are. We're here. We're going to do our oval bead. I call it a torpedo bead but really it's an oval bead. And then three more delicas. Oops I only have two in my hand so I'll grab a couple more here. There we go. Followed by another peach bead. Once you get the pattern going it'll it'll go very quickly. It's one of the things we love about bead stringing is once you figure out what your design is you really just string all the beads in that order and it's as simple as that. We'll do our small rondel next and then three more delicas. And I'm going to look and see where we are. So this is reversed. I'm going to reverse it so you can see it. So this is how our beads are looking so far. So now we just have our lampwork bead and we're ready to repeat our pattern. So I'm going to put my lampwork bead on then three more delicas and then I'm just going to continue this pattern looking up here again until all the beads and all the delicas are on my bead stringing wire. And then I'll show you how to put on the clasp. I finished stringing all the beads onto my bead stringing wire and now I'm ready to show you how to finish the ends. And to do that I'm going to start with the end that doesn't have the bead bug on it and I'm going to take my clamshell bead tip, one of my clamshell bead tips. I'm trying to show you this here. So the clamshell bead tip is basically like a little clam like it like it sounds and it's got a hole in the bottom and then a loop at the top. And I'll show you what all of that does for us. I'm going to take the end of my bead stringing wire and feed it up through the tiny hole in the bottom of the clamshell bead tip and I'm just going to let that fall down against my beads and then I'm going to take one of my teeny tiny print beads and feed it on to the bead stringing wire like that. And I'm going to just hold it out there toward the end and I'm going to use my chain nose pliers. I'm going to go ahead and crimp that crimp bead onto my bead stringing wire. And what that's going to do is that's going to hold my clamshell bead tip in place and not let the beads slide off. And it's just a nice way to finish the ends. So I'm going to go ahead and use my wire cutters to trim the wire right next to that crimp bead where I crimped it. And now what I can do is take the clamshell bead tip and slide it up over that crimp bead. And what's going to happen now is that crimp bead is going to be hidden inside the clamshell bead tip. I'll close the clamshell bead tip using my chain nose pliers. And when you close one of these you want to close it gently because it's hollow. So just give it a nice gentle squeeze. You don't want to press too hard because you can end up denting the little side. So just give it a gentle squeeze. It'll bend really easily so you don't have to use much elbow grease for that. Now I'm going to take one side of my toggle clasp and I'm going to slide it on to the open loop that's on my clamshell bead tip like that. And now I can use my chain nose pliers or my round nose pliers, either one, to rotate the little loop closed. And if you're worried about this coming open while you're wearing your necklace you can add a little dab of glue there. You can use jeweler's glue. We've never really had any trouble with that but if you're worried about you about it you can do that. Now we're going to do the same thing on the other end. So I'm just going to slide all my beads down to the other end. Then I'm going to take the end of my bead stringing wire and do what I just did which is feed the end of the stringing wire up through the clamshell bead tip. Let it fall down by the beads. I'm going to take my crimp bead and feed it on. And this time I am going to slide it all the way down to where my beads are because I want to crimp it as close to my beads as possible. So now what I want to do is crimp that bead inside my clamshell bead tip. And to do that I think it helps to hold on to the bead stringing wire and then grab your chain nose pliers and then just reach in with the tips of your chain nose pliers to crimp the crimp bead. It's a little bit tricky because it's you're working in tight quarters but just make sure you've got it nice and crimped on there. Then you can use your wire cutters to do to reach in and trim that piece of wire. Just be careful not to cut your clamshell bead tip while you're doing that. Like that. And now I can use my chain nose pliers to gently press my clamshell bead tip closed just like I did on the other side. Like that. And then I can feed the other side of my toggle clasp on to that open loop and use my chain nose pliers to rotate that loop closed just like that. Easy. And now we can just close our clasp together here. And there we have a beautiful handmade glass bead necklace.