Bead Arts

Technique Tuesday!

I’ve noticed the return of the “pendant with dangles” this spring. It’s a jewelry look that I like, and so even though I don’t usually consider myself any kind of slave to fashion, I was pretty quick to figure out how to make one of these to my liking!

Any of the full-service catalogs that I have posted about will have the pendants and connectors that you will need. I got mine in an antiqued pewter metal from Rings & Things: the central pendant, the two rose connectors, and the 5 loop drop. In addition, you’ll need a selection of pearls and crystals, or other beads of your choice, a bail, head pins, jump rings, and additional charms. I also used a 5 strand chain tassel from Rings & Things, but you can substitute plain chain or skip it altogether and just make beaded links.

1. 
   Assemble all your beads and findings and think about how you might want to lay them out. Generally, I think the balance is best on these pendants when the central dangles are a bit longer than the ones on the ends.
2. I started by attaching the 5 loop drop to the pendant and the tassel to the center loop of the drop, using jump rings. From there, I began to add beads to the bottom of each chain, making simple loops with head pins.
3. Moving outward, I added beaded links and the two connectors to the next loops and shorter beaded links and charms to the final loops on the outside. To make the beaded links, I simply cut the heads off of the pins since none of the links needed to be very long.
4. 
   Finally, I went back to the center and added some small beaded dangles to the length of the 5 chains just to fill in a bit. How full you make your piece is up to you.

   There you have it! These are so easy to make that you might find you want to adapt this style and make one in each color combo that you like! Mine cost under $9 in materials, so they would also make a wonderful gift.

Copyright 2007 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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