Turquoise and Copper Charm Necklace DIY

There are certain types of beads that I like to look at...but have no idea what type of jewelry project I could ever use them in. The turquoise beads in this necklace are a great example of them. I picked them out online from Wholeport and loved how they looked. When I got them in person...I still loved how they looked...but I didn't really know what to do with them. They are pretty large and have a twisty shape to them that makes it a little more difficult to work with.

So I played around with them for a little while and finally settled on a simple bead and chain one length necklace. I jazzed it up with some copper and mirror bead accents, and this is what I came up with!

First, I gathered my supplies. I used: Round Mirror Beads, Copper Coin Charms , and Oval Copper Chain

These are the Turquoise beads that are the biggest part of the necklace!

First step is to string an eye pin through each of the turquoise beads and create a simple loop on the other end

Cut 12 lengths of chain about 1 1/2 inches long each

Use needle nose pliers to attach the loops of the turquoise links onto the chain pieces.

Grab a copper charm and open the jump ring using needle nose pliers and attach it to a link of the chain

To make this necklace fun, I attached a copper charm to every single chain link. I think it helped balance how big the turquoise beads are and how skinny the chain is in between.

I forgot to get a picture of this, but I also made simple links with my mirror beads using head pins and then connected three of them to every length of chain (except for the last two because I ran out!) Then I used jump rings to connect a clasp to the end of the chain.

After your clasp is on, you are good to go! After all of my indecisiveness, I really love how this necklace turned out - it's not something super similar to my regular style.

Maybe I should challenge myself with funky beads more often. I tend to be a little reserved when I buy beads...I like to work with supplies I am familiar with. But keeping things the same is boring! Hopefully in 2014 I can branch out and try some new bead types!