DIY Anthropologie Knock-Off Necklace

This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends...that was the song playing through my mind this afternoon as I FINALLY finished this fun new necklace project! This necklace certainly has a stunning result but it took me quite awhile to make it.  I'll be honest, this is NOT a project for the faint of jewelry making heart. hah! It's not hard to make but it is pretty monotonous.  The good news is if you have enough patience to stick with making the DIY version you will save lots of money!


This necklace was inspired by the Root-Needles Necklace from Anthropologie which is priced at $88 dollars. You can purchase all the supplies to make this necklace for under $20 bucks. So much more affordable!

With a little bit of jewelry making skills and a lot of bit of patience, you can make your own stunning version of the Anthro necklace!

Here's how to make your own version:

Supplies:


 Steps:

Use wire cutters to cut varying lengths of wire pieces

 Use round nose pliers to bend one end of the wire end into a loop


Flatten and texture the wire pieces on an anvil with a chasing hammer



Repeat this process....over and over again. Every so often I would string my wire pieces onto a spare piece of beading wire to see how long my bib was.  This was disappointing at the beginning because it showed me how much work I still had ahead of me...hah!

Eventually I had made enough wire pieces to make a full size necklace.  I laid them alllll out in a long line on my workspace in increasing and then decreasing order.

After I had my pattern laid out I strung each piece onto a thin piece of gold chain. You could also use a piece of round leather to make your necklace a little more similar to to the anthro version, but I didn't have any leather laying around so I used chain instead!

This is how your necklace pattern should look after it's strung on the chain:

 To finish off the necklace, attach a clasp and 6mm jump ring to one end of the chain using 4mm jump rings and needle nose pliers.

After the clasp is on, you are done!

Tada :)

I realllly realllly like this finished necklace.  It truly is a statement piece.  It really doesn't look handmade either!
 But, it totally is handmade! I know because my hands cut and hammered into shape each and every stinkin' one of those wire pieces. When I was going through the pictures I took for this projects I saw that the first pictures I took were on June 1st. It only took me four months to finally finish this project, hah!
  
Oh well, four months or four days I got it done and I love how it turned out.  I think this would look really pretty with a sweater dress and some boots to wear around the holidays! 

Or just pair it with some lace and heels to jazz up an outfit for work.

However you wear it, it will be sure to drawl lots of compliments! But be warned, if you want to make your own version start now because you won't be done until February ;) 

Nah, you can get it done much quicker than four months from now, I just took a lot of beaks to work on other project in the middle of this was to keep things interesting!!!

11 comments

  1. This is so awesome! I *love* wire working but I so don't think I'd have enough patience for a piece like this lol. So gorgeous!

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  2. Gorgeous! I think I'd take one small shortcut though and just flatten purchased long eye pins instead of making them from scratch, because you know how much I like to avoid that kind of thing. After all that hard work are you keeping this one for yourself, or will I see it in your Etsy shop for $88?

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  3. WOW this is so beautiful!! That is really cool you made it all by hand, looks time consuming. Totally worth it. Love it. Glad you posted it over on the Home Work Link up!

    xoxo
    Ashley
    www.arrayofstyle.com

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  4. I think this is my favorite of all your projects. It's fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful project on The Inspiration Board at homework. I loved your project and featured you today!
    Have a wonderful weekend!
    carolyn ~ homework

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  5. is there a reason I can not use eye pins rather than cutting and bending my own?

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  6. I doubt eye pins are thick enough to hammer out. They would also be made from a harder wire. Lastly, you may want longer wires. Think of all the good practice you get making loops. I buy my wire by the pound so this would cost more for the chain and clasps than the wire cost.

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  7. I started making this necklace months ago. Can't wait till it's done. Thanks for tutorial

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  8. Thanks for share! I can't wait to do it!

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  9. How much wire does it take? I have wire laying around, but hate to start this and not have enough.

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