Make your Own African Sunset Necklace

Welcome to the first 2014 entry on the I-beads blog! My name is Fiona and I’m very excited to be designing and making pieces for I-beads’ website and blog. My first piece is called “African Sunset”. The main feature of this long necklace is a new product; our Capiz Shell Donut in it’s hot colours looks forward to a long summer and its perfect for wearing with cool simple maxi dresses. I've lifted the piece above the ordinary by using a few sparkling pieces of Swarovski in vibrant colours, too.

You will need:

Beads; 1x Large Capiz shell ring centrepiece VA404 red pucalets VA409 orange pucalets VA407 pink pucalets Brass nugget beads BP279 Shamballa beads HLR166 BP193 bayong wood VA1011 big gold wood VA610 yellow wood 6mm Swarovski crystal beads: 10mm Light Siam Swarovski beads CSR1027 8mm Fire Opal Swarovski beads CSR833 6mm Swarovski bicone Indian Pink CS672 Red Superduos SDU07 Matt Red Triangles CMTR14 6/0 seed beads TCR6630 Stringing materials and findings; TBC02 gold bead caps PE10 Crimps Bronze Beadalon (Tiger Tail) 0.46mm Top quality toggle clasp TIC058

Here is how you make the necklace;

1. Thread some pucalet beads and brass beads on to the centre of an 80cm piece of tiger tail. Pass the tiger tail through the large hole of the shell donut and bring the ends together. 2. Thread both ends of the tiger tail through a crimp to form a loop, slide it close to the beads and flatten the crimp with pliers. 3. Thread a large gold wooden bead and a section of czech mates twin beads and triangle beads on to both the strands of tiger tail after the crimp. Then separate the strands and thread beads onto each strand. Bring the strands together again with sections of Czech mates beads. Make sure both sides are symmetrical. Use i-beads greek ceramic beads to add weight and interest. 4. To make the tassels, take a short piece of tiger tail and thread on some pucalet beads as in Step 1. Pass them through the capiz shell as before. Bring them together through one Swarovski xilion bicone bead 6mm and thread on a crimp. Flatten the crimp with pliers. Add more beads and a crimp. Make three tassels, one with heavier beads than the others. 5. Finish the ends of the necklace by threading one crimp on to both strands and flattening it with pliers. Trim one strand off. Thread on one more crimp and one side of the clasp. Make the tiger tail into a loop by passing it back through the crimp and flatten the crimp with pliers. Trim off the spare tiger tail and repeat on the other side of the necklace. Wear it all summer long! Thanks for reading, please leave a comment if you liked my project and let me know what sort of projects you would like to see next time. Bye for now Fiona IBeads