A few months ago, I found a new favorite antique store. I suppose it isn't that new, but I recently found it... and it is a bit dangerous because it is pretty close to my work. Talk about tempting!! Anyway, they have little bags of random mostly broken jewelry near their check out stand for $10. I bought one, and fell in love.
Here is a picture of the bag before I reconstructed anything...
Here is one of the items- a bracelet. I dont think I look very good in bracelets, so I up-cycled this into something I think I would wear... a necklace... Here is a tutorial
collect the beads and decide on a pattern
start stringing them on your favorite jewelry wire
(can be found in the jewelry section of most craft stores)
String them along however you would like...
Next you will need a crimp bead and a link ring
loop your wire through the crimp bead and the link ring
then back through the crimp bead the other way
Pull it through very tightly
Use your needle nose pliars to clamp down tightly on the crimp bead
repeat this process on the other end of the necklace
depending on the style you want, you can add a chain to make the necklace adjustable
on the other side add your clasp- these come in all shapes and sizes
then make sure they clasp correctly
ta-da! Your new necklace!!
I have a thing for off centered jewelry so you can see this is off center- its just my style, but you dont have to do it this way of course
Following this same basic process, I made all of this jewelry from my $10 bag from the antique store. Because I was able to re-use the clasps... my total amount on the project was around $15... so getting 7 pieces of wearable adorable antique-ish jewelry is a bargain! These also made wonderful Christmas gifts! Needless to say I will definately be off to the antique store again very soon!
