Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Two Ways to Make Necklaces with Really Big Beads

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Don't despair if you have several big beads with large holes which you can't seem to incorporate into jewelry designs. Why not use their size to your advantage? Their large holes will easily let a ribbon or even a light scarf through. You won't need very many of them either to make a bold necklace.

Shannon over at Madigan Made does exactly that with both of her easy tutorials. She actually used ponytail holder beads. But you could also use your own large beads.

Her no sew scarf and chunky bead necklace tutorial uses the hidden bead technique. Other crafters just sew a tube for the beads, knotting in between. What is so neat about Shannon's version is that she is able to alternate between covered and uncovered beads because she used a long rectangular scarf. It'll work too if you have some chiffon or similar material.

You could also just thread a ribbon through all of them as she did for her simple necklace tutorial. Other variations you could try include making knots in between the beads or tying the ribbon ends to a large link chain.