project by the beading room: lovin’ neon bracelet

I have been eyeing these neon Swarovski pearls for a while now, waiting for inspiration.  Neon is all over the stores at the moment, and if you are not brave enough (like me!) to wear it in a large piece of clothing, this bracelet is an easy and fun way to add a bit of pop to your wardrobe.  The Swarovski crystal astral pink pendant ties the pink and orange together very nicely too:)

you will need: (just click on the links to add items to your cart on the site)

• 2x 25cm lengths of Flex Rite 7 strand .024 in orange color (or similar)
• 110cm rattail cord, 2mm black
• 23x 6mm Swarovski pearls neon orange
• 34x 4mm Swarovski pearls neon pink
• 1x silver plated 9mm jump ring, open
• 2x silver plated 7mm split rings
• 1x silver plated Artistic Wire wrapper heart
• 1x Swarovski devoted 2U pendant 17mm, crystal astral pink
• 30cm Artistic Wire silver plated non-tarnish 22 Gauge

what to do:

1. Take your length of Artistic Wire and make a small spiral at the end using your round nose pliers.  Then make a 90 degree bend in the wire and stick the end through the hole of the pendant so the spiral sits flush against the pendant.  Hold firmly and center the pendant inside the heart-shaped wire wrapper.  Wrap the remaining wire around the outside edge of the wrapper in different directions, using the grooves in the frame.  Tuck the wire neatly away at the back.  Attach the jump ring.
2. Take one piece of flexible bead wire and create a loop at one end using a crimp bead.  Thread on all of your pink beads.  Then thread a crimp bead and create another loop.  Tighten crimp and trim.
3. Repeat the same for the orange beads.
4. Finger crochet your length of rattail until it matches the length of the pearl strands.  They don’t all have to be EXACTLY the same as it kind of makes the piece look better on the wrist if they are not all perfect believe it or not.  If you are not sure how to finger crochet, check for a video on YouTube.  Just remember, when you start leave a long enough tail as we will be tying the end to a jump ring.
5. Your strands and pendant should look like this:

Now attach the ends of the strands to the split rings- thread one end loop on, then the other.  Next tie the end of  the rattail cord on with a single knot, in between the two loops so it sits in the middle.  Look at the top picture to see this better.  Repeat for the other side of strands.  Thread your lobster clasp on to one of the split rings now.  You could add more rings if you want/need to extend the bracelet to fit a larger wrist.  Attach the jump ring from the pendant onto the middle of the rattail cord, through the chain stitch so it stays in place on the bracelet strand.  I also added a good dab of glue onto the knots of the rattail so they don’t slip.

Et voila…neon doesn’t have to be so scary!  In fact, you might just fall in love with it;)

 (Originally published March 21, 2013)