Spring Time Necklace

Industrial chic meets graceful minimalism. The look gets a little edgier with a ?rich patina.

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/spring-time-necklace • Posted by GMC Group

Designer: Alisa Miller Finished Size 17½ inches (44.5 cm) long Each link: 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) ?in diameter

You will need

Tumbler and stainless ?steel shot Metal shears or Scissors 2 Dowel s 4 mm in diameter 1.9 cm in diameter Soldering Kit Bench Tool Kit Liver Of Sulfur Masking Tape 1½ inches (3.8 cm) of 16-gauge sterling ?silver Wire 2 3/4 x 12 inches (7 x 30.5 cm) of 30-gauge sterling Silver sheet 18 inches (45.7 cm) of 20-gauge sterling ?silver Wire 5 feet (1.5 m) of 18-gauge sterling silver Wire

Project Budget

Time

Difficulty

Description

Designer: Alisa Miller Finished Size 17½ inches (44.5 cm) long Each link: 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) ?in diameter

Instructions

1. Using the 4-mm dowel, make 33 jump rings from the 18-gauge wire. Close 22 of them.

2. Cut 22 pieces of 20-gauge wire, each 15 mm long. ?File one end flat.

3. 

   Put the 22 closed jump rings on your soldering block. ?At each joint, place one of the 15-mm pieces of 20-gauge wire so that it butts up against the joint. Solder all the jump ?rings closed while also soldering the wire to the jump ring, forming something that looks like a wire lollipop (photo ). Pickle, rinse, and dry.

4. 

   Link a pair of wire lollipops together with one open jump ring. Solder the jump ring closed (photo ). Repeat to make 10 sets of joined pairs of lollipops. Pickle, rinse, and dry. Set these aside, as well as the two remaining unjoined lollipops and the two remaining open jump rings.

5. Using metal shears or scissors, cut 11 strips of the 30-gauge sheet, each measuring 1?4 x 12 inches (6 mm x 30.5 cm).

6. 

   Wrap one of the 1?4 x 12-inch (6 mm x 30.5 cm) strips around the 1.9-cm dowel. Carefully remove the strip, and secure the coil with a piece of masking tape 1?4 inch (6 mm) from the end (photo ).

7. 

   Mark the center of the strip 1?4 inch (6 mm) from the end of the coil (photo ); drill at this mark, using a 1-mm bit and going through all layers of the coil.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each metal strip, making a total of 11 partially finished coil links.

9. 

   Thread one of the lollipop sticks (from the pairs made in step 4) through the hole of one of the coil links made in steps 6 and 7. Remove the masking tape, and ball the end of the lollipop stick with the torch. Repeat to end up with 10 components that look like the one in photo 5 . (One coil remains without lollipops attached to it.)

10. Opposite each already drilled hole, drill through all the layers of all 11 coil links, using a 1-mm bit. Set aside the coil that has no lollipops attached to it.

11. The next step is to join the 10 coil links that have lollipops attached to them. Thread a lollipop stick through the newly drilled hole of a second coil and ball the end of the lollipop stick. Thread the lollipop stick from the second coil into the hole of a third link and ball the end of the lollipop stick. Repeat until you have a chain of 10 coil links. Thread the only loose lollipop stick into the hole of the eleventh coil that you set aside in the previous step.

12. You’ll now use the two unjoined lollipops set aside at the very end of step 4. Thread one through the hole on each end coil. Ball the ends. Add one additional jump ring at either end, and solder it closed. Make an S-hook out of the 16-gauge wire and attach it to the other end. Pickle the whole piece, rinse, and dry.

13. 

    Patina the necklace with liver of sulfur, and tumble it in stainless steel shot.