Jump rings are designed to connect things. Connect chain to clasp. Pendants to chain. Charms to bracelets. But what you may not realize is that jump rings also make great spacers! I like to use them on leather cording to space sparkly beads or pearls. This project is really easy, fast, and great to do with beginners, as the skills required are pretty basic. And while the skills are basic, the end result certainly is not. These necklaces make a real statement and are great solo or layered!
All the supplies needed for this project!
Supplies for this project:
- 1.5mm brown Greek leather cording (or any color of 1.5mm Greek leather cord)
- Cord ends, I used the silver plate 2mm
- White-plated 8mm 18-gauge jump rings
- White-plated 12mm lobster clasp
- 12mm faceted crystal rondelles
- E6000 Adhesive
Tools:
- chain nose pliers
- scissors
Cut the leather to your desired length. Somewhere between 16 inches and 24 inches is standard, with 18 inches being the most common length. I cut the leather for this necklace at 18 inches.
String on a sparkly crystal rondelle bead.
Add approximately 5-7 jump rings.
Add another sparkly crystal rondelle bead.
Repeat this pattern as long as you like.
Add more jump rings.
I did the pattern until there were 10 beads total.
Add 15 jump rings on each side.
Add a dap of glue to the ends of the leather (for extra security).
Add the metal crimp end onto the leather. Crimp the metal onto the leather with chain nose pliers.
Attach a lobster clasp with a jump ring.
Add another jump ring on the other side. Completed necklace!
I hope you enjoyed this project! It’s one of my favorites! And you can use any beads that have a hole large enough to accommodate the leather cording — if you have really thick cording (up to 5mm) you can use these awesome new Swarovski crystal beads with XXL hole! Also, you can add a segment of large link chain to the back to make the necklace adjustable if you like. Happy beading! ~Tiffany
4 Comments
I’m a beginner at this new hobby of making jewelry, so when I saw this project, I figured I’d read through the whole set of directions to see what the level of difficulty would be. This project looks fairly easy, but I think I’d choose a different kind of colored bead to work with. I like brighter colors, so might go with a green, red or blue colored bead. The only thing I’ve made so far are two beaded key chains. I had used a type of cording material for my first key chain, but it broke, so I bought a spool of wire to use to make the key chains with. I had to repair my granddaughter’s key chain that broke and make another key chain for a friend of mine. So far, I’ve made at least 3 trips to the Michael’s craft store to get material to work with. Since Michael’s craft store can be rather expensive [coupons help!], I think I’ll just work with what I’ve bought so far and see what interesting pieces I can create!
Hi Jennie,
For wire, basic bead cord, glass beads and plastic beads, the big box craft stores can be great! It’s nice to be able to touch the items and compare them side by side in your hands when picking them out. Be aware, if you move into gemstone beads or leather materials, that customers have frequently told us of frustrations at the big box stores (including the one you mention), with badly dyed gemstone beads (the color coming off all over your shirt when you wear your new piece of jewelry), and leather cording that cracks and breaks after just a few times wearing it.
So of course, we suggest buying your jewelry supplies from us (https://www.rings-things.com) because we test our items, and stand by our quality!
Sometimes we have multiple grades of an item, and we’ll be sure to tell you which ones are superior quality, which ones are economy, and which ones are “standard” decent quality.
p.s. All the links in the blog article above, go to items in our webstore (https://www.rings-things.com), because, well, this is Rings & Things’ blog, where we post jewelry-making projects and techniques. =)
I a an avid “for fun” beader. You may want to look into places like Oriental Trading or Amazon (I have Prime so I get free shipping) for supplies. My best place to get supplies is from a company called Wish.com. it takes a while to get them, but most of the time it is worth it. Hope this helps! Happy crafting everyone!
Hi Ann,
Thanks for posting, and sharing your “for fun” supplies places! I will admit, I’ve bought stuff from Oriental Trading company when my kids were little (OTC does have fun Halloween and Valentines cards, as well as bins of inexpensive craft supplies to entertain kids at the company bowling party).
And everyone orders some stuff from Amazon for the amazing convenience. (Now that my kids are grown up, one even works there, stowing supplies carefully and quickly in bins so the robots can pick orders later.)
But something to consider is supporting family businesses based in the U.S., with a nice selection of both US-made and imported jewelry supplies. We test our products to make sure they work together, and we’ve spent countless hours over the last 30 years putting together jewelry projects (in this blog and on our website at https://www.rings-things.com/Products/Jewelry-Design-Gallery/ ) so of course, we think everyone who likes the articles in our blog, should buy jewelry-making supplies from us =). We ship a lot faster than Wish does, since we’re in the U.S. — and you don’t have to log in to shop with us.
–Polly