Jeweled Collar Necklace DIY Tutorial

I've been looking for an emerald green statement necklace for a few months now and haven't found the right one for the right price.  I spotted these pretty green crystal beads at the local bead shop and decided to see how I could DIY my own necklace.  To kill 2 birds with 1 stone (statement necklace + trying a trend), I decided to form a collar shape.

Please see tutorial after the jump.

What I Used:

Set of jewelry tools

56 beads (I used crystal, ~8mm)

Lots of eye pins and jump rings

Lobster clasp

Coordinating chain

1.  This is the tedious part.  Insert eye pin into bead, snip off excess, and form simple loop (tutorial here) at the other end of the bead.  Repeat for all your beads.  (You can use the snipped excess to form your own eye pin rather than getting a new one each time. I was able to form 3 eye pins from each.)

It does not have to be perfect!  You can see that I got so tired, this loop is at a different angle than the other one.

2.  Wipe the sweat off your brow from step 1.  Seriously, good job - that was the hard part!  

Assemble the first side of your collar.  There are 7 rows in the collar (you can make more or less depending on your preference) with each row increasing by 1 bead.  To do this, connect 2 beads to the  bead from row 1 using a jump ring.  Connect 3 beads to the 2 beads from row 2...and so on.  Use the picture above as a template for how the connections are made with the jump rings.

3.  Repeat for the second side of your collar.  Align the 2 sides together so that they are mirror images of each other and connect them at the last row.

4.  Add a jump ring to the top of the bead from row 1 and connect your chain.  Do for both sides.

5.  Add a clasp using another jump ring and leave some extra chain attached so that the length can be adjustable.

And you're done!

Are you a fan of collars and collar necklaces?