DIY - Colourful tassel necklace

It’s been a while but it feels so right to be sharing some jewellery making tutorials with you again. I’ve got lot(t)s in the pipeline so dust off your pliers we’re getting beady again! Hooray!

I made this beauty of a necklace a few years ago, inspired by the gorgeous pink quartz points I’ve used - I wanted to create a piece of jewellery that was 100% summer. I’m not sure why it was left in my jewellery box for so long (small children?!) but I was delighted to rediscover and I’ve enjoyed wearing it even more. I think I just made it rather than made it to share, so there are no pics to go with the steps but the technique is the same as this brass and glass bead necklace. I’m going to talk you through it anyway so, let’s go.

You'll need - mystic pink quartz points, 5mm jump rings, 7mm jump rings, tiger tail, crimps, knot covers , cotton cord, cotton tassels, beading wire and a mix of beads, I used what I had in my stash, a mix of large statement beads Kernow crafts has a beautiful selection of semi precious stones and small beads (I used large seed beads). 

Step 1. Prep your crystals and tassels. This earring tutorial has some great images of a wrapped loop. 

Cut lengths of wire about 10/15cm long (one length per piece of quartz). Thread the quartz onto a wire, fold the wire in half so the two lengths of wire cross at the top. 

Using pliers bend one piece of wire so that it points upwards, make sure the second piece of wire crosses over the first and points horizontally. You should have the quartz bead in the centre of the wire with a length of wire pointing vertically and another pointing horizontally. 

Take the horizontal wire and wrap it around the vertical wire a couple of times, snip off the excess. Make a small loop in the vertical wire and wrap the tail of wire around the wrapped wire a few times and snip off the excess wire. Repeat this step so all your quartz pieces have loops. I had seven pieces of quartz in this necklace. 

Take your tassels and depending on how big they are, thread a 5mm or 7mm jump ring to the top of each one. 

Step 2. Join your tassels and quartz crystals together with a jump ring, keep it as small as you can get away with. I had one central element which had one piece of quartz and two tassels (one turquoise, one pink) and then six smaller pieces with one tassel and one quartz.  

Step 3. Take a length of tiger tail (approx 30/40cm long),  you want enough to work with but so much you get in tangle. Thread on your central quartz tassel and then a small bead either side working outwards on both sides thread on your bead mix in a design that works for your beads, you might go super symmetrical or more random like I've done here. 

Step 4. Once you're happy with the design add a knot cover and crimp to one end. Squeeze the crimp closed and then close the knot cover over the top, repeat on the other side. Fix a 7mm jump ring to either end.  This brass and glass bead necklace tutorial gives you some good close ups. 

Step 5. Still here?! Yay! You can free style this part depending on what cord you've got. If you're using leather you could go with a fixed length necklace like the brass and bead necklace. If you've got cord like I had, cut two lengths 75cm long. Thread each piece through the jump ring on the end of the necklace, make sure each piece is exactly in half and tie in a knot close to the jump ring.

Step 6. You are more than welcome to finish here tying knots at the end of cord to finish off. You would tie the cord in a bow to secure when wearing. But for a final step I put the ends next to each other with the ends facing in opposite directions and did a simple macrame box knot over the top with some left over nylon thread - this friendship bracelet tutorial gives you a close up. 

Apologies for taking you on a journey through my back catalogue of jewellery making - even if you don't end up making this exact necklace I hope it inspires you to look at what you've got in your stash and see what you can create. Happy Making. xx