It’s on Pinterest, Tumblr and other social media image viewing boards; boho-inspired bib necklaces. Now with these Bib Connectors at GoodyBeads, you can customize your own statement necklaces with seed beads, Czech beads and daggers, and chain links.
What gives these necklaces a boho flare are the bib connectors. The intricate Bali designs and geometric patterns embellishes the overall look of creating a bib statement necklace.
Malin Fringe
Designed by So Vang
A fun simplistic way to use these Bib Connectors is linking two different connectors together. Show off your customized style with this easy-to-make bib chain necklace.
Step Three: Fold wires up and twist at the top of the dagger bead.
Step Four: Cut excess wire of shorter end.
Step Five: Slide one 6/0 seed bead and one 8/0 seed bead. Make a simple loop with loop facing the side of your dagger bead. (Refer to image.)
Step Six: Open eyepin loop and slide on dagger dangle.
Step Seven: slide on eyepin one 8/0 seed bead, three 6/00 seed beads and one 6/0 seed bead. Make a simple loop. Make sure to have loop facing in the same direction as your eyepin loop. (Refer to image.)
Step Eight: Open a 4mm jump ring, slide through dagger dangle and then slide through loop on bib connector.
Step Nine: Repeat steps 1-8 for every loop on bib connector. A total of 50.
Step Ten: Cut two 6″ chain maille link. Open a 7mm jump ring and slide on one end of your chain link and side hole of bib connector. Close jump ring.
Step Eleven: Repeat to other bib end and second chain link.
Step Twelve: Open another 7mm jump ring and slide on one end of the chain link and lobster clasp. Close jump ring. Open another 7mm jump ring and slide on other chain link end and close jump ring.
Completed Bib Necklace.
Folding Silk Ribbon to Make Fiber Earrings and Necklace
Check out our tutorial on how to fold silk fairy ribbon onto eyepins (or headpins) for a trendy fiber jewelry look!
Fiber jewelry adds a natural and organic look to any outfit. As we made tassel earrings and bangle bracelet in our previous fiber blog post, we have a brand new way to use these silky ribbons. Here is our tutorial on how to fold your silk ribbon into eyepin dangles for earrings or a necklace link piece.
Shades of Blue and Purple Chain Dangle Earrings
Designed by So Vang
Make these earrings to show off your sassy and fun side.
Cut ribbon in half. Cut chain into four, 1 inch lengths. Open eyepin loop and slide on the four chain pieces. Close loop. Slide on a small bead. Follow tutorial above to feed ribbon onto your eyepin. Add a small bead on top and make a simple loop. Open ear wire loop and slide on ribbon dangle. Repeat again for second earring.
Orange and Pearl Necklace
Designed by So Vang
This necklace is easy and simple enough to make that you might want to buy different color silk ribbon to customize with your outfit!
Slide on pearl bead and Czech ripple bead. Fold a full strand of silk ribbon. Slide on another ripple bead and pearl bead. Make a simple loop at a 2 ½ Inch length. Open one of the loops and slide on the end of a30” chain. Close loop. Open other loop and slide on other end of your chain. Close loop.
Shades of Blue and Purple Chain Dangle Earrings
(1) A017789 – Botanical Gardens Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon
Kids are going back to school and you have tons of time on your hands. Why not get one of our seed bead and leather kits. From our in-house designers, Harper Gray and So Vang, come a wave of bead-weaving kits featuring popular leather wrap bracelets, seed bead peyote stitch earrings and honeycomb beads weaved to add to leather or chain.
Leather Wrap Bracelets designed by So Vang
Be on trend with a three-wrap leather bracelet. Each kit is personally designed with genuine gemstones to Swarovski® crystals or pearls, and from dainty Picasso seed beads to Czech two hole beads. All starting with a theme-matching button closure. These kits can be modified to fit a 6” wrist or use all of the beads and make to fit up to an 8” bracelet.
All beads, leather, and needles are included in the kit. All you need are a pair of scissors, optional glue and time.
Honeycomb Bracelet and Necklace designed by So Vang
Honeycomb beads are hot on the trending list, so no wonder our in-house designer So Vang created these masterpieces. Kit comes with all the beads, thread and a needle plus, detailed illustrated instructions to make each piece.
Harper Gray designed these earrings kits with an array of colors and finishes. Learn to make these earrings using peyote stitching skills. Each kit comes with detailed instructions and illustrations to help you make each pair of earrings. You’ll probably find yourself wanting them all!
Owls are a hoot – I mean a hot motif trend. With their symbolism of knowledge and power, we’ve created two pieces of jewelry to show our love of owls.
It’s a Hoot Beaded Bracelet
Designed by So Vang
Selecting high-quality lampwork glass beads, fiery Czech beads and Swarovski® crystals, we pulled out hues of opaque turquoise, chalky browns and silver accents. Strung on elastic, this bracelet is easy to wear and perfect for an evening hike or bird watching.
Step 6. Loop one elastic end through toggle bar loop and back through crimp tube. Crimp tube with crimping pliers.
Step 7. Loop other elastic end through toggle round loop and back through crimp tube. Crimp tube with crimping pliers.
Step 8. Open jump ring and slide on the three bead dangles and loop of round toggle clasp.
Step 9. Close jump ring.
Owl Be It Necklace
Designed by Tory Vezina
You can just feel autumn with this owl necklace. The gradation of colors in the fairy necklace to the dangling leaf charm entices your senses of seeing the changing colors of treetops to hearing leaves crackling as they brush across the sidewalk.
Step 9. Line your ribbon ends together and make a knot.
Beaded DiamonDuo Licorice Leather Bracelet with Tutorial
Featured in GoodyBeads July 2016 Trends, we are still loving the versatility of DiamonDuos especially when we pair them with licorice leather. Along with a FREE beaded loop tutorial, we will show you how to create DiamonDuo beaded loops and incorporate them in your licorice leather bracelets.
DiamonDuo Beaded Loop Tutorial
Download our DiamonDuo Beaded Loops pattern tutorial to get started. Create different color combinations with DiamonDuos, Czech O-beads and size 8/0 Miyuki round beads. Here are some examples of how we used these DiamonDuo Beaded Loops.
From our July 2016 trend, we featured this stunning bracelet with cork licorice leather. We made three loops with Matte Copper DiamonDuos and 2 with Matte Gold DiamonDuos. After cutting the cork licorice leather to your wrist size, slide on your beaded loops in alternating colors towards the center. We added a black rubber o-ring on both sides of the five loops to keep them in place. Glue on a clasp and let it dry for 24 hours before you wear. Crazy-neat, eh?
Using different colors can create a different look to your licorice leather. We created our DiamonDuo beaded loops using hues of metallic golds and white.
After we made five beaded loops, we cut our licorice leather to size. With some Super-lon Bead Cord (A012987), we wrapped the center section of our licorice leather with gold cord. Glue as needed on back side. Slide on a rubber ring, the 5 beaded loops and another rubber ring. ALL centered on the wrapped gold cord. Glue on a clasp and you have this flashy bracelet.
DiamonDuo™ Pineapple Paradise with FREE Pattern Tutorial
Nothing says summer like some sweet pineapple. Stitched with DiamonDuo, SuperDuo and Pip beads, these pineapples are the ultimate way to showcase how excited we are about summer! Check out our FREE tutorial on how to make these pineapple beads and use them as earring dangles or as the focal point on a tassel necklace.
We are loving this galactic red and white pineapple necklace. Donned with a red tassel and Swarovski® crystals, get ready to fall in love with summer all over again!
Here in GoodyBeads land, we can’t wait for Christmas. We love everything from the decorated trees, freshly fallen snowflakes, holiday music to the aroma of peppermint candy canes. Get your gift shopping done early by making some easy DIY necklaces. Fulfill all of your gifts and still have time to enjoy the holidays, even if it is six months away.
Chain
Choose your chain from larger links or dainty links, silver-plated or gold-plated, beaded chain or bar chain. One of the easiest necklace to wear is an extra-long style, like a 30” length is easy to slip over your bead or double for a different look. Though a shorter necklace length is doable, by adding your own clasp findings with jump rings. Check out our image below to determine your necklace preference.
Pendants
An stunning focal piece you can use to make an easy necklace are slice pendants or gemstone pendants. We are loving this quartz pendant as it comes with a bail that you can slip a chain through for easy making and wearing.
Another easy addition to a necklace are charms and links. Choose a favorite charm or link and attach it to your necklace with a jump ring. Check out our bar connectors for a trendy boho look, alphabetcharms for a personalized touch, or quirky TierraCast® or metal charm for a quirky personality.
Silk cord has been used as a stringing material in jewelry-making for centuries. No other beading cord offers the softness that natural silk provides. Jewelry designs made with 100% silk bead cord drape beautifully and the cord itself can become a feature with knotting techniques. Whether you’re looking to create a simple strand of beads or incorporate knotted bead clusters into your designs, GoodyBeads.com is here to show you how easy and versatile this timeless stringing material can be.
One of our favorite silk bead cord brands is Griffin. Griffin bead cords are made of 100% natural silk and come in a rainbow of colors and a variety of thread sizes.
Griffin bead cords are sold 2-meters per card. Two strands of twisted silk are wrapped around a cardboard backer. Each cord comes with its own needle for easy threading.
Choosing Silk Cord
Thread thickness is very important, especially if you plan on incorporating knots into your designs. Beads can slide over a knot if the cord is too thin for the bead hole you are working with. Griffin bead cords has its own numeric system for categorizing thread cord sizes: No. 0 – No. 12.
Each thread number has an associated millimeter size. Below is a quick reference guide for each number:
No. 0 = 0.30mm
No. 2 = 0.45mm
No. 4 = 0.60mm
No. 6 = 0.70mm
No. 8 = 0.80mm
No. 12 = 0.98mm
Smooth Out Silk Cord
Since silk bead cords come spooled on a card, you must prepare your new cord for use by smoothing out the kinks first.
To smooth out your cord, unravel the whole cord from the card. Starting from one end, dip your fingers in water and run your damp fingers through a section of the cord. Run your fingers over the section a few times to help straighten them out. Once that section is straight, continue on down to the next section of the cord with damp fingers until you’ve straightened the whole piece. Next, run a paper towel over the entire cord and gently squeeze to remove any residual water from the cord. That’s all you need to do. The cord will still be a bit damp but you can certainly use it right away. You can also wait a few minutes until it’s fully dried.
NOTE: You can use the same cord for multiple projects if you plan to keep using the needle that is attached to the cord. String bead(s) through the needle and utilize the end section of the cord.
Using Clamshell Bead Tip with Silk Cord
A way to attach your silk cord to jump rings or clasps is to attach clamshell bead tips.
Start by making a knot at the end of your prepared silk cord. Cut any excess cord close to the knot. Add a dab of Super New Glue or fast-drying glue to the knot. Place the knot inside the clamshell center and fold the clamshell over the knot. The glue will keep the knot from unraveling and to adhere the silk cord to the inside of the clamshell bead tip. Once the glue is dry, it’s ready to use.
Need a little inspiration? Here are some ways we used Griffin silk bead cord in our jewelry designs. Plus, quick tips on how you can create these designs yourself!
Crystal Cluster Knotted Silk Cord Necklace
Designed by So Vang
Make a necklace with knotting in-between clusters of beads. Choose from Swarovski® crystals, Chinese crystals, seed beads or your favorite gemstones. For our necklace, we used the entire 2-meter cord and strung on clusters of one gold seed bead, three dainty round Chinese crystals and one gold seed bead, that were knotted with an inch gap between clusters. This version makes a 60” necklace that you can wrap around two or three times.
Here you can see how the clamshell bead tips are used in conjunction with jump rings and a lobster clasp.
Pearl beads and silk cord are a match made in heaven. Not only do they look great together, the silk cord also helps prolong the life of your pearl jewelry by preventing the beads from rubbing up against each other, which can breakdown the bead’s finish. Making this elegant necklace is super easy.
First, make a knot and clamp a clamshell over the knot. Make another knot close to the clamshell. String on a pearl. Make a knot close to that pearl. Repeat until a preferred length. Make two knots at the end and clamp a clamshell over the last knot. Finish with a lobster clasp and you’re done!
If you have a worn-out pearl necklace, you can undo all the pearls and restring on silk cord to extend its jewelry life.
Minimalist jewelry is a huge fashion trend right now. Dainty jewelry components shine alone or together in multiple strands like our layered silk cord necklace. For this necklace, we focused on the sleek simplicity of gold tube beads and the lightness of silk cord.
Step 1: String on 25 gold tube beads on white silk cord. With the beads strung on, cut 20” off the end of the silk cord. Make 2.
Step 2: String on 25 gold tube beads on white silk cord. With the beads strung on, cut 22” off the end of the silk cord. Make 2.
Step 3: Gather the four cord strands and make a knot. Repeat to the other end.
Step 4: Dab some Super New Glue to both knots. Clamp a clamshell over the knots.
Step 5: Add a jump ring to one of the clamshell tip ends.
Step 6: Add a jump ring and a lobster clasp to the other clamshell tip ends. Done.
This style of necklace is perfect for small dainty beads or seed beads or even some NEW 3mm or 2mm Czech round beads.
For this bracelet, we twisted groups of silk cord with size 11/0 Miyuki seed beads and gold plated chain.
Step 1: String on seed bead to 8” and cut 10” silk cord strands with seed bead on. Make twelve strands. Tip: You can use the Bead Spinner to help to string on seed beads.
Step 2: Gather three seed bead strands and knot all three strands at both ends as close as you can to the seed beads. Clamp a clamshell over the knots. Make four group of seed bead strands.
Step 3: Cut two chain links at 8” and attach oval jump rings to each end of the chains.
Step 4: Also cut a few links of chain for your bracelet chain extender.
Step 5: Open an oval jump ring and slide on your lobster clasp.
Step 6: Open a larger jump ring and slide on these:
chain extender piece, two seed bead groups, chain extender piece, two seed bead groups.
Step 7: Close Jump ring.
Step 8: Leaving the chain extender along, separate the strands into two sections of chain and two seed bead grouped strands. Make a “flemish twist” with the two sections.
Step 9: Open a large jump ring and slide on the other ends of the chain and grouped seed beads and lobster clasp jump ring.
Step 9: Close jump ring and you are done.
(Close-up shot of jump ring with grouped seed beads and chain links.)
We hope enjoyed these tips and tutorials. Check our next blog post where we show you how to create evenly spaced knots in your jewelry designs using The EasyKnotter® tool. Happy Beading!
Czech Crescent Bracelet and Earrings with FREE Illustrated Tutorial
Czech Crescent beads are NEW at GoodyBeads. The Czech crescent beads are wedge-shaped beads with two holes. We have two easy and free tutorials using these Czech crescent beads.
Midnight Gold Czech Crescent Bracelet
Design by So Vang
For this bracelet, we used a combination of black and gold crescent beads with Swarovski® crystals in Graphite AB2X. The midnight glow of the AB2X is hauntingly beautiful in this piece.
We love this bracelet because it is simple to make. First, start by threading on 4 seed beads. Keep the ends of your thread untied. Then, you will thread on a top layer with a sequence of 3 Czech crescent, a seed bead and a 4mm bicone crystal. Repeat this sequence until you’ve reached your preferred bracelet length. End this top layer with 3 crescent beads and 4 seed beads. Now, bring the thread down to the bottom 3 crescent beads you’ve ended with. You will now be threading the bottom layer by adding a seed bead and bicone crystal in between each crescent bead grouping until you’ve reached the end. Tie both of your thread ends together. Feed your threads back through a few beads before you cut off excess thread. Add your clasp and chain link to the seed bead loop ends you’ve made with jump rings.
First thread on your top layer with, crescent bead, seed bead, bicone crystal (4 times). Tie both thread ends together to create a cylinder shape. Feed your thread through one crescent bead and loop down through the second hole of the crescent bead. Thread in reverse of your cylinder shape with adding a seed bead and bicone crystal inbetween the crescent bead. Once you’ve reached the end. Tie off thread ends and thread through a few beads before cutting off excess and you’ve completed your crescent bead design.
Slide these beads onto the headpin and make a simple loop:
Seed bead, bicone crystal, 8mm round crystal, 6mm round crystal, crescent bead design, bicone crystal and seed bead.
Open your Ear-wire loop and slide on your crescent bead design headpin loop. Repeat for other earring.
Make a personalized gift with special, customized words for Dad. A new alternative to sterling silver, Alkemé™ stamping blanks make personalizing gifts easy and fun.
Made with a newly formulated, non-corrosive metal alloy, these metal discs allow for intricate, detailed stamping at just a light tap of a hammer. Plus, Alkemé™ stamping blanks are lead-, nickel and cadmium-free. Just buff with a soft cloth, like you do with silver. It’s a great, affordable option to using sterling silver, and looks fantastic.
Leather KeyChain with Alkemé Blank
Designed by So Vang
Dads are heroes, don’t you agree? They fix the sink when clogged, change out the burned-out light bulb, chase away monsters under your bed and even drive you to the mall. We have this easy leather keychain to remind him of his superhero qualities. Refer to our How to Rivetblog post for a tutorial on how to rivet leather and our metal stamping blog post on how to stamp metal blanks.
Step Two: Cut 6” of 10mm flat leather. Punch a hole at the ends. Optional: Cut the corners of your leather ends.
Step Three: Punch a hole 2” away from one end of your leather.
Step Four: Loop your 2” gap hole over your key ring. Loop the other end to sit on top of your other leather end and rivet the three hole layers together with a 6mm rivet.
Step Five: Attach your Alkemé stamping blank with a jump ring to key ring. Done.
Leather Cord Wrap Bracelet
Designed by So Vang
This simple bracelet is for the fishing enthusiast Dad. Using this stylish fish hook clasp, 2mm leather cord and an Alkemé dangle blank, he is sure to wear this bracelet all day, every day, fishing, or non-fishing.
Step One: Stamp your Alkemé stamping dangle blank.
Step Two: Fold your 2mm leather cord in half and tie a loop.
Step Three: Cut to accommodate two wraps around wrist, plus an extra 5” for the knot. Loop the end through the fish hook clasp loop and make a slip knot. Follow arrows. Pull ends to tighten knot. Cut excess leather end.
Step Four: Attach your Alkemé stamp blank with a jump ring. Done.
Letter Stamps: TL00191 – 3mm Bridgette Metal Letters Stamping Set
Memorial Day DIY Jewelry
Memorial Day is a special day to honor those who have died while serving in the United States of America armed forces. We have a few DIY jewelry projects to commemorate this day and all American holidays.
Red, White and Blue Flat Leather Bracelet
Designed by So Vang
Here’s a clean and sleek bracelet made from 5mm flat leather and rivets. First, measure four strands of leather at your wrist size plus two more inches for the loops. You can learn how to rivet leather loops by reading our previous blog. Make sure to loop your ends through the bar end before you hammer your rivets. Add a clasp and you are ready to rock to the beat of an American song.
We made this bracelet easy to wear, make, and adjust. Take a strand of red, white and blue 2mm leather cord and line them up at one end. Take a silver clamp and clamp the three ends with serrated chain nose pliers. Hold your strands together and evenly straighten your strands. Make a flush cut at the other end and use another silver clamp to clamp those ends. Add your clasp and a simple USA charm. What’s versatile about this bracelet is that you can add knots in between your leather cords if you find the bracelet to be a bit loose. Plus, we think the added knots are a neat feature to the bracelet. Wrap 4 or 5 times around your wrist for a fire cracking weekend.
To make the pin, you will make Czech dagger rings by threading on Czech daggers and making a knot with the thread ends. Cut off excess thread. You will need to make three rings with 10 red Czech dagger beads, 9 red Czech dagger beads and 7 black Czech dagger beads.
Next, slide on your headpin the 8mm black round crystal, black dagger ring, red dagger smaller ring, red dagger larger ring and 8mm red bicone crystal. Make a simple loop. Open the headpin dangle loop and attach to the loop on the bow pin.
For this ring, you will need to make two rings with 10 red dagger beads and 7 red dagger beads. Use a fast-drying glue, like Super New Glue to add to the base of your ring. Lay the larger red ring on top and press down with your finger. This will help the ring to lay flat. This should only take a few seconds to dry. Add some glue on the inner part of the red dagger ring and add your smaller red dagger ring. Hold it in place with your finger for a few seconds. Add some glue to that layer and place the jet round crystal on top.
Jump Rings
Jump rings are an essential product to have when making jewelry. Jump rings are used to make connections to clasps, chain links, charms, and many more. We will show how jump rings have been used in various jewelry projects, and also teach you how to open a jump ring correctly.
Step One: Hold one side of your jump ring with one of your pliers, clamping at the middle of the pliers.
Step Two: Take your second pair of pliers and grasp the other side of the jump ring almost perpendicular to your left pliers.
Step Three: Keeping the left pliers steady, rotate your right pliers towards you to open the jump ring.
Step Four: To close the jump ring, rotate your right pliers away from you until the two ends meet.
Note: Jump rings should never be opened by pulling the sides of your jump rings apart.
Jump Ring Video Tutorial
Check out our video tutorial on how to open and close jump rings with Alisun and Kristal Wick.
Sample Uses of Jump Rings
In our April 2016 Trend, we featured stampable charms and connectors. Here we used jump rings to connect to other connector links, as well as chain link. When using a similar size of jump rings, you won’t even notice that jump rings were used to connect these pieces together.
Adding charms to an expandable bracelet? Jump rings work great. Just make sure to use a large enough size to attach the charm to the bracelet like the example above.
Chain maille is a popular jewelry art. The combination of different sizes and colors of jump rings can make an intricate design that looks like a piece of art.
Even in our previous blog on How to Rivet, after we riveted a leather loop we used jump rings to connect the leather strands to a watch face or magnetic clasp. The brass jump rings were selected to match the color of the watch face and clasp, making the overall piece cohesive.
Czech Honeycomb Bracelet Tutorials
Czech Honeycomb beads are popular! We have two easy and free tutorials on how to use these popular honeycomb beads to make a bangle and cuff bracelet.
Honeycomb Bangle by Apollinariya Koprivnik
We followed BeadSmith’s Inspiration Squad Member, Apollinariya Koprivnik’s tutorial to make this stunning honeycomb bangle. We love its mesmerizing, 3D design. We dressed the bangle with the matte jet honeycomb and accented it with gold and silver seed beads and SuperDuos.
To create this wire-wrap cuff, we drew inspiration from Julie Romero’s honeycomb bangle bracelet. Follow our directions below to create this easy wire wrapped honeycomb cuff.
* Note: It is easier and quicker to work with shorter pieces of 26-gauge wire.
Step One: Start with 2 feet of 26-gauge wire. Wrap the end of the wire three times in the middle section of the cuff shown above.
Step Two: String on 26 honeycomb beads and secure it around to the other end of the cuff by making a few wraps.
Step Three: Bring the wire back behind the cuff and thread it through the first honeycomb hole. Bring wire over the bottom cuff frame and make three coiled wraps.
Step Four: Repeat step 3 for every other honeycomb bead on the bottom row.
Step Five: When you have finished the bottom row, coil wraps around the frame to wire wrap the top row of the cuff. See finished cuff above.
Mother’s Day is approaching and what better way to say thanks to our mothers by customizing a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day locket. We have two easy DIY locket gift ideas for the loving mothers, special aunts, and caring grandmothers in your lives.
Charmed Locket
Lockets and floating charms are an easy gift to make for Mother’s Day. Choose your glass locket and fill it with floating charms and mementos. Here, we have filled our pink locket with a brass heart stamping blank and three floating charms.
Picture Love Locket
Tell her that you love her with this love locket with a picture inside, so that she can wear it close to her heart. We filled this LOVE locket with a ½” gold-plated blank and used stamping tools to stamp MOM along with two small hearts. We then sized a photo down to fit inside a ½” circle. Glue both pieces inside the locket and add a necklace. This heart-filled necklace is ready for a box and bow for Mother’s Day.
Rainy season is upon us. And what better way to a rainy day then making some leather cuffs. We have an easy leather cuff tutorial that will make you want to put away your rain boots and umbrellas, and “veg out” making these easy leather cuffs.
Instead of using a strand of 10mm flat leather, you can make two layers with two 5mm flat leather. We paired the mustard flat leather with this graphic neon splatter-printed leather on a gold-plated, glue-in-cuff.
(7) CH00047 – 5mm Mustard/Black Flat Leather (out of stock)
