Preciosa Beads | Elemental Necklace Jewellery Project

Follow the steps in this jewellery making tutorial to craft your very own handmade elemental woven beaded necklace with Preciosa Beads. This bold rainbow blend of colours that combines fire and water into an intricate multi-strand plat, is sure to make a statement worthy of Pride month! The quantities listed below will create a collar style necklace that sits close to the neck, however you can increase the quantities to create a necklace length that suits your preferences.

Component List:

The full list of pearls, components and tools needed to complete this project can be found below. If you click on the product description (link), the respective product page will open, where each item can be viewed and added to cart:

Component	Component Name / Link	Quantity
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Light Siam	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Hyacinth	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Sun	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Citrine	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Caribbean Sea	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Aqua Bohemica	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Indicolite	x 100
	Preciosa Bicone Beads 4mm Capri Blue	x 100
	Gold Plated Round Jump Ring 6mm	x 1
	Gold Plated Bolt Ring Clasp 6mm	x 1
	Gold Plated Crimp Cover	x 1
	Monofilament Illusion Cord Clear	x 1
	Gem Tac Glue 5ml Tube	x 1
	Bead Mat	x 1
	Thread Cutter	x 1
	Round Nose Pliers	x 1
	Chain Nose Pliers	x 1

Instructions

Step 1

Group the beads into sets of two

The necklace is formed of 4 long beads strands that are then folded in half and plated together. Each long strand is an ombre of two colours; red into orange, orange into yellow, turquoise into light blue, blue into dark blue.

Begin by grouping the beads together so that you can thread one ombre beaded strand at a time.

Light Siam with Hyacinth
Sun with Citrine
Caribbean Blue with Aqua Bohemica
Indicolite with Capri Blue

Step 2

Thread your first strand

Take your Clear Illusion Cord and begin threading on the beads without cutting the cord away from the spool. To create an even ombre along the strand with your 200 beads (100 of each colour) we recommend the pattern listed below, we have used Citrine and Sun for this example:

10 x Citrine
3 x Citrine and 1 x Sun – repeat this 5 times (section contains 20 beads total)
2 x Citrine and 1 x Sun - repeat this 10 times (section contains 30 beads total)
1 x Citrine and 1 x Sun - repeat this 40 times (section contains 80 beads total)
2 x Sun and 1 x Citrine - repeat this 10 times (section contains 30 beads total)
3 x Sun and 1 x Citrine - repeat this 5 times (section contains 20 beads total)
10 x Sun

Each stage of the pattern should look like this:

STEP 3

Cut the Illusion Cord

Once all 200 beads are successfully stranded, cut the illusion cord allowing approximately 10 centimetres of tail on either end and store safely to one side.

STEP 4

Repeat for the other strands.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until you have 4 strands, each with two colours on them mixed into an ombre.

STEP 5

Fold them in half and tie them together

Fold each strand in half and tie all 8 tails together, it should resemble the diagram below. Allow room for the beads to slide freely because you will need slack at the other end of the loops later.

Step 6

Secure the knot

Ensure your knot is tight and apply a small dot of Gem Tac Tacky Glue over the knot to seal it. Wait for the glue to be fully dry before proceeding.

Step 7

Trim the strands

Separate one strand of illusion cord and trim away the other seven strands.

Step 8

Attach the clasp

Pass the remaining strand of illusion cord through the loop on the Bolt clasp and tie a new knot securing the clasp next to the main knot. Strengthen this new knot with a dab of Gem Tac Glue.

Step 9

Cover the knots with a Crimp Bead

Once the glue is dry use the Chain Nose Pliers the press a Crimp Bead closed around the knots. This will conceal the knots making it look like a single gold bead and one end of the necklace is now complete.

Step 10

Plat the strands

Lay your strands out neatly like the diagram in step five. These loops now get treated as 4 sections: red, yellow, green and blue. Begin to plat the 4 colour sections together, taking care to keep the plat lying flat and with even tensions throughout.

Step 11

Secure the end of the plat

When you reach the end of the plat you should have a small about of exposed illusion cord at the end of each coloured section because of the slack you allowed earlier in stage 5. Using this available space connect the loops together by threading them all through a jump ring. Use the Chain Nose Pliers and Round Nose Pliers to gently twist the jump ring open, wrap the open Jump Ring around the strands and twist it close again.

Step 12

Attach the second Crimp Bead

To keep the strands neatly together where they meet the Jump Ring, hold all the strands together and press the second Crimp Bead around the strands. This ensures both ends of the necklace look the same and the necklace is now complete.