PVC Necklaces : 23 Steps

This instructable will teach you how to make necklaces out of PVC pipe pieces.

I liked the idea of using a common material (PVC) for an unusual purpose (jewelry).

This instructable will show you how to make the necklaces pictured above but dont let this instructable limit you! There are so many possibilities for these necklaces! especially since there are so many PVC pipe fittings available!

Hope you enjoy this instructable! please vote for it if you do :)

best

elana

Step 1: The Basics

here are some general rules for making PVC pipe jewelry.

1) always sand PVC with fine sandpaper before painting it. this will help the PVC absorb the paint and stay better on it so to speak

2) use acrylic coating to protect the painted PVC

3) make a plan of what you want your necklace to look like. this makes the process of creating the necklaces go smoother (especially applicable if you create necklaces other than these ones.

Step 2: The Necklaces

general supply list (see first step of each necklace for more specifics)

SPACE NECKLACE

starts on STEP 3

TASSEL NECKLACE

starts on STEP 10

BARCODE OMBRE STATEMENT NECKLACE

starts on STEP 17

Step 3: SPACE STATEMENT NECKLACE!

In this segment of my instructable, I will show you how to make this space necklace.

Materials:

-3 or more pieces of PVC. I used 3. (2 couplings and one elbow joint. my joint is 45 degrees i believe. the diameter of your pieces can be any size but the smaller the opening in your "beads" the less fabric you can put through them).

- black paint

- white paint

- 3-4 other colors of paint besides white and black

- glitter (one or two colors. I used 2 just because i have alot of glitter.)

*** TIP*** if you use 3 colors of paint (besides white and black) 1-2 colors of glitter is alright. if you used 4 colors of paint besides white and black i would suggest only one color of glitter. we dont want our space pattern to get too muddled up!)

- sandpaper (use finer sandpaper than course sandpaper. course sandpaper will tear shreds off your PVC pipe beads

- one piece of 8.5x11" sized felt

- piece of fabric. youll need enough to cover your piece of felt when it is rolled up (I used a whole piece of felt. so plan on covering your felt rolled and if you choose to cut down your felt you will still have enough fabric!)

***NOTE*** I thought i was going to create my necklace with coral colored fabric. at the last minute i decided i wanted to use a different fabric, so i just covered up the coral fabric with the new fabric. If you stick with your orginal color fabric, you will only need one piece of fabric.

- E6000 glue

- hot glue gun/hot glue sticks/electricity

*** NOTE *** you could get away with only using one kind of glue but i chose to use these two kinds and this instructable is written using the two kinds.

-a spool of ribbon

-scissors

-crystal clear acrylic coating spray

-well ventilated area

-protected workspacec (ie covered with newspaper. I have a "paint blanket" aka a thrift store blanket that i use to paint on because its thick and paint doesnt seep through it)

- paint brush

- disposable cup filled with water

- a few paper napkins/paper towels (for dabbing paint onto the beads (making them look like space). the "harder" your napkins/paper towels are (ie chipotle napkins vs soft paper towels) the better. we want to create a sponge like effect, not blotches of paint

Step 4: Paint the PVC Black

-pick out fabric for necklace base

-pick out the PVC pieces you want to use. I am using 2 couplings and one eelbow joint

-sand all of your PVC pieces with fine sandpaper

-paint all of the pieces black. you may have to do this in two rounds in order to paint both side edges without causing one side of the PVC piece to stick to the newspaper. If one side of the PVC piece is wet with paint, it will stick to your newspaper (or paint blanket in my case).

-let dry completely

Step 5: Make the PVC Look Like Space!

1) squeeze small amounts of every color paint you are using out onto your palette surface. you will want to NOT squeeze the paint into blobs. that will make it harder to not paint blobs onto your PVC. putting drizzles of paint onto your palette is best!

2) crumble your napkin/paper towel into a ball. try to create alot of folds and use the ends of the napkins. this step wont turn out well if its one flat surface (that is how you get blobs!).

3) lightly dab this paper towel/napkin onto your first color of paint. I am starting with my darkest color. next, dab it onto your PVC pieces. you dont want blobs but dont want it to be uniform over the whole surface of the PVC. it is best to be uneven and random looking. repeat for all of your PVC pieces

4) let dry a little but not completely

5) repeat parts 2-4 with a new paper towel (to keep the paint from getting muddled on the PVC) with your next color of paint. I chose to use my next dark color. Overlap it some but be careful to not cover all of your black paint!

6) repeat 2-4 with a new paper towel for your remaining colors of paint. I used one more color (copper) even though i squeezed out gold as well (i decided to use gold glitter instead in addition to my pink glitter.

7) dont let this dry completely. move onto the next step immediately

Step 6: Make Your Space Sparkle

I used 2 colors of glitter.

I started by sprinkling pink glitter onto the wet PVC pieces. I used more glitter than i would for the gold glitter. I let some of the pink glitter be in little areas but made sure that some individual pieces of glitter were spread out on various other areas of the PVC.

I then sprinkled a small amount of glitter on my PVC. it was thinner than the pink glitter and less dense but I still didnt uniformly spread this gold glitter uniformly over the whole PVC pipe beads.

Step 7: Spray Your Space

use your crystal clear acrylic spray to spray a protective coating over the surface of all of your PVC pipe beads.

you might want to do this in 2 waves if you want to spray both ends of the pieces but dont want them to stick to the newspaper, you could also let them dry on your fingers but I dont have the patience for that! haha!

Step 8: Make Necklace Base

the following parts of this step are for creating the fabric necklace base that you will put your space beads on.

I am not an expert sewer. you can use a sewing machine but I only know how to handsew (and I dont really try to be neat. I just like to get the job done)

these steps will be kind of vague because I dont really care about proper technique when it comes to sewing. you just gotta do what you need to to achieve the results. but i will walk you through the main ideas for this step

1) cut felt if you want it to be shorter than a whole length of felt. this step isnt pictured because i didnt do this for mine

2)roll up your felt and use your E6000 to glue the end down onto the roll (not pictured)

3) roll fabric around felt piece

4)sew the fabric onto the felt roll along the edge of the fabric. be sure to go through the fabric and a top layer or two of the felt

5) tie off the end of the necklace base thread and cut the needle off the thread. trim the extra thread off.

6) take your second thread (the one that contrasts with the fabric. mine is black) and sew the fabric together just outside the ends of the felt rolls. make sure its study. wrap thread around this area a few times to hide the stitches and then tie it in a knot and cut off the extra thread. repeat for the other side.

7) hold the necklace base up to you to see how long you want it to be (how much of the ribbon do you want to show? if you dont want any of it to show, make the necklace base longer. if you want to see some ribbon (like how I did) you need to cut the fabric down to make it the size you want.

8) cut 2 long pieces of ribbon. you will use these to tie the necklace around your neck. so take into account the length you want your necklace to be, how much you want to be able to change the length via tying the knot at different places and how big of a bow you want to be in the back

9) sew the ends of the fabric necklace base together with the end of one ribbon (from step 8) in each end.

10) sew a small piece of fabric around these stitches to hide them

11) if your necklace base is smaller than necessary to keep your beads from staying where you want them to, you can use your E6000 glue (or hot glue) to glue your beads where you want them. be sure to not get any glue on the fabric that isnt under the beads (not pictured because my necklace base was big enough for the beads to not move around)

Step 9: TAAAADAHHHHHHH!!!

youre done with this necklace! congrats!

Step 10: Tassel Necklace!

this step starts the portion of the instructable where i show you how to make the tassel necklace that is pictured above.

you can modify it how you wish but ill leave those ideas for you to think of!

Step 11: Prepare Necklace Components

-gather materials (fabric, felt, paint for PVC, PVC end cap screw things (or just caps), tassels, glue and scissors)

- paint your PVC pieces and let dry

- spray acrylic onto these pieces and let dry

- cut your felt to the width that you want your felt "bar" to be. this "bar" is where youll be glueing your tassels to after you cover it with fabric.

- roll your felt up until you achieve your desired width for the bar and cut off the extra

- glue the end down with your E6000 (the E6000 wont dry hard like how the hot glue will and it will be smoother than the hot glue)

- cut two long pieces of ribbon. these will be used to tie the necklace around your neck. while you are cutting the ribbon pieces, keep in mind the size of bow you want and how far you want it to hang down. its always better to cut longer pieces and trim them down later than it is to end up with not enough ribbon

-pen or something pointy

Step 12: Glue in the Ribbons

-use pen to make a space in the ends of the felt roll

-put a little glue in each space

-push one end of a ribbon into each space

-press shut and let dry

Step 13: Cover Felt Bar

- sew your fabric around your felt bar. make sure you cover the ends of the felt bar as well. we dont want to see any felt!

- sew the ribbons to point up in one direction. make sure the seam of your fabric wrap is in the back. doing this part of the step will stop the necklace to flip while you are wearing it

-look at your fabric bar and your painted PVC pieces. if you like the color combination, you are done with this step. if you want to change the fabric color, sew the new fabric on top of the fabric covered felt bar (like how i did)

Step 14: Make the Tassels

1) get your tassels, PVC pieces and hot glue gun out

2) group your tassels into numbers that are necessary to fill up the inside of each PVC piece opening. I used 3 in two of them and 4 in the last just because i didnt want to have one leftover. your numbers for groups will depend on the tassel width.

3) put a ring of glue around the inside rim of the PVC piece opening of first PVC piece and then drip some glue on the inside wall of the piece as well. immediately put the folded sides of one tassel group into the opening of the PVC piece. push it as far down as you want to achieve your desired tassel length. I wanted to hide the gold thread that tied my tassels together but didnt want them to be any shorter. be sure to keep the tassel thread pointing down. it is easy to accidentally push ends of the thread into the glue. we dont want that! it will make the tassels look messy.

4) repeat this for the other pieces of PVC one at a time (so the hot glue stays hot for the tassels)

Step 15: Glue Tassels Onto Necklace Bar/Base

-use hot glue gun to glue the top of the tassels (top of the PVC pieces) to the bottom of the necklace bar/base. (not pictured)

while you do this make sure they will be where you want them to be while the necklace is hanging around your neck. ie make sure they are even and in exact place you want etc.

Step 16: TAAAADAHHHHHHH!!!

You have finished this tassel necklace and raised your level of rad! haha

Step 17: BARCODE Ombre PVC Bar Statement Necklace

Step 18: Paint the PVC Beads

youll need 4 colors of paint in varying shades of the same color or 3 colors if you want to keep one PVC piece its natural white color

1) sand PVC pieces with fine sandpaper everywhere except the barcode (we dont want to rub the barcode off!)

2) paint the first PVC piece everywhere except the barcode in your darkest color.

3) repeat step 2 with your remaining colors and PVC pieces. we want to have 4 pieces of PVC of different colors.

Step 19: Glue the Barcode Ombre Beads Together

Use your E6000 to glue the beads together. I glued them so the barcodes were all on the same side of the bar (so they would all show when I was wearing it). I also glued them so the barcodes were slightly staggered. I thought this would add more interest to the necklace.