Introduction: The Busy Bees Necklace

I have always liked bees. The silly cheerful little insects that hang out around the flowers have always cheered me up. So, I decided to make a necklace inspired by my favorite insects. This is a fast and simple necklace to make. Probably the hardest part for me was getting the chain web to sit right, but I think that the finished product is worth the time and effort. So stick with it and I am sure that you will find that this is a very rewarding project.

Supplies

For this project I used:

  • 7mm yellow glass beads
  • 4mm black glass beads
  • Yellow and black seed beads
  • Gold wire (I use 24 gauge)
  • Gold chain
  • Gold jumprings
  • Jewelry pliers

Step 1: Webbing

I started with a base of 16" gold chain. Onto that I used jump rings to attach various lengths of gold chain to make the web shown. I did not record this step very well, so I do not know how long the pieces of chain for the web were, but I would guess that they were between two and five inches. Like I said earlier, this is a finicky part, but just hang in there.

Step 2: Make the Bees

I made four bees to decorate the gold web. I didn't have any pre-made wing beads( you can find them on fire mountain gems and beads) so I made my own using gold wire. I used a 2-3'' piece of gold wire and bent a loop in the middle and a loop in each end, and then aligned all three loops to make a pair of wings as shown. The bee antennae are similarly made with a 1-2'' gold wire with a loop in the middle and on each end. On yet another piece of wire I made a loop in the end(you could also use headpins, this was just more convenient) and assembled the bees. First a yellow seed bead, then a large yellow bead, then the wings, the black bead, the antennae, another seed bead, and finally looping the end to hold it all in place.

Step 3: Assemble the Necklace

Finally, assemble the bees on the chain web with jump rings. I already had jump rings in place for the web where I wanted most of my bees, so I just slipped the bees onto those loops. The necklace hangs a bit differently once the bees are weighing it down, so check to make sure that you still like the drape of the web, but other than that you are done!

Step 4: Final Product

In retrospect, I should probably have measured the wires for the wings a bit better and been a bit more careful to keep the chain straight while assembling the web, but other than that I am pretty happy with the results! Enjoy showing off your gorgeous, nature inspired necklace to your friends!

Nene Granato

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