Skip to main content

Button and wire charm necklace


So, here is the tutorial for the piece that I made for Michelle Mach's button-swap party.  I received this terrific bronze-colored button from my fabulous partner, Lody Steward, and I promised you the how-to.  This time it didn't even take me months to write it up!

Materials and Tools

Large button with pierced shank
10 inches of 20 gauge bronze wire
Brass head pins
Charms
Jump rings
Short strand of vintage facetted glass beads
24 inches of medium weight (0.019 in) SoftFlex
4 small brass rounds
2 black crimp beads
4 inches of brass chain
Brass lobster claw clasp
1 brass saucer bead

Chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
File
Ball-peen hammer


1. Loop the wire through the shank of the button.  Flatten the charm loop slightly with your hammer.



2. Twist the wire ends together and use round nose pliers to form a double bail.



3. Wrap the shank of the bail with both wires.  Clip the ends close and file them smooth.



4. Add charms and beads to the charm loop.



5. Use SoftFlex beading wire to string the necklace, adding a bead to the center of the bail too.



6. Cut the chain into two pieces, 1 inch and 3 inches.  Use crimps to attach the chains to the ends of the necklace.  Create a wrapped loop to add a dangle to the long end of the chain.  Add a lobster claw clasp to the short end of the chain.





Copyright 2011 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Technorati Tags:,,,,,,

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love how that turned out... thanks for sharing the details... have a wonderful day!
Kate said…
This totally rocks! Thanks for sharing!! Now I have a bunch of ideas for these buttons that have been stumping me forever :)
Cyndi L said…
Thanks guys! I love how easy it is :-)
Carmen said…
És preciòs. I molt ingeniòs. Això del penjol per sota per a que no es tombi el botó és d'allò més ingeniòs. Gràcies pel tutorial.
The Beading Gem said…
Love your clever wire bail design for the button!! This one is a must visit so I will feature and link in a future post! OK? Thanks for always inspiring us.

Pearl
Anonymous said…
Love it thanks Cyndi!
JoaniB said…
This is super cute. Thanks, Cyndi!
Lovely necklace which is so attractive and cool too.Beautiful; work.
Cindy said…
Oh I love it and love how you added the charms! I think they just make it so special.

Hugs XX
Barbara
I love the dangling pendant, Cyndi. Thanks for the detailed instructions!
Cherie said…
You always make these look so "do-able." Great instructions and thanks for making it look so easy. :)
Fran Selinger said…
What a great idea!
very very clever ! Thank you for sharing
Allie D. said…
When I attempted to attach a button w/a shank as a focal for a necklace -- fairly early in my beading career -- after making a big mess of fireline knots and such, I finally globbed a bunch of E6000 on it and made sure it dried -- against my beautiful delica herringbone rope -- so that it fell pretty much correctly. Needless to say I didn't repeat the experiment. My local bead shop people didn't know how to use a shank button as a pendant, either.
I love your blog in general but this particular tutorial is wonderful! I can use my beautiful vintage-cast Czech buttons and they will look nice and and professional and make me happy. ;)
Thanks again,
Allie
Cyndi L said…
Allie, I'm so glad you found this! I hate to see people have to cut off the shanks or glue them :-)
Allie D. said…
Ha I forgot all about this until today's post came up! I am going to try to keep it on file or something so I remember. I still have some of those Czech buttons left. I'm glad you revisited the topic.
Lisa said…
Wow!! I honestly can't thank you enough for this GREAT tutorial!! I have a handful of vintage anchor shank buttons and I was on a desperate search on how to turn them into pendants!! THANK YOU!!!!!
Cyndi L said…
Great!! So glad it will be helpful :-)
TT said…
Thank you so much for your instructions on making a pendant from a button. I have been looking for hours! I will buy that soft flex today.
dznangl said…
Hi! I love how simple this is, I have recently been tickled to find a HUGE lot of buttons and some were vintage so I was looking for a way to use them that was somehow better than simply buttoning lol I know your disclaimer says no copying for profit, but I wanted to ask permission if I could use this to raise funds for my kid's local high school art program. I'd get no profit from the sale at all. Thanks! If it's a no, it's okay I understand. :)
Cyndi L said…
Of course you can do that! My copyright refers to not selling my *instructions* for profit :-)
Talismanrose said…
12/21.... I have that very same bead but in silver. I was looking for something to do with it. ❤️
Cyndi L said…
That makes me very happy to hear 😊