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Ocean Lariat - stringing a new necklace



Long necklaces are so much fun, and lariats are a perfect style to capitalize on this long, lean line.  Grab a handful of accent beads in ocean colors, and you can put together a fun necklace for a breezy summer day. 

Materials & Tools
4 grams 11/0 crystal aurora borealis seed beads
2 grams 4 mm silver glass tube beads
19 6/0 frosted blue seed beads
16  13 x 7 mm blue aurora borealis flat oval beads
19  8 mm crystal aurora borealis lentils, side-drilled
4  2 mm sterling silver rounds
4  4 mm sterling silver daisy spacers
20 mm sterling silver pendant with center hole, fish design
Sterling silver seahorse charm with bail
3 size 2 sterling silver crimp tubes
2 sterling silver head pins
70 inches of .014 diameter beading wire

Flat nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Measuring tape


1. String a crimp tube and 19 of the 11/0 crystal ab seed beads onto one end of your beading wire.  Pass it through the bail of the seahorse charm and back up through the crimp tube.  Snug up the beads and flatten the tube.  Add a silver glass tube bead and 10 more seed beads.  Bury the beading wire end in these beads and clip it off. 

2. Choose one of your three types of larger accent beads (the 6/0 blue seed beads, the flattened ovals, and the side-drilled lentils) and string it on.  For the rest of the strand, you will alternate sections of smaller 11/0 seed beads and 4 mm tube beads with these larger accent beads.  Add the equivalent of 15 small seed beads between the accent beads, randomly substituting a tube bead for 5 seed beads.  Add the accent beads randomly as well; try to avoid the look of a regularly repeating pattern. 

3. When you have beaded approximately 28 to 30 inches of the wire, end this strand with 10 11/0 seed beads and a tube.  Add a crimp tube and 19 more 11/0 seed beads.  Pass this strand through the bail of your pendant, and thread the wire back up through the crimp tube.  Pull the wire snug and flatten the tube. 

4. To begin the second strand, add only 10 11/0 seed beads before stringing on your first accent bead.  Then return to the pattern of 15 small beads between each accent bead.  This first shorter section will allow the beads on the two strands to be somewhat offset from each other.  When this strand is also approximately 28 to 30 inches long, end it with 10 11/0 seed beads and a tube.  Add a crimp tube and 19 more 11/0 seed beads and set it aside.

5. On each of your two head pins, slide on a 2mm sterling silver round, a daisy spacer, a flattened oval bead, another spacer and another round.  Create a wrapped loop at the top of one, making the loop large enough to be a bail.  Create a smaller wrapped loop at the top of the second, wrapping it around the larger loop of the first. 

6. Thread your wire with the seed beads at the end through the larger loop, passing the wire back up through the crimp tube and a few more of the beads.  Pull the wire snug and flatten the crimp tube.  Clip off the wire end close and bury it in the next bead.

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.

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Comments

BluMoon said…
What a pretty necklace, I rarely wear long ones but that could change my mind!
Olena said…
Thank you for sharing with us.
Unknown said…
I love this but how do you wear it? I have never seen one like this before. Can you post a picture of someone modeling it? Thank you!
Cyndi L said…
You wear it as a double strand around your neck. The charm and the two dangling beads pass through the hole of the toggle at the other end, and you can pull through as much of the slack as you want :-)