How To Make A Crystal And Wire Mesh Necklace

We love the sculptural look of wire mesh ribbon! It is so easy and looks so elegant and artsy!

Here’s a good beginner project for anyone who’s never worked with wire mesh ribbon. We’ll show you every step. And if you watch the video, you won’t believe how fast this gorgeous necklace goes together!

How To Make A Crystal And Wire Mesh Necklace

Materials

18″ wire mesh ribbon, 6mm wide (also called Wire Lace), olive green
17 Crystal rondelles, 8mmx10mm, smoky gray
2 Fold-over cord ends, silver
Silver box clasp
G-S Hypo Cement, jeweler’s glue
Chain-nose pliers
Round-nose pliers
Scissors
Ruler

Steps

1. Wire mesh ribbon is a woven metal ribbon created for jewelry making. It is also called wire lace or metal mesh ribbon. We love how sculptural it is. But it is too big to fit through the holes in the beads as it comes. So the first step to making this necklace is roll the end and make it skinny. To do this, twist the last 3/4″ end of the wire mesh ribbon.

Add a dab of glue and roll it between your thumb and finger. Let dry.

2. Feed all the rondelles onto the wire mesh ribbon. You can make this necklace with any size beads you like. We chose these large faceted crystals because they looked so dramatic. The design would look really pretty with smaller crystals too. Just use more to fill up the necklace.

3. Spread the rondelles out about one inch from each other and one inch from each end.

4. Next, spread the wire mesh ribbon out between the beads.

5. To finish the ends, roll the end of the wire mesh ribbon to make it narrower. Add a little glue. Lay the wire mesh ribbon into the fold-over cord end.

Use the chain-nose pliers to press each side of the fold-over cord end over the wire mesh ribbon. Press hard to make sure the wire mesh ribbon is secure. Repeat for the other side.

6. To attach the clasp, open the jump ring using the two pliers. To do this, hold the right side of the jump ring with the chain-nose pliers so that half the jump ring is flat inside the jaws and the opening in the jump ring is pointing away from you. Grasp the left side of the jump ring with the round-nose pliers. Open the jump ring by pushing one pair of pliers away from you and pulling the other pair of pliers towards you, like opening a gate.

Slide on the clasp. Then close the jump ring. Repeat to attach the clasp to the other side.

Have you tried working with Wire Lace or Wire Mesh Ribbon? We think it’s easy and we’re amazed at how rich it looks! We hope you’ll try it!
Jennifer & Kitty

We love getting Pinned!