Turn a bunch of bead strands into a glamorous beaded necklace––with no beginning or end! You can wear this beaded necklace long as an opera-length strand or double it up for a playful, princess-length style. And because the necklace is made up of large beaded sections, you can just rotate it for a different look!
We love the versatility of the color blocking in this design, but our favorite thing about this necklace is that is has no clasp. So wearing it is as easy as slipping it on over your head!
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How To Make A Long Beaded Necklace With No Clasp
Materials
9 Strands of beads (enough of each to cover 5″ of FireLine)
FireLine beading thread (Use white for clear or light-colored beads!)
Beading needle, size 12
GS-Hypo jewelry glue
Bead Bug or masking tape
Tape measure
Scissors
Steps
1. Start by cutting a 50″ piece of FireLine beading thread. FireLine is specifically made for this kind of beading project. It is stronger than regular thread and can handle the weight of a lot of beads, so we recommend it for this Long Beaded Necklace! Thread your needle with the FireLine.
2. To keep the beads from sliding off the end, place a Bead Bug or a piece of masking tape on the other end of the FireLine.
3. Using your beading needle, feed 5″ of your first bead strand onto the FireLine.
4. Add 5” of your next bead type. We alternated dark and light bead sections and large and small bead sections.
5. Continue adding 5″ sections of your bead strands until all 9 strands are on the FireLine. You should end up with a 45″-inch beaded necklace.
This long necklace has no clasp. Instead you will finish it with knots. We used the same knotting technique in our Endless Beaded Necklace video. (Click here for the complete how-to for the Endless Beaded Necklace.) We’re including the video how-to here if you’d like to see how we did it. Jump to 4:25 in the video to see how we did it, then use the steps below to complete your necklace.
6. To finish the ends of your Long Beaded Necklace, slide the beads down the FireLine toward the needle to give yourself some thread to work with at either end.
7. Feed the beading needle through the first bead you put on the FireLine. Then gently pull each end of thread to tighten up the necklace. This will join the first bead to the last and create the continuous beaded necklace.
8. You should now have thread coming out of each side of the bead you started with. Tie a double knot on each side of that bead. To do this, make a loop over the beaded thread then bring the tail around to the back of the loop, and come back up through the loop. Then make a second knot like this right on top of the first. (This is shown in the video above at timestamp 4:25.)
9. Tie the same double knot on the other side of the bead using the other end of the thread. Add a dab of jewelry glue directly onto each knot.
10. Feed the loose ends of the thread through a few beads on each side then trim the ends.
This necklace works with all kinds of beads, so have fun with your design! Feel free to make it longer or shorter by adding or subtracting beads. Just make sure it still fits over your head! Let us know how your necklace turns out by leaving us a comment. We love hearing from you!
Happy Crafting,
Jennifer & Kitty
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