Make your own charm necklace

Do you find it hard to part with those broken jewelry bits and pieces? Do you have a bunch of single drop earrings where the other part of the pair is long lost? Or did you keep that broken bracelet with cute charms that is beyond repair because of its sentimental value? Do you have a collection of junk jewelry gathered from grandma’s throw-out pile? Well when you make your own charm necklace it is the perfect way to repurpose those treasures.

The inspiration for this project was this beautiful image of charm necklaces from The Charm Shop at Anthropologie I am linking it here if you want to go and check it out. If you buy these new from the store they could cost you as much as $400. But since I like to make things rather than buy them when I can I came up with this project and I think the result is fantastic.

Honestly the hardest part of this project is deciding what charms to make. First gather up all your jewelry bits and bobs. Maybe you just have a giant jar of broken and cast off junk jewelry? Lets’ spread those out and have a look. Above is a photo of some of my junk jewelry collection. Let’s use some of these up shall we?

Go through your stash and pick out lots of choices for things to use as charms. Also find yourself some chain necklaces. I am using three thrifted chains and various charms, stone and glass beads and earring dangles from my stash.

Supplies:

Chain necklaces
Various charms, beads and stones
Jump rings
Beading head pins
Jewelry findings
Jewelry pliers
Wire cutters
Velour mat or soft cloth
Jewelry Cleaner (I use window cleaner)

After you have all your charms picked out the next thing you want to do is wash all of the jewelry you are using. I soak mine in window cleaner for about 10 minutes (you can also use jewelry cleaner), rinse with cool water and pat dry. Use your velour mat or cloth as your base so that beads and bits do not roll away. Remove any charms or pendants on your necklaces, save for another project. 🙂

To create individual charms from stones or beads use a head pin and bend it at a 90 degree angle with your jewelry pliers. Bend the wire around the pliers so that there is a loop and with the wire cutters snip off the excess wire. Close the loop tightly and add a jump ring to your bead loop.

For charms remove any rings or chains attached to them and add a jump ring by twisting the ring and insert the charm. Slip the charm onto the necklace chain by the jump ring and close the ring by twisting the end closed. Repeat for as many charms as you want.

I am so excited about how great this project turned out. I made these three necklaces so I can layer them for maximum effect.

Do you know someone who loves jewelry? This project would also make a great gift!