Here's Something Obnoxious to Make With Your Pandora Beads

Are you bored with just rearranging your Pandora (or European) beads on your bracelet?  Here's a  bizarre project, guaranteed to annoy all of your friends.

I am using aluminum wire and chain here, which is easily marred by sharp metal, so I am using nylon-tipped pliers so I don't scratch the surfaces.  The great thing about aluminum wire is that you can bend it with your hands, although loops are best made with round-nose pliers for accuracy.

What you'll need:

• Flat-nose pliers (nylon tipped)
• Round-nose pliers (nylon tipped)
• Wire cutter
• Two six-inch pieces of large aluminum chain (the chain pictured has 13mm x 9mm links, approximately)
• 30 inches of 12 gauge aluminum wire, cut into twelve 2 ½  inch pieces
• One big clasp (this one is an inch long, but it doesn't have to be that large)
• Ten Pandora (or European-style) beads -- anything with a metal core is fine

You can get all of this stuff at Fire Mountain Gems.  They'll hook you up. 

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What to do:

1. Loop beads onto ten pieces of wire, using the simple loop method.  Loop the two remaining pieces of wire into loops without beads.   If you need a tutorial on looping, here's a good one:  http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=691E&kwsearch=kwjmwwvid&doccat=video+tutorials

2.   And then you'll have this:  

3.  Twist open a link  from side to side, link it up with another link (you can do this with your hands, if you want) and keep on going until everything's linked, like this:

4.  Open the link on the end and hook it onto one of the pieces of chain.  Do the same thing with the other piece of chain.  Then you'll have this:

5.  Take one of "bead-less loops," open it and attach it to the other end of the chain.  Take the other "bead-less loop," open it and attach it to the end of the other piece of chain.  Then open the other end of one of the "bead-less loops," link on the clasp and close it.  

6. That's pretty much it -- the clasp will link onto the other end of the loop, closing like this:

TA-DA !!

The total length of the necklace is about 28 inches.  (If you want it shorter, either shorten the chain or use less beads.)  

Thanks for checking out my silly post.  The best thing about this necklace is that when you show it to your friends, they'll get red in the face and scream, "NO, NO, NO !!!  THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU DO WITH PANDORA BEADS!"  And then you can fake a shocked expression and say, "WHAT?!!!  YOU'RE KIDDING!"

Have a great week, and keep on beading.