How To Make A Sparkly Vintage-y Necklace!

So today I made this necklace out of vintage costume jewelry of my grandmother's. The end result is funky and glitzy without being to gaudy. At least I think it's not that gaudy. There are really no rules, just a couple tools and basic techniques. Have fun and be creative! 

With a casual ensemble...

...or a little fancier

You'll need: 1) Costume jewelry or anything pretty that draws your eye. Try to find items that has either existing holes (to attach a jump ring) or a post that you can bend into a "jump ring". 

2)  From left to right: Wire clippers, pliers, another set of pliers or tweezers (I used tweezers). 

3) An assortment of different wires, wire posts, and jump rings

4) A Closure (some type of clasp) 

5) A lot a patience and perseverance. Sometimes the plier + small object combo will make you want to chuck the whole project across the room, but fret not! It's worth it in the end. 

Step 1) Lay out your treasures in a pattern and once you find something you like, take a picture. For the main chain, I simply took the pendent off and existing necklace. From left to right: earring, chain from a necklace, handmade the bead, clip-on earring, charm, handmade bead, clip-on, clip-on. 

Step 2) For items such as earrings, sometimes you need to get creative in terms of attachment. For an earring like this I clipped off the bottom wire with the wire clippers, and for the top I bent in into a loop using pliers like this: 

 Wrap around

To make your own beads, simply string beads onto a wire post and then make a loop. Easy!

Step 3) To start attaching your items to the chain use jump rings. IMPORTANT! When opening a jump ring, NEVER pull apart. Only move to the side so it looks like the one above. To do this, use your pliers and tweezers like so:

Next, slip on your item and the chain and close the jump ring with your pliers. 

Repeat until all items are attached. 

Step 4) Use a jump ring to attach a clasp on one end of the chain. On the other end, depending on the size of your chain you may need to attach a larger jump ring. If the chain is big enough, you can leave it be. 

5) Wear it out and prepare to extract ohh's and awe's from your friends. Enjoy!