Pearl amethyst necklace.
Now this is a great and simple wonderful necklace to make for a dear friend for just about any occasion. I keep saying Christmas because it is sneaking up on us as quickly as it can (whoo hoo!) but this is a perfect birthday present, just because I love you present, wedding present (oh, I just thought of it – make it with blue topaz for a bride’s “something blue”) or make it for your bridesmaids present. Anything you can think of present actually.
If you are not familiar with how to tie pearls, I’m not going to teach you yet (but I promise, some day I will take the time to actually sit down and make the official video of how to tie pearls so that you can tie pearls like a jeweler too. Don’t expect it in the near future, but it will happen.)
Anyway, back to the subject at hand, my recommendation as a bench jeweler is this: use good strong nylon covered beadalon wire for this type of necklace.
The reason my recommendation is specifically because of these gorgeous amethyst beads (and other beads along the same lines).
More times than not, I found that as I was working in the jewelry store, I would get strands sent back to me in the repair shop for restringing because the edges of these beads were still rough from the inexpensive and/or inexperienced lapidary. The rough edges of the drilled hole in the bead would fray the material being used to string the pearls and amethyst beads and presto; broken necklace.
So, when you make this type of necklace, if you use a good strong nylon coated beadalon steel wire, you are not going to have to worry about rough edges on your amethyst beads (or any other rough edges at all).
And the rough edges are more common these days because the beads, while beautiful indeed, are being purchased cheaply for a cut rate from inexperienced lapidary suppliers through supply houses like eBay (where I myself encourage you to go look – and I still will. It is the cheapest place to find so much).
There is nothing wrong with the more inexpensive beads per se (and I myself have still purchased a lot of the cheaper pieces like that, but I know that I have some tools here that as a bench jeweler I can use to smooth rough edges and such). It’s just that if you know you are going to be working with a disadvantage, use the proper tool (like nylon coated steel wire) to compensate for any problems that might occur.
The only problem is that you have no way of knowing the condition of the edges of the bore of the beads until they are in your hands. You can, however, remember ask any supplier for the diameter of the bore so you can purchase the correct size of beadalon stock to have on hand. The best way I have found to judge is once you buy them, run a regular piece of sewing thread through the hole and wiggle it all around. If there are rough patches on the bead, the thread will catch on it and you will know.
Generally, as a safety precaution though – if I am making a necklace like this one – where the beads/pearls are strung without being individually knotted, I always put them on wire instead of string. It significantly reduces the chances of a broken necklace and lost expensive beads (hey, those pearls and amethysts can add up, as you well know if you are purchasing these things to make gorgeous necklaces like this).
Now, back to the nylon coated wire. The beadalon comes in different millimeter thicknesses, just chains and cords and strings, so don’t be afraid to stock up and try different sizes. It also comes in different types of wire: nylon coated steel, nylon coated sterling silver, copper, gold and nylon coated wild and wonderful colors.
And, in a “worse case” scenario (meaning you make this necklace using regular beading thread), regular pearl beading thread works absolutely fine with these beads. Just know that you will want to pay closer attention to the necklace and check regularly for fraying of the necklace thread. It will be immediately noticeable if the thread becomes frayed. It gets fuzzy, like the fuzzy place on a sweater. If you give it as a gift, just ask your recipient to let you see it every few months or so.
I was captivated with this necklace and used the concept to make a number of imitations already. In fact, I used the concept to use up a large number of briolette stones I did not wish to wire wrap. The resulting necklaces were gorgeous, if I do say so myself – which reminds me that I have new pearls and new onion shaped briolette stones in stock. I ordered them in just to make this style again because I was so pleased with how the last turned out. I guess we know what I’ll be doing in front of my science fiction television shows tonight.
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