When I made my spooky season jewelry presents, half of the skull beads I bought for that project were left over. Instead of adding them to my ever-growing stash of leftovers, I decided to make a variation on the previous skull necklace using copper findings and black jasper jade beads. I checked the wrong tag when I initially wrote this post. I suspect they may be serpentine instead, and regardless of material, dyed for consistency.
I wanted to make it with a set of earrings since my copper chain is so thin, and I wanted to reduce the weight of the beaded portion.
Again, I used beading wire with crimp beads and crimp bead covers to make the two beaded sections, and stacked a few beads on a head pin to form a central pendant. I also used copper jump rings to affix a toggle clasp. The tiny loops of gray wire annoy me, but I'm probably the only one who will even notice that.
The advantage of making a necklace this way is it always offers symmetry. The disadvantage is there is no real option for adjustment, especially with a toggle clasp like this.
If you'd like me to try to take more pictures of my beading wire process, let me know. I'll see if I can grow a third arm, or just conscript someone to hold the camera and snap some photos. Even if that doesn't interest you, drop a comment anyway. I like to see when people actually read instead of auto-voting.
