DIY- Anthropologie "Perched Harmonies" Necklace

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Anthropologie's Perfect Harmonies Necklace

What a pretty necklace. Not a pretty price! Make your own $68-looking Anthropologie designer necklace at home for barely no money at all. All that are needed are some beads, wire, and wire-working skills (don't worry, nothing too complicated here!). It's surprisingly quick to make, took me less than an hour.

My DIY Anthro Necklace

Get out your pliers; let's make some jewelry!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, thick gold wire (I just used craft wire I found at a hardware store, it's 3mm in diameter), thinner gold wire, a gold necklace chain, clasps for your necklace, two jump rings, 4mm round glass beads-assorted colors. You will also need a hard surface and hammer for making the pendant. I used a regular hammer from my garage (which gave the wire a rustic texture), but it would be a totally smart idea to use a jewelry making hammer found here, because it will give you that smooth shine. Also, you can use a stainless steel bench block found here to hammer on, which will give your piece a totally professional look. Those two tools are great to buy if you want to make more wire jewelry!

I used just plain 4mm glass rounds, as the Anthropologie necklace uses faceted gemstone beads. You can find similar 4mm gemstone rounds , like the ones I used, here.

Step 2: Make the wire pendant. Cut a little less than 3 inches of your thick wire. Go outside to your garage-or, a nice hard and somewhat surface. A sidewalk would even work, if you don't have the bench block.

 Time to hammer. Carefully hold one end of the wire while hammering down, flattening the wire slightly as you go. You don't want it super flat, just slightly. Use even pressure throughout the wire.

When it looks slightly flatter, hammer the ends extra hard to sort of "push" the wire outwards, flattening it a lot. Your wire should look like this when done. See how the ends are hammered more?

Step 3: Make the holes. I positioned a small ice pick with a nice point right the my end of my wire. I tried this with a fine nail at first; it just bent as the wire was stronger than it! So, if you don't have an ice pick you could probably use a tougher nail or a screwdriver. We just need something with a somewhat fine point. Again, I hammered this through both sides of my wire to make holes. Your pendant should look like this when done.

Step 4: Add your beads to the pendant. Use about 10 inches of your thinner gold wire; wrap the end around one end of your hammered wire a couple of times to secure. Then, string the beads on the other end. THE ORDER OF THE BEADS IS CRUCIAL TO GETTING THE LOOK; the Anthro necklace goes: clear yellow, yellow, opaque mint, blue, purple, pink, clear, red, orange, jade, pink, red, blue.

If you don't care about it looking the exact same or don't have the exact colors of the beads (some of my colors were slightly different hues), then just go with what you want. No worries.

Start wrapping the beads onto the pendant. Position a bead right against the front of the wire, pull with your right hand tightly while holding the bead with your left, and take the thin wire under the hammered pendant and up behind the back, then back down across the front. Continue about 3 more times to secure the bead to the pendant before adding another bead. Continue with the other beads to weave on all 12. 

Here are some close-ups so you can see the weaving technique. When you have the beads strung and excess wire, wrap almost up to the hole, trim, and fold the trimmed end across the back to hide. 

Step 5: Add your jump rings to the holes in the pendant. Attach even lengths of your wire to either end, and your clasps to the loose ends of the wire to make a necklace. The Anthro necklace is 17" long, but you can alter the length if you want.

You are finished! If you want to experiment, try different colors of wire like silver, bronze, copper, etc. Just make sure all your findings match your metal color. Also, you could use different colors and styles of beads (crystals, plastic, metal beads, wood, whatever!) to match your personality. 

The Anthro necklace, worn

A close-up

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!