70's hippie style meets a grungy, free-spirited vibe to create this totally killer leather and gemstone necklace.
A beaded "ladder" was made to highlight these beautiful oval turquoise tablet, tiger eye and pearly white natural stone beads. The ladder lays so nicely, perfect for pairing with a burnout sweater and leggings/boots, or even a black flowy maxi dress and strappy shoes for warmer weather. Adding a floppy gypsy hat is so totally necessary, don't you agree?!
The bright blue is such a pop of color, while the brown acts as a neutral.
Layers of chain and (cruelty-free) feathers dangling down evoke that indie, rocker vibe. I chose white chain, feathers and charms to contrast against that black (faux in my case) leather. Also, white matched those little gemstone rounds in the rest of my design.
Too bad Coachella is super over and I got the idea for this tut now, like of course it would have been so choice to make this for summer festival-style fashion, but winter can't stop me from rockin' it now.
And it can't stop you either. Read below to find out how to make your own!!
Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are:
-Flat Leather or faux flat leather cord. I found some faux leather online.
-Gemstone beads. Any color, any size, choose what you like! I used some tigers eye beads from Happy Mango Beads. There are a ton of awesome gemstone beads on their site! I also used small white rounds and bigger tablet beads (sorry, cannot remember specific gemstone, but all are from Happy Mango Beads). Seriously, you have to take a look. Great for hippie style necklaces of all kinds!
-Beading wire. Mine was Cousin's silver beading wire.
-Some 16 gauge wire, mine again from Cousin. I used silver here.
-Silver or metallic small 3mm to 4mm beads. I used silver disc beads here. These are just for a little added shine, not totally necessary. I only used 4 beads per necklace.
-Feathers. I got mine from a cruelty-free, no-kill animal shelter in Iowa run by a rabbi. Legit. I don't want to tell you what to do, but if you do use feathers, please don't buy the ones from Michael's or JoAnn fabrics, as that just perpetuates animal torture/cruelty. Now back to the tutorial.
-Charms or amulet style beads (the Cousin disc beads and the scarab-which I didn't end up using, but just wanted to show you options). Scarab from Happy Mango Beads.These are purely ornamentation.
-2mm or small chain, mine from Cousin and not pictured in this shot.
-Pliers
-Crimp beads
-Cord ends if using feathers
-Closed jump rings (5mm or so)
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To start, ignore the middle shot in this picture. What was I doing while editing? Watching the Blackhawks game, aka a little distracted.
Anywhoo, first you want to cut a long piece of your leather, mine like 24" or so. Fold over one end, and with the wire, twirl around a few times to hold. Cut flush and crimp with your pliers. Repeat with the other side of your leather.
Thread beading wire through that loop you just made, and string on an appealing arrangement of beads. I made sure to string on 3 closed jump rings in between my oval tablet and tiger eye beads so that I can make the horizontal "ladder rungs" and use these to connect. Be sure to do so! Highlighted in the third picture.
I also created two leather dangles, about 6" long or so- create these by simply cutting a 6" piece and repeating that loop technique used in the first step. To finish the sides of your ladder, thread the bottom of the beading wire through a crimp, these dangle loops, back through the crimp, and crimp shut. You should have the second shot in the pic.
To create the horizontal rungs, simply cut another 6" or so piece of beading wire, thread on a crimp, through the top closed jump ring you added, then back through the crimp; crimp shut. Add on another arrangement of beads, checking to make sure it will fit across nicely. Thread on a crimp, through the other side's top jump ring, then back through crimp. Crimp shut.
Repeat for each rung, using the same orientation of beads. I had three rungs.
I also decided to add some chain and feather dangles. To do so, simply add a large jumpring at the bottom junction between leather dangle and ladder side. Add on varying lengths of chain, disc charms, and feathers. I just did random lengths here, making sure to be symmetrical with both sides. Play around with lengths till you find something that suits your look! Finally, to weigh the leather down, I wove on an oval tablet bead to the bottom of the dangle with some wire. Voila!
This is my new favorite necklace. Gonna be making a lot more of these.
This being totally customizable, it's up to you to supply the creativity here. Choose colors that you love, and add amulet charms or even crystals to match your personality!
If you happen to use this tutorial to make your own necklace, snap a pic and post to Instagram, tagging me @quietlioncreations . I'll repost it! Follow me there too, for sneak peeks into new tutorials!
"Won't you fly high, free bird, yeah?!"
All photos copyright Allison Beth Cooling - do NOT post or reuse without crediting and linking to me.
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