I used to love wearing my grandmother’s jewelry. She had such a hip, eccentric style, which made going through her jewelry box feel like you were digging in a treasure chest. From pearls to chains, she wore it all! Now in adulthood, I make and sell my own jewelry through my little craft venture, Agape Couture Jewelry. I still enjoy taking apart old pieces and making them into something brand new, with a nostalgic flair. Adding feathers to a pattern makes it all the more hip and fun! That’s how my Dreams and Whispers necklace came to be. Here’s how to make it:
Feather Necklace Supplies:
13 in double link brass chain
1 single link from the chain
4 10 mm Wooden Agate beads
4 Amethyst Glass Faceted beads
4 Lavender Glass Round beads
7 6 mm Pink Swarovski Crystals
1 4 mm Lavender Glass Pearl
1 4 mm White Glass bead
9 ¾ in brass eyepins
6 1 in brass eyepins
2 2 mm brass jumprings
1 5 mm brass jumpring
1 small container of crafter’s glue
3 feathers of your choice*
1 brass ring pendant (or pendant of your choice)*
*You can get the feathers from a few different places. You can find a variety of feathers at your local craft store. Or, you can be creative and use feathered fishing lures, which offer a variety of colors and sizes, already wrapped and attached to wire, so you literally hook and go! You can also order feathers by bag and variety of bird. Just Google ‘Feathers for crafting’ and have fun hunting! These instructions will show you how to make your own attachment.
*The brass pendant used here was originally an earring! I just took the hook and accents off the original and voila! You can often find pieces to use like this at garage sales, thrift shops, and flea markets.
Feather Necklace Directions:
First, take a ¾ in eyepin and bend back to open eyelet and hook onto both rings at one end of the 13 in brass chain. Close the loop. Next, you string a pink crystal onto the eyepin and make a plain loop at the end. Then, open and hook one of the 1 in eyepins into the loop you just made. Next, string the amethyst bead onto the eyepin and make a plain loop at the end.
Follow this same process for all the beads in the following pattern: wooden agate bead, pink crystal, lavender glass, wooden agate bead, pink crystal, amethyst glass, wooden agate, lavender glass.
Repeat the same beading pattern above on the opposite end of the double link chain.
Next, open and hook the single chain link into the bottom loop of the lavender beads.
(This piece should serve as a connector to close off the necklace.)
~Now let’s work on the pendant.
Take 2 of the feathers and align the tips of the plumes together. String the lavender glass pearl and white seed bead onto plumes and push down gently approximately ½ in, leaving portion of plume showing above the beads. Then bend the plume into the 5 mm jumpring.
While securing the plume with your fingertips, apply a small drop of the crafters glue to the plume between the bend and the beads. Slide the beads back up the plume, over the glue and stop right under the jumpring. Let the feather attachment sit to the side for about 10 minutes.
Next, open and hook a ¾ in eyepin to the bottom of the single chain link. String a pink crystal on and make a single loop at the end. Hook the loop into the hole on the ring pendant and into the jumpring of the feather attachment. Close the loop, and you are done!!
*Feel free to play around with the color assortment. I used my favorites, pinks and purples. But blue, brown and white, orange and red, yellow and white, all would look wonderful with this necklace. Just make sure that your beads highlight the colors mixed in your feathers.
