We have such a talented community! Please join me in welcoming Lauren, who kindly reached out to me after creating a beautiful necklace inspired by the Anthropologie piece above. I was so in love with this necklace but not the price tag. It’s amazing to see all the work that went into crafting the doppleganger — it makes me realize how much work goes into these pretty pieces. Lauren will also be running this post on her blog Anthropologiesque later today. Though she says this recreation is one-of-a-kind, I’m actually hoping to tempt her into making more! Interested in writing a guest post? Email me or click the “contact” link near the top of the blog. On to the amazing construction story…
When Roxy posted her regular Eye Candy feature a couple of weeks ago, I absolutely fell in love with the mystery necklace above. But…I definitely wasn’t in love with the $298 price tag. I guess I’d been feeling a little extra crafty lately, and so I decided to make my own version of this necklace. I knew that I could make something really similar for a fraction of the price, and it would be uniquely mine. I was actually really surprised that I found pieces locally that were so close to the photo above.
I purchased 18″ of sterling silver chain (a bit longer than I would like, but I wanted to have some chain to play with, in case I botched it). For the left bead, I happened upon an antique catch (fancy clasp) that would do double duty. This way, it would sit at the correct level. The watch face and black and golden pendant were finds at a consignment shop.
I have made jewelry before, but this is really my first true attempt at working with metal – and even tried my hand at soldering, which I found surprisingly easy. If you’re unsure, or even just wanting to do the bare minimum, soldering isn’t necessary, but I just wanted my necklace to look as finished as possible. Call me a nerd, but I actually found a very simple but helpful youtube video, and was able to pick everything I needed at Radio Shack (a local electronics store), but my local hardware store had some great options as well.
Tools I used: Magnifying glass + helping hands station (similar here), soldering iron kit (similar to this one), round nose pliers, side cutters, solder flux, silver solder (the key is that you want lead-free & nickel-free), and sterling silver jump rings.
The first step for me was to separate the watch face using side cutters. I didn’t think this step through, and highly recommend buying the watch face alone (there are a plethora on etsy).
All that would need to be done now was to attach the catch, watch face, and pendant to the chain. I used sterling silver jump rings, which I cut with the side cutters to attach them, and then used the round nosed pliers to reshape and close the jump ring around the watch face and chain.
You can get the ring to pretty much close using the round nose pliers, and can use flat nosed pliers to press the ends together. Another option is to use sterling silver split rings. No cutting or re-sealing required, however, it may be a challenge finding the right size. The watch face wasn’t easy to work with, and the split rings I could find were too small, causing the rings to end up misshapen and weak.
But, I opted for soldering. I worked on the kitchen counter, to make sure I would not overheat anything, and I turned the iron on to the lowest setting, 20 watts, which was plenty hot.
I set the jump ring (with watch face hanging) in the helping hands, which held it firmly in place,
Repeat with the pendant and either side of the catch, cutting off any excess chain so that you get the right length for you.
I have a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry, AND at a fraction of the cost:
18″ of sterling silver chain: $12.75 (purchased from bead shop)
Antique catch: $35.00 (also purchased from bead shop. And yes, this is the most expensive component, but it is doing double duty)
Vintage watch: $9.00 (from consignment shop, but many are available on etsy here)
Vintage pendant: $6.00 (also from consignment shop. Similar but pricier here & here) Sterling Silver jump rings: $5.00 for a pack of 20 from craft store (Michael’s)
Soldering kit + magnifying glass / helping hands + sterling silver solder + flux: $50.00 So, before the soldering kit and tools, the necklace cost me $67.75 and about 1 hour of my time to assemble on my first try. And honestly, if I had been willing to wait and order things online, I could have saved on the catch and watch face (but I guess that is the price of impatience). However, in my hunt, I found other great pieces to work with, and now have the tools I need to make more unique jewelery :). ))
