Project

Create A Faux Coral Jewellery Necklace

Designer: Jane Kharade

Tags:: jewellery, jewellery making,

Take a trip to the ocean floor with Jane Kharade's coral jewellery

What you need...

BEADS: Polymer clay, Fimo, mint (505); red (24); translucent (014); orange (42)
FINDINGS: Jump rings, 5mm, silver-plated; head pins, silver-plated, flat; round; wire, beading, silver; clasps, caribiner; callottes; crimps
TOOLS: Pins, beading; pliers, flat-nosed; round-nosed; cutting; rocks, small x 2; cotton wool pads; paint, acrylic, brown

instructions

Make 20 round beads in various sizes with mint polymer clay. Use a beading pin to create neat holes in each one. Blend orange with red and translucent polymer clay to create a coral colour, then form branches between your fingers. On some of them, use a cocktail stick and push down into the ends of the clay to form an ‘arm’. Make short and long beads, and use the back of jewellery pliers to flatten the top and bottom of each one for a realistic look.
Create 80 to 100 coral beads, then use a beading pin to make a hole two-thirds of the way up each one. Add texture by placing them between two small irregularlyshaped rocks and gently pressing them together. Lay the clay on a papered baking sheet and bake according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Pour brown acrylic paint into a dish and apply it to the textured areas of the coral beads with a cotton wool pad. Wipe away the excess with a dampened pad, so the paint sits in the recesses.
Cut a long length of beading wire and thread on a callotte and crimp. Pass the wire back through the crimp and squash with pliers to secure. Close the callotte. Thread on the coral beads randomly, enough for the desired length. Leave a 1cm gap at the end and finish with another callotte and crimp as before. Attach a 5mm jump ring to either end of the necklace and a clasp to one end.
Thread 20 mint clay beads and six coin pearls onto flat head pins. Use round-nosed pliers to bend the head pin into a loop and trim the excess. Thread 12 pink pearls onto round head pins in the same way, then attach all the beads randomly along the necklace.