Transform ring pulls into Claire Nigeon's neon bright jewellery

What you need...

• Bicone crystals: 6mm, turquoise x 9; blue x 14
  Neon orange round beads, 6mm x 26
  Pink fire-polished round beads, 8mm x 19
  Seed beads: small, green; large, orange; yellow
  Triangle acrylic stones, 18mm x 2
  Recycled ring pulls x 51
  Nylon monofilament
  Neon thread: 1mm, various colours; 3mm, multi-coloured
  Jump rings: 5mm, 10mm, 12.5mm
  Bar and ring clasp
  Head pins
  Closed rings, 10mm
  Spray paint, pink
  Earwires
  Superglue
  Pliers, round-nosed
  Wire cutters
  Sewing needle

instructions

1. Necklace - 1. Place 41 ring pulls on newspaper outside and spray paint them. They may need two or three coats. Once dry, connect the rings together with 1mm neon thread as follows: with two ring pulls at a time, overlap them and weave the thread in and out so that they rest securely together. Keep overlapping until you have connected all 41 ring pulls.
   
   2. Cut 10cm of monofilament, thread on 25 green seed beads and tie the ends together to make a ring. Repeat to make 20 green rings. Make 20 yellow rings in the same way, but onlythread 17 seed beads onto the lengths of monofilament.
   
   3. Weave 3mm neon thread in and out of the top set of holes on the ring pulls. Go from one end to the other and back, then tie off at the back. Cut a length of monofilament and secure at one end of the neon thread. String on three orange seed beads and an 8mm pink bead, then weave in and out of the necklace, on top of the neon thread. Repeat this sequence until you reach the end and tie off.
   
   4. Open a 10mm jump ring and connect the first two ring pulls with it, but don’t close it yet. Lay a yellow seed bead ring over this jump ring and attach two closed rings so that when you close the jump ring, the closed rings are connected to the jump ring but the yellow ring remains floating. Lay one closed ring out to the left and one to the right. Keep the work flat as the yellow ring may still come off at this stage until the next green ring is attached
   
   5. Take another jump ring and attach the next two rings together. This time, lay a green ring around the jump ring. Attach the right closed ring of the first set to the second jump ring, add another closed ring and close the jump ring. The closing of the second jump ring secures the closed rings, thus keeping the first floating seed bead ring in place. Continue in this way until you reach the end.
   
   6. Attach a bead to every closed ring. Slip an orange bead onto a head pin, cut down and form a plain loop. Attach this to the first closed ring so it hangs down. Repeat, alternating orange beads with blue or turquoise bicones.
   
   7. Attach 12.5mm jump rings to each side of the necklace, on the top holes of the ring pulls. Secure the ring part of a clasp to one of the jump rings with a smaller jump ring. Fix the bar part of the clasp to the other jump ring, but this time with two small jump rings.

2. Earrings - 1. Spray paint ten ring pulls as for the necklace. Connect five ring pulls together with monofilament as follows: join three of them together by overlapping and weaving the thread in. Then, instead of continuing to overlap as for the necklace, place the next one underneath the mid ring pull, and the last one underneath that. Tie off the monofilament after you have woven in and out a few times to strengthen the work.
   
   2. Make six yellow and four green seed bead rings as before. Connect two ring pulls together with a 10mm jump ring through the bottom holes but do not close. Lay a yellow ring over this jump ring, attach two closed rings to this one, then close. The closed rings should be connected to the jump ring, and the yellow one should float. Lay one closed ring to the left and one to the right. Take another jump ring and attach the second ring pull with the middle one.
   
   3. Slip on a yellow ring, lay a green ring around the ring, hook the right closed ring of the previous section onto the jump ring and apply another closed ring, then close the jump ring. The green ring should float, the closed rings should be attached in the jump ring, along with the left side of the yellow ring. Carry on with the next jump ring connecting the ring pulls. Hook on the right side of the yellow ring, lay over the ring another green ring and attach another closed ring to the jump ring. Close the jump ring. Finish the last section with a yellow ring as at the beginning. Attach the closed rings on either side to the ring pulls with 5mm jump rings.
   
   4. Thread a needle with 1mmneon thread and weave in and out of the top ring pull holes a few times. Attach a 5mm jump ring to each top hole of the earring at each end. Attach two more 5mm jump rings either side. Secure a large jump ring to each set of jump rings. Add an earwire to the large jump ring. Attach a triangle acrylic jewel with 5mm jump rings at the side jump rings and at the central closed ring below. Weave neon thread in and out a few times through the top holes of the ring pulls.
   
   5. Slip an orange bead onto a head pin, cut down and loop. Attach this to a jump ring and then to the central yellow ring. Do the same for the other two yellow rings and hang blue bicones from the green rings. Repeat to make a pair.