“Leftover” Toggle Necklace

Sometimes when you finish a jewelry project, you end up with a few leftover beads. Even if the colors work well together, you may not have enough to complete another large project. Or maybe the beads are different shapes and sizes.

Here is a fun and quick asymmetrical little toggle necklace that's a great way to use up some of those leftover beads. My necklace, “Blue Moon,” uses lampworked beads I made using palladium foil and dichroic glass on a pretty turquoise Moretti glass base. The large focal bead is about 1/2" long. Also included are four round spacers and two squarish nuggets that were left over from yet another project.

• Flush wire cutters • Round-nose pliers • Chain-nose pliers • Split-nose pliers • File • Measuring tape or ruler • 24" or more of chain, silver-colored twisted oval link • 3 1" head pins, sterling silver • Lampworked beads, 1 large, 6 small • Split rings, silver-colored • 10 5mm rondelles, silver • 8" or more of wire, sterling silver, 18-gauge round, half-hard • Toggle clasp, antiqued silver-toned pewter • 4 bead caps, antiqued silver-toned pewter • Assorted charms, antiqued silver-toned pewter sun/moon, small stars • 11 3mm round beads, silver, 2 are hidden under the bead caps For information on supplies, please see the Annual Buyers' Directory. Always ask for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for any materials you buy, which will give you reactivity, health hazard, and safe handling data.

STEP 1. Mounting the focal bead.
Create wrapped loops at both ends of your large focal bead. Slide the bead, with bead caps on each side, onto your 18-gauge wire.

Note: Because of the large holes in my lampworked focal bead, I also slid a 3mm round bead under the cap to wedge in the large hole to keep the cap stable. Omit this step if the caps don't seem to wobble around. Start 1" from the end of the wire, and grasp the wire with the chain nose pliers just below this point. Bend the wire end at a right angle.

STEP 2.
With the round-nose pliers, grasp the area just above the bend and ease the wire into a half-circle.

Shift your grip to form the second half of the circle.

With the wire circle anchored tightly in the round-nose pliers, tightly wrap the wire end 3 times around the shaft of wire just below the loop.

STEP 3.
Clip the wire flush and file down any sharp edges. At the other end of the focal bead, clip the wire, leaving 1-1/4".

Make another wrapped loop by holding the wire in the chain-nose pliers tightly against the bead cap.

When you put the first right-angle bend in the wire, the pliers will reserve just enough room for the wrapping.

Create the second loop, wrap, clip off the excess, and file it smooth.

STEP 4. Creating the second focal cluster.
On the opposite side of the necklace, you will need a similar, but not identical, focal cluster. I like to use a couple of smaller beads and mount them so that the total size of the cluster is approximately equal to the first mounted focal bead.

For the Blue Moon necklace, I chose a round spacer and a nugget, and framed them with 2 bead caps. The beads are separated by 2 rondelles and a round bead, making this cluster about the same length as the other focal bead with its mounting.

Slide them onto your wire and make a wrapped loop on each end.

STEP 5. Assembling the chain.
Decide how long you want your necklace to be, and how far up from the central toggle you wish to place your focal beads. I made Blue Moon 23" long, not including the central pendant, and placed the focal beads approx. 2" up from the toggle on each side.

Open and add one split ring to the bottom, and another to the top of the large mounted focal bead. Attach your chain to the bar half of the toggle using either a small split ring, a link of the chain, or a small jump ring that you made from your wire.

Measure and clip off the length of chain that will go between the toggle and the bottom split ring of the large focal bead, taking into account the size of the split rings.

STEP 6.
Repeat this procedure for the circular half of the toggle, this time attaching the focal cluster. Hook the halves of the toggle clasp together and measure end-to-end with the toggle in the center.

Cut enough chain to make the completed necklace. The central section of Blue Moon turned out to be 7-3/4" long, so I cut 15-1/4" of chain to make my 23" necklace. Slide the ends of the chain onto the split rings.

STEP 7. Making the central pendant.
A central pendant hanging from the toggle, with or without additional lampworked beads, is a nice way to anchor the necklace, both visually and physically. The total weight of your central pendant should be enough to balance the uneven weight of the focal beads further up the chain, and will prevent the necklace from twisting or shifting when you wear it. I used a pewter sun/moon charm and some additional lampworked beads.

To the split ring, add the pewter charm and 1-1/2" length of chain. Using 3 silver head pins, mount a small spacer or nugget, surrounded by 2 round 3mm beads and 2 rondelles. Bend the top of the head pin into a simple loop (no need to wrap), then clip off the excess wire. Position the largest bead at the very bottom of the chain, and the other 2 spaced out along the length.

Attach the split ring with the pendant and beaded chain to the circular half of the toggle.

STEP 8. Adding additional embellishments (optional).
The weight of the central pendant of Blue Moon allowed me to add some additional embellishments without the necklace shifting. To the split ring below one of the focal beads, I added 3/4" and 1/2" lengths of chain with small star charms. I also added a 1/2" length of chain to which I attached a spiral-wrapped wire with another spacer bead, flanked by 3mm rounds and rondelles.

Mazel Tov! Jewelry Treasures is the name of Cyndi Lavin's line of jewelry pieces, for which she uses her own handmade lampworked glass beads, seed beads, gemstones, and vintage materials. Visit her web site at http://www.mazeltovjewelry.com, and contact her via e-mail at cyndi@mazeltovjewelry.com.