Tour de Belgium Lariat Necklace

A free necklace project featuring a bottle cap bead, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS crystal bicones and heart pendants with antiqued copper chain from Rings & Things.

As seen in the Rings & Things Summer Supplement 2011
Created by: Cindy Morris

Suggested Materials:
35" #40-099-16-7 Chain, Footage, Drawn Flattened Cable, 2.1mm
(Antiqued Copper Plated)
1 each #26-861-105 Bead, Bottle Cap, New Belgium Fat Tire
1 each #26-813-114 Bead, Copper, Fluted (Antiqued Copper)
1 each #06-261-17-410 Crystal, Pendant, Devoted 2 U Heart, 17mm
(Crystal/ Astral Pink)
2 each #06-228-10-185 Crystal, Pendant, Heart, 10mm (Crystal/ Red Magma)
17 each #05-328-04-27 Crystal, Bead, Faceted Bicone, 4mm (Garnet)
8 each each #05-328-04-80 Crystal, Bead, Faceted Bicone, 4mm
(Topaz/ Aurora Borealis)
50" #47-408-SP Wire, Copper, 20ga, Round, 79' (Solid Copper)
46 each #49-957-03-7 Bead, 3mm TierraCast® Heishi (Antiqued Copper Plated)

Tools and Supplies:
#69-270-99 Tool, Lindstrom® Four-Piece Set
#86-322 Liver of Sulfur, XL Gel, 2 oz.
0000 steel wool (from hardware supplier)

Designer Tips:

Cutting chain: Hang chain sections from a pin or piece of wire to make it easy to cut pieces that are exactly the same length.
Most of the chain sections in this lariat are 1.5" long, but use whatever length looks best to you.
To patina: Warm up a small amount of water (about 1 cup) in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add a dab of liver of sulfur gel and stir. You can dunk the entire necklace in the patina solution. The bare copper wire will patina in just a few seconds. Rinse in clean water and buff the wire links with steel wool.

For additional details about techniques used in this design, see:
Basic Jewelry-Making Technique Sheet

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