DIY ribbon tie necklace

There are countless methods in making jewelry. It's actually one of the things I love most about making or designing a piece of jewelry – that it's an entirely creative outlet with few rules or guidelines. Once you learn the basic tools in linking beads and gems as one cohesive piece, you pretty much can never go wrong with the design.

Welllll, you probably could go wrong. Like mixing metals… but let's not go there today.

I totally believe the same design methods you find in home decor parallel the methods of jewelry design. You will find standards in both home decor and jewelry design; classic or trendy, modern or vintage, to name a few. These design standards are really just used for measuring an aesthetic. "Does this chair, with that rug, and that lamp look modern, or retro?"

Some people religiously follow these home design standards, which is totally cool, but I, on the other hand, am a fan of breaking these design "rules". For example, I like to mix odd colors and contrasting textures in order to create something unique and vibrant. One of my favorite ways to "break the rules" in jewelry design is to forgo the standard toggle clasp and replace with ribbon. Today I'll show you how to make your own ribbon tie necklace!

First, I start by gathering beads of a similar hue or tone. For this piece, I wanted something sea glass and gold. Gathering all these beads and stones does not mean I will use all of them. It's a process I use which helps me to narrow down the design.

Next, I took 24 gauge gold filled headpins and wire-wrapped the gold beads onto the links of chain. I decided to only make 4 of these beaded links (versus the 6 in the photo above). Then, I took 18 gauge gold filled wire and made a basic link through each piece of sea glass. I joined the sea glass links to the chain links with gold jump rings. If you're lost at "wire wrap", check out this post.

Next, grab some ribbon and a needle and thread. You want to find a softer ribbon since the ribbon will be laying on your neck. You don't want something scratchy, rough or itchy. I bought this soft ribbed black ribbon at Michael's.

Next, cut 2 pieces of ribbon, about 18" in length. Cut a triangle the one end of the ribbon with scissors, thread through the chain link, fold and sew! I recommend tucking the knotted end of the thread inside the fold so that the end of the thread does not show.

And you're done! Easy peasy.

Here are 2 others I made using the same ribbon tie method. These two necklaces were strung on SoftFlex, and attached with crimb beads to a chain link on each end.