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Star Necklace and Festive Wire Knit

For the second part of my DT guest project this month, I have made a festive 'Star of Bethlehem' necklace and some wire knit goodies which will be available to buy on my website.




The necklace was made simply using a lovely piece of brown cotton thonging, onto which I hung a vial pendant in topaz, to look a bit like a star. You could fill the vial with a grain of rice, some glitter or oil. I then threaded festive green buttons in different shades and sizes from the 'emerald city' pack on at intervals along the cord - knotting roughly either side of the button secures each one into place. This is a nice project if you want to make a necklace for yourself or as a gift and have a few spare buttons, beads or other oddments lying around. It is especially nice if you use a whole variety of different things or at least different colours/shapes etc, as it gives the piece a unique and bohemian feel. Secure the ends by simply tying into a knot if the necklace is to be worn long or pick a fastening such as a lobster clasp or a toggle clasp. Either of those are quite nice and easy to do up and look good with the thonging. One tip for people who find doing a necklace up a little tricky is to put the fastening at the front - see my pirate charm necklaces for an example.

I also made these sumptuous berry-coloured Xmas tree earrings using some seed beads I had lying around and the gorgeous burgandy wire from www.alteredelement.co.uk.




I decided to use the remaining green buttons with some olive green wire for a cute, festive wire knit cuff and some of my own green seed beads. I'm really pleased with the result as the buttons make the piece look quite fun!




Materials:

Cotton Thonging
Buttons
Copper Wire

You may also need:

Beads
Adornments or focal pieces
findings, such as clasps
tools eg. wire cutters

Sadly, this is my last project for Altered Element but it has been great fun being part of the team, I've absolutely loved it! Don't forget, you still have until 01/01/2011 to place an order online at www.alteredelement.co.uk.

Happy Christmas!

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