The story on MailOnline about Hilary Duff is about her engagement.  Our purpose is to highlight her wearing layered necklace chains.  One looks like a long silvery necklace with some beads/charms wire wrapped on.  Second is a shorter chain with a small pendant.  With the blurry picture, you can't quite tell if the choker section is a third necklace or if its part of the second double-wrapped around her neck.

Are you inspired to wear more neck chains yet?  See shiny bulk silver-plated chains here.  See bulk sterling silver chains here.

Here's to your creativity!

Cynthia
OhioBeads.com

This chain has been a favorite of ous for 7 or 8 years now.  Its great for necklaces and bracelets using wire wrapped dangles or charms.  We also use it as chain extenders when we pair it with a nice sterling silver trigger clasp.

Cynthia
OhioBeads.com

Seriously fun to wear earrings can be made with these antique brass filigree components. In this particular example I mixed many colors of green in response to the new spring colors surrounding me these days.

Consider all the colors in your bead collection..try black, purple, pink, aqua or earthly brown hues. Antique brass compliments many colors. AND, still light as feathers after loading them up with lots of drops. 

Show off your free spirited side and make and wear a pair!

Go wild with color,

Cynthia

ohiobeads.com

Component links here:

Antique brass posts

Antique brass filigree

Antique brass 4mm jump rings

Antique brass thin headpins

Perfectly round flat links that catch and reflect light. Sterling silver chain #30 will make a delicate chain bracelet with little charms, stones and glass. Excellent for flashy earrings and most certainly a necklace making favorite. The price of sterling is inching up a bit these days but often times when factoring in the upgrade sterling silver gives a creation, the small price increase often times has no impact. This is priced at $4.50/foot and will serve you well.

Here's a closer look.

Happy Weekend

Cynthia

ohiobeads.com

Snake Chain

This sterling silver snake chain is ready to wear with soldered lobster clasp attached and measures 18 inches long. A smidgen larger than 1mm, 1.2mm in fact, it's an excellent choice if you need a simple chain with excellent drape. I would categorize this in a delicate chain category, but it is capable of hanging favorite charms and smaller pendants. In the pix above I hung a pretty cross charm on it which measures 1.5 inches long. Honestly this chain is pretty enough to wear without any extra additions.

Box Chain

Love This Chain.

Just like the name states this box chain is made up of tiny box-like links catching light on the flat services giving it a nice shimmer. Delicate, measuring 1mm in width, I'd hang light weight trinkets and charms and call it done. This has a spring closure and we carry these in 16 and 18 inch lengths.

How About A Flat Link Cable

Small,with slightly flattened links, this cable chain has lots of versatility. In this example I wire wrapped a stone to a slide on bail for a simple everyday look. The links in this chain are large enough to attach wire wrapped beads to or again, can be worn on its own.

Last , But Not Least..Twist Wire Cable

Although we put this in the finished chain category, it's technically a cable. This cable keeps it rounded shape and has a lobster closure in the back. I have seen customers slide larger hole beads on them along with charms and letter cubes spelling out names of loved ones. Here, I've hung a cubic zirconian in pink and love the fact that I can switch things on off with ease. Currently we carry this pretty neck wire in 16 inches and will add more sizes soon.

Click to here to see all the finished sterling silver chains with fabulous pricing info and further details.

Cynthia last wrote about Curved (Scalloped) Bar Link Chain and hinted at the gold-plated version being available soon.

Its here: in stock and posted online:

http://www.ohiobeads.com/catalog/goldplated-chain-round-curved-scalloped-chain-p-850.html

Paul
OhioBeads.com

So nice to be featured in the February issue of Bead and Button as a chain supplier for the "Treasure Bracelet" design. We would like to let all you wonderful bead weavers out there know we are working hard to keep up with all the enquirers and also mention Gold plated scallop chain is on its way. Currently we have gunmetal curved scallop chain which looks great btw with multi-colored crystal combinations as well as clear, jet and black diamond colors. Sterling silver scallop chain # 9 always looks great and we have more footage arriving in a couple of days also. We plan to broaden the palette with antique brass and imitation rhodium in the near future. It looks like an awesome bracelet.. I need to improve my weaving skills and make one just for me. 

This takes no time at all

A simple technique

Quality ingredients (they look expensive) ( all sterling silver components)

Impressive to give

or

Keep for yourself, they're fun to wear 

If you can open and close a jumpring then you can make these earrings.  In this case I used a small jumpring, to connect the round bezel Pink CZ to the Marquis shape. Use a needle nose plier and gently open with a slight twist the loop of the earwire (under the ball end) attach the sterling silver marquis shape into the earwire, close the loop securing the marquis and Viola you have beautiful earrings!.

Super cute sterling silver circle ballend earwires pair well with these Pink CZ teardrops. Notice the small jumpring connecting the CZ to the earwire. Open .. Close.. Your done!!

Not a pink kinda gal, try the clear CZ they look fabulous also. 

P.S. Pink is perfect for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Limited supply!!

Talk Soon,

Cynthia

ohiobeads.com 

Vintage with a modern flair!   and…

No wire wrapping skills needed! These lovely filigree and chain earrings are made with pieces of chain attached to the gunmetal filigree with petite size jumprings. Lightweight for measuring 2 and 1/2 inches long.

Tips to follow: 

1. Determine how long you want the earrings to be. Hey they're your creations you decide length.The longest piece of chain used in the sample above measures 4 inches.
2. Start with the longest chain first, then add the shortest section next. From here you can fill in the spaces with chain sections you think look best.
3. You connect the fine gunmetal chain to the filigree with small jumprings . In this case I used 2 sterling silver jumpring to each ring of the filigree. The silver adds a whisper of light to the earrings.
4. I also connected a 3mm sterling silver round bead on the single strand with a gunmetal headpin looped to the chain link.
5. Connect the leverback earwire directly to the top loop of the filigree. The ring on the leverback opens easily using a slight twist of the wrist while holding a needle nose plier. 

The most important advice I can give you is to cut lengths of chain for each filigree at the same time. This helps you have earrings looking like a matched pair, while avoiding frustration and wasting chain.

Ingredients list: 

1 package gunmetal filigree 

Sterling silver jumprings

3 mm sterling silver beads

Gunmetal leverbacks

Gunmetal headpins

1-2 feet of gunmetal double rollo chain #28 

All the Best,

Cynthia 

Who else needs wants more sterling silver earwires? I sure do! These sterling silver earwires just arrived and are loaded up on the shopping cart at ohiobeads.com.

It's always a thrill to open new packages of findings. These new kidney wires are popping up in the antique brass marketplace and like them just as well in sterling, with two sizes to choose from. The long ball end earwire will look fantastic with pearl coins or cz drops.  The circle ball earwire is delicate and just plain cute.  Click this link to get more details about these happy new additions.

These earrings use 2 components.

• One pair of plain front sterling silver leverback earwires
• 2 cubic zirconia 6mm princess cut and sterling silver drop with a flat front ring

Thats It!!

Use a needle nose plier and gently open the ring of the leverback. Just a gentle twist of the wrist will do.

Once the ring is open attach the CZ ring to the open ring and close the ring using your needle pliers.

My sister loved them…Friends and family were impressed!  

Another addition to ohiobeads ever growing jewelry chain supply, this lightweight chain is excellent to use for necklaces and earrings. Layering this chain (like the picture) looks nice. You could mix and layer with beaded strands. Also, this chain would work well in many earring ideas. The antique copper finish will be a big hit for fall jewelry designs. And the silver gives a bright fresh look without the price tag of sterling silver. You can't go wrong at $1.97 per foot. Click here to see other new additions to our store.

Just a quick post about a necklace that always manages a compliment. This meets all the criteria of a great piece of jewelry.

1. Easy to make!
2. Coordinates with many outfits. Dresses up or down, so this has lots of wearing opportunities. 
3. Easy on the budget, but looks expensive.

Here's the list of necklace making supplies.

• 16 -20 inches of chain, depending on your size requirements
• 1 pendant size crystal and 1 smaller complimenting crystal bead (I've made this type of necklace with other kinds of beads, but the crystals take the lead)
• 2 eyepins or headpins that match chain finish and/or metal type
• 1 lobster claw clasp that fits into the link of chain

Here's how it's done…

1. Cut desired length of chain
2. Attach the pendant crystal to one end of chain. This can be done with wire wrapping it permanently to the chain using a headpin. In this case I used a heavier gauge headpin and made more of a semi wrap loop
3. Make loops on each end of the smaller bead after you sliding onto the headpin. Attach one loop to the lobster claw clasp and attach the other loop to the other end of the chain. See the pictures below.
4. 

This next picture shows off a matching earrings. 

and…just a quick insert to highlight different chains that easliy work with this "y" style necklace.

Crystal copper pairs well with the antique copper chain and Silver Shade, Black Diamond and Clear crystal coordinate with gunmetal, sterling and sliver plated chains.

We have featured all these components on a separate jewelry making project page on the shop site. Click here to find, buy and make.