About 4 years ago, I took up a new hobby in jewelry making and fell in love immediately. Once you pick up the basics, you’d be surprised at how often you find yourself eyeing a set of earrings in a department store, but saying to yourself that you could easily replicate them yourself for half the cost. I will admit that this can become an expensive hobby if you start working with high quality materials. This, combined with the amount of time it can take to make a single piece – I now have a much greater understanding of why jewelry is often so expensive.

Normally, my jewelry making projects are earring themed, though I have often used what I have learned to repair pieces that I would have otherwise gotten rid of. Recently, I’ve been wanting to add a delicate gold necklace to my collection and came across the perfect inspiration on Cupcakes and Cashmere.

I loved the design. The use of a short row of stones to add a bit of drama to such a simple necklace was a great idea and starting point for what I wanted to do. However, the design used on C&C was much longer in length and didn’t have a clasp because it was long enough to simply slip over your head. I wanted a necklace that was much shorter, had a clasp, and wanted to alter the design of the stones – opting for small Swarovski Elements Crystal Bicone beads in a unique pattern over the ombre effect used on Cupcakes and Cashmere.

I used very inexpensive materials, all purchased at Michael’s for crafting my piece. I loved how it turned out so much that I will eventually swap the chain that I used for something of higher quality that will last longer and maintain a better brilliance.

You can read the full “How To: Delicate Necklace” to get the details on the inspiration for my design.