Silver, Gold, and Pearl Holiday Dove Necklace

Materials:

• (40) 6mm pearl glass beads
• (45) 4mm silver colored beads
• (6) Small oval glass beads
• (19) Gold colored dove charms
• (6) Headpins
• (19) Jump rings
• Spring ring clasp with tag
• (2) Crimp beads
• (2) Crimp bead covers
• 20” length of .019” diameter beading wire
• A ruler
• Crimping pliers
• Wire cutters
• Long-nose pliers
• Round-nose pliers

Instructions:

1. If you haven't done so already, cut a 20” length of beading wire. String on a crimp bead and one half of your clasp. Thread the wire end back through the crimp bead and secure with crimping pliers.
    
2. String on two silver beads, a pearl bead, and a silver bead. Continue alternating between a pearl bead and a silver bead until you have strung on a total of 19 pearl beads. Allow the beads to cover the excess wire near the crimp bead for added security (instead of just trimming it).
    
3. String on two silver beads, a pearl bead, a silver bead, a pearl bead, and two silver beads. Continue alternating between a pearl bead and a silver bead until you have used up all forty pearl beads. Finish off with two silver beads.
    
4. Attach the second half of the clasp. Trim excess wire to about 1-2” and thread the excess back through the beads. Pop the crimp covers over the crimps and secure them.
    
5. To make the oval bead drops, slide an oval bead onto a headpin. Form a loop at the top of the bead using round-nose pliers and trim excess wire.
    
6. Open a jump ring and pop the jump ring over the center bead of the necklace, which is a single silver bead. Pliers come in handy! Slide on a dove charm and close the jump ring using pliers. Once you have your center dove charm attached, start working your way outward.
    
7. The next attachment is an oval bead drop. Skip a pearl bead and a silver bead. Attach an oval bead drop to the beading wire between the two silver beads.
    
8. Now skip a silver bead and a pearl bead. Attach a dove charm between the pearl bead and silver bead. Continue like this until you have used up all your oval bead drops. Attach the dove charms to every other silver bead space. The design is quite simple. Please refer back to the photos for placement.

For more handmade Christmas ideas, be sure to check out our collection of 41 Last-Minute, Inexpensive Homemade Christmas Gifts!