It's Electrifying: Upcycled Brass Necklace Tutorial.

Howdy, friends!  Today I have for you a tutorial.  Here's my latest upcycled necklace design:

The metal focal piece is actually from the electrical section of the hardware store.  Check it out!

It's a grounding bar.  Um, it grounds stuff.  I sort of know what that means, but, dang it, I'm an artiste.  So don't ask for details.  Here's another gratuitous beauty shot.

Want to make it?  Read on for the full DIY!


Here is the doohickey in all its glory.  I grabbed it because of the lovely rosy patina and great silhouette.

First, I removed all the screws.  Resulting in a hollow three-dimensional doohickey with holes in the bottom.

I made some dangles, using small beads and headpins:

The loops on these dangles needed to be larger than normal, to fit around the wide spaces between the holes.  The trick: turn your loops near the larger end of the pliers, instead of the skinny tip.  Like this:

Now attach them between the holes...

Ooh!  Pretty already.

String a cord or chain through the doohickey and you're done!

Or you can take it a little further, using the flat grounding bar that came in the kit.  Thread the flat bar through the hollow doohickey.  To each end, add three more dangles in this configuration:

Then just attach a chain to those side dangles:

Wahlah.

That makes a pretty statement, don't you think?  My favorite part: the focal piece shifts back-and-forth on the bar, just a tiny bit.  Makes the dangles dance!  Yet magically, it still hangs centered around your neck.  (No, don't ask me about gravity and equilibrium - didn't I just tell you I'm an artiste?)

That's today's DIY, hope you liked it.  Now - to the electrical department with you!