Purse Jewelry Project

Everyone likes to have items with a little more personal of a look. This project will let you take purse or backpack that for now looks like everyone else's, and jazz it up with a few charms to let it be more you!

For our project, we are going to make a 3-dangle piece of purse jewelry by three different methods, so you can learn them all. 

Items Needed

• Large Lobster Clasp
• Three Charms
• Beads (various shapes and sizes that go with the look you are trying to portray)
• Five Split Rings
• Two Eye Pins
• 4 Inches of Jewelry Chain with Links
• 7 Inches Beading Wire
• Two Crimp Beads

• Crimping Tool
• Wire Cutters
• Jewelers Rounded Tip Pliers

• Eye Pins - Which will give a more jointed look when complete.
• Chain - Which will dangle but you can only add beads to a few places and then at the bottom.
• Beading Wire and Crimping Beads - Which you can fill with beads and then attach the charm to the end.

Once you select the method you are going to use, it is best to lay out the design before committing to it. If you do not have a proper beading surface (a surface where beads will stay put and not roll around), try using a hand towel and put the beads, chain and pins you would like to use in lines and rows with the charms at the end so you can see what the pieces will look like.

You can make as few or as many bead and charm dangles as you would like to hang from the clip. Some people prefer one for a minimal accent, others will put 5-7 dangles to make a large statement with their charms and beads.

Look over the beads and charms to make sure you like the way the colors and bead shapes will mesh when they are close together.

Also, remember when all these lines of jewelry are put together they will be laying on top of one another or side-by-side. If you want all your charms to show all of the time, you need to make varying lengths of these dangles to hang from the clip so no matter when someone looks at it, they can see all the charms looking back at them. Also, keep in mind the more dangles you have on the clip, the noisier it will be when you walk around.

While you are laying out the design, consider the size of the purse or bag you are going to be putting these beds on. If you have a very small purse, you may not want to make a hulking charm dangle that makes the purse look dinky.

Once you have the designs you want, it's time to make the jewelry!

Making Headpin dangles

1. If your eye pin has a loop at one end, you can either attach the charm directly to the loop or use a split ring if you would like it to have a little more mobility. If the headpin does not have a loop, use rounded nose pliers and the Jewelry Looping Method to create one. (Hold the pliers approx 1/2 inch from the end of the wire and bend it at a 90-degree angle. Then grab the end of the bent portion of the wire with the pliers and tightly wrap it around them creating a complete circle.)
2. Bead the rest of the headpin, to just over 1/2 inch from the top.
3. Close the top into a loop using the Jewelry Looping Method.
4. Use a split ring to attach the top of this eye pin and the bottom of the next eye pin together.
5. Add beads onto the eye pin until it is just over 1/2 inch from the top.
6. Use the Jewelry Looping Method to close the top in a loop.
7. Put a split ring on the top loop.

1. Using wire cutters cut the chain into the length that you want the dangles to be.
2. Use a split ring to attach a charm to the bottom of the chain piece (looping through the top of the charm and the bottom of the chain).
3. Put a split ring through the top end of the chain.

1. String the beads that will be on the dangle from top to bottom on the beading wire spool.
2. After all the beads for the dangle are on, string a crimping bead onto the wire
3. Now string the charm onto the beading wire
4. Loop the beading wire through the hoop in the charm and back up through the crimping bead (when you pull it snugly it will hold the charm in place with a tight loop).
5. Using your crimping tool, tighten the crimping bead.
6. Now cut the beading wire off the spool 1 1/2 inches from past the top of the beads.
7. Add a crimp bead to the top of the beading wire
8. Loop the wire through a split ring and back through the crimping bead.
9. Using your crimping tool, tighten the crimping bead.
10. Cut off any excess beading wire from either end.

1. Loop the split ring tops of all of your dangles through the last split ring
2. Now attach the split ring to the bottom loop on the lobster clasp.