New Jewelry A Day: Use LEGO® as Beads to Make a Necklace

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Use LEGO® as Beads to Make a Necklace

Before: LEGO® in the toy box

So today we played with LEGO®. Again. It turns out New Jewelry a Day is a great excuse to play with toys. My delightful daughter and I happily sifted and sorted and arranged colors. The result was a bag full of odd shaped LEGO® sorted into possible projects and a colorful LEGO® beaded necklace accented with sterling silver parts.

Materials
LEGO®
Leather, imitation leather or other stringing material
Six sterling silver beads
Sterling silver clasp

After: Necklace by GeltDesigns.com

Tools
Bead board
Scissors or wire cutter
Glue (optional)

Step 1
Select the LEGO®. Arrange the LEGO®. We used a bead board when creating our design.

Bead boards are not necessary (a plate or bowl will do) but bead boards are a great tool to prevent beads from rolling while you work. Bead boards come in a variety of sizes ( 9x 12 inch, 34-inch, travel) and are made by many different vendors, including Beadalon and Beadsmith;; they all serve the same purpose.

Step 2

String the LEGO® and beads

Make or select the accent beads and clasp. We used sterling silver beads and a sterling silver "S" clasp, but picking the beads and playing with the pattern is half the fun. There were a lot of designs we liked and could have used.

Step 3
String the LEGO® and beads onto the stringing material.

Step 4
Add the clasp. We used a sterling silver "S" clasp but selecting the clasp is part of the design.

Make loop

Make a loop at the end of the stringing material. Slide the last LEGO® to secure the loop.

Make knot

Make a knot or two below the first and second LEGO®. Secure the knot with glue.

Slide the second LEGO® over the knots and snap the first and second LEGO® to cover and secure the knot.