Why We Love This Tutorial:
We really wanted these gorgeous Biwa pearls to speak for themselves, so they are very much the focus of this necklace design. But we couldn’t resist adding a little bit of bling in, with the sparkly little 4mm diamante rondelle spacers and the diamante magnetic clasp.
This necklace is approximately 50cm long, however you could make it longer or shorter depending on your preference. We had plenty of pearls left over from the two strand we used, so making it longer would be no problem at all!
Please note: we have not directly linked to the exact products used in this tutorial as our range of pearls and specialty findings change frequently. Instead we have linked to several product options that will work just as well 🙂
Beads and Materials You’ll Need:
- Freshwater Pearls – we’ve use the new Biwa Pearls (edit Oct 2025: Biwa pearls are now very hard to come by! We suggest you try some baroque or irregular pearls to get a similar look).
- Freshwater Pearls – we’ve used white pearls that are about 9mm (we have used potato, but any large pearl would work well).
- 2x Earrings Hooks – we’ve used simple silver earhooks
- 2x Headpins 50mm long or longer (silver headpins).
- 2x 24mm or longer Eyepins
- 2mm spacer beads (we’ve used silver tone 2mm spacers)
- 2x 2mm Silver Crimps
- 2x wire protectors (or you can just use the crimps, but I like the neat look of the wire protectors).
- Clasp of your choice (we’ve used a diamante magnetic clasp)
- 32x 4mm Diamante Rhinestone Rondelles in Clear AB
- Tiger Tail (we used 0.38mm)
Tools You’ll Need:
- Flat Nose pliers (for crimping)
- Round Nose Pliers
- Flush Cutters
- Scissors (for cutting tiger tail – never use pliers for this!)
Method:
- Cut your tigertail to your desired length. Attach one half of your magnetic clasp using your crimps and wire protectors.
- Thread on your beads. The pattern is three Grey Biwa Pearls to every White Potato pearl. We have used the 2mm silver spacers between each pearl. Either side of the white potato pearl, we have used a 4mm rhinestone rondelle spacer. Please refer to the photo!
- Finish off the necklace with your other crimp and wire protector (plus the other half of the magnetic clasp).
- To make the earrings, take your eyepin and thread on (in this order): a 2mm silver spacer – 4mm rhinestone rondelle – white potato pearl – 4mm rhinestone rondelle – 2mm silver spacer. Cut the eyepin above the last bead leaving approx 8mm and form a loop with you round nose pliers. Attach this top loop to your earwire.
- Now, take a headpin and thread on three grey Biwa pearls, separated with 2mm silver spacers. We have performed wrapped loops to make these more secure. Attach this wrapped loop to the remaining loop on your eyepin from before.
- And that’s it!
