Red & Clear Quartz Wire-wrapped Moon Necklace Tutorial

Why We Love This Tutorial:

I was absolutely awestruck by our new natural Red & Clear Quartz 8mm gemstone beads… I just knew I had to create something out of them! Clearly the red quartz looks beautiful when teamed with clear quartz, so the faceted nuggets and tiny 3mm faceted rounds went perfectly. The pièce de résistance was the addition of the rose gold wire/findings/chain. I am just in love with this colour combination! That being said, of course this design/technique is completely versatile in terms of colours you could use.

Beads and Materials You’ll Need (product name is clickable):

• 6x 8mm Round Gemstone Beads (we’ve used these natural Red & Clear Quartz 8mm round beads)
• approx. 30x 3mm Faceted Round Gemstone Beads (we’ve used these 3mm faceted Clear Quartz beads)
• 2x Feature Gemstone Beads (we’ve used these faceted flat clear quartz nugget beads. These are of limited availability, so if they are no longer available when you’re reading this, any clear bead around 18mm to 22mm will have a similar effect. That also goes for if you don’t want to buy the full strand just for the two beads in this design… even clear glass or crystal would work!).
• 30x 4mm Faceted Round Crystal Beads (we’ve used these 4mm faceted clear crystal beads).
• 18x Rose Gold 3mm Tarnish Resistant Beads
• 2x Rose Gold 4mm Tarnish Resistant Beads
• 30x Rose Gold Tarnish Resistant Headpins
• 12x 4mm Rose Gold Tarnish Resistant Jump Rings
• 24ga (0.5mm) Rose Gold/Copper toned wire
• 18ga (1mm) Rose Gold/Copper toned wire
• Rose Gold Toned Fine Belcher Necklace

Tools You’ll Need:

• Round Nose Pliers
• Flush Cutters

Method:

1. Cut a piece of 18ga wire approx. 15cm long. Form a small loop at one end using your round nose pliers. 2. Now it’s time to shape your moon. You can use whatever you can find to curve the circle shape around (the outside of the moon is an approx. 35mm circle, while the inside is approx. 30mm). I was lucky enough to have some dowel in these sizes. Otherwise, you can gently shape it yourself into the moon shape. Use the very tip of your round nose pliers to make the bend at the end of the moon. 3. Cut the tail end of your wire using flush cutters (leaving about a 12mm overhang), and form another loop using your round nose pliers.  4. Give the moon frame a good old whack with your chasing hammer to flatten it out somewhat. This step is optional but causes to frame to harden and retain it’s shape a little better. 5. The hammered frame:
   6. Take approx. 1.5 metres of your 24ga wire and wrap numerous times round the end of the moon to secure. 7. Now take the wire and wrap 2-3 times around just one side of the moon. 8. Thread your first bead onto your wire, then wrap 2-3 times on the other side of the moon. (We have used a couple of the rose gold round beads to start and finish the moon to make it just the little bit extra fancy. This is optional.) We’ve used a 3mm rose gold bead first. 9. Now do the same with your next bead (we’ve used a 4mm rose gold bead). 10. Continue this process using the faceted 3mm round clear quartz beads. The idea is to use as many beads as you can to fill the row. Our next row has two beads. (We have used some 3mm red coral beads in this demonstration as they show up better when photographed). 11. Next row: 12. Continued: 13. Once you have filled your frame, finish off with a 4mm and 3mm rose gold round bead. Wrap a few times around the frame to finish. 14. Trim your wires. Use your fingers to push the beads into the best position and so that they all lay relatively flat. 15. Now it’s time to make all the wrapped bead connectors/drops. We have made these connectors using wrapped loops (see image below). For a more thorough example of wrapped loops, please see this tutorial. 16. You will need to make 6x 8mm red quartz connectors (with a 3mm rose gold bead either side of the red quartz); 2x clear quartz faceted nugget connectors (with a 3mm rose gold bead either side of the clear quartz); and 30x 4mm clear round crystal drops. The red quartz and clear quartz connectors are made using 24ga wire, while the clear crystal drops are made using 25mm rose gold headpins. 17. We have used one of our ready made rose gold toned fine belcher necklaces in this design. You simply need to cut this chain at the appropriate places to build your necklace. 18. The entire necklace is connected together using 4mm jump rings. We have added 3x clear crystal bead drops onto each jump ring (excluding the jump rings that attach to the moon pendant). 19. The moon pendant is attached with two 4mm jump rings as follows: 20. And that’s it! Here are some other photos of the finished necklace: