I won three orphan sterling silver earrings on eBay for the princely sum of £2.50 including postage. One of these earrings has ended up as the focal piece in this necklace. The earring is rainbow moonstone, and it shimmers in that bluish, almost supernatural way that moonstone does. I removed the French hook (simple job – it’s handy having strong nails sometimes).
Using 0.8 mm gauge, 3 mm diameter silver jump rings, I attached it to some garnet and labradorite beads (which had been part of a bracelet I’d bought in a charity shop for 50p). I used silver wire to give the beads loops at each end, so they could be attached to the jump rings. And finally, I cut a silver chain in half with a pair of pliers, and spliced the earring/bead combo between the two halves. Voilà! A necklace.
More views here:
It’s always worth buying sterling silver chains if you come across cheap ones in charity shops etc. – even if the chains are 14 or 16 inches long and therefore only suitable for the most swan-like necks, you can still use them for projects like this. Or chop them up to make safety chains, or even just save them for scrap.