Make your own Beatrice inspired button necklet

I have great pleasure in sitting at my table with a glass of wine and putting together a button necklet for a friend or just for the relaxing creativity of it.  I have tried many ideas and techniques and find the following is the simplest for a basic necklet.  I call them necklets as they are usually short to sit better on the neck.  The length for a slight framed person is usually about 42 - 44cms whereas the larger frame needs a minimum of 45cm for a short style to 50cm to give more length to the neck or to wear over clothing.
The following is a photo supported outline of what you need to start your necklet and there will be a follow up blog on guidelines for designing and creating your button necklet.

What you need

• A selction of buttons - these are from Spotlight which you can buy in colour tone packets for about $9
• A colour wheel to help create your colour mix - I had plenty of orange buttons, so used these as a base and the greens and purples were chosen from the split complimentary,   You also need a range of sizes of buttons. 
• 24 guage craft wire - any thinner tends to krink and snap under pressure, thicker wire can be used to make the wire more of a feature
• Tape measure to check your length
• Tools, being wire cutters and jewellery pliers - pliers are sometimes needed to help bring the wire through limited  or tight spacing.
• Jewellery clasp - I use the easy to manage magnetic clasp as the necklets a very light.  For a necklet to being used over clothing  I would use a parrot clip or hook style clasp.

Once you have all your equipment the fun begins.  In my follow up blog I will give you guidelines on  how to design and create of your button necklet.