I did mention I’ve been on a jewelry-making kick lately, right? Well, today I’m sharing one of my favorites…a Birds’ Nest Birthstone Necklace. If you’re my mother-in-law or sister-in-law, you might want to stop reading right now and just be surprised later!
If you’re not, here’s the tutorial…I bet you’ll be as surprised as I was to see how easy these are to make. I’ve seen hordes of them on Etsy, but thought (say it with me), “I can make that myself!” And you can!
What I’ve not seen is a nest holding birthstone “eggs,” so I decided that would be a perfect Mother’s Day or birthday gift for some special moms in my life. For the grandmothers, I used the birthstones of their grandkids.
The supplies you’ll need:
- Round glass beads in the birthstone colors you need (mine were 6mm)
- 24 gauge wire (I used copper)
- Jump rings that match your wire
- A ball chain or other necklace to attach the pendant to
- Needlenose or roundnose jewelry pliers
1. Cut a piece of wire about 3 feet long. String your beads on one end, leaving about 8” at the end. Wrap that piece around and under the beads, forming them into a circle. Tuck the end of the wire in so it doesn’t show or stick out. This step is easiest with an odd number of beads, but I’m not planning to add another grandkid to the family just to make my crafting easier. Unreasonable, I know.
2. Continue wrapping the long end of the wire around and around, leaving just a bit of slack. I did this by feel, instead of while looking at my work, so it would be a bit more random. Wrap back and forth across the bottom a few times, as well.
3. When you have 8 inches or so left, wrap tightly around the “nest” three or four times, then repeat in a couple more places around the nest. Tuck the end in to hide it.
Here’s what the bottom looks like.
4. To make it look a bit more “nest-ish,” use the pliers to twist a few kinks and bends in individual wires.
5, Add a couple of jump rings to one of the places you wrapped in step 3, then attach to your necklace.
Easy as that, you’ll have a wonderfully meaningful gift for your favorite mom!
This is such a great idea! My mom has 9 grand kids, so I guess I would need to make an eagle nest sized pendant 😉
Or you could use those little seed beads! Your mom’s not very tall, so I think an eagle’s nest might drag her down a bit! Or you could just include her kids instead of grandkids.
So cute!! What a great gift!! Love it!!