Ever wonder how to use that gorgeous silk hand dyed silk ribbon without having to tie it? Then today is your lucky day.
Materials and Tools list:
-Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon
-20 or 21 gauge wire (I used sterling, but you can use whatever you want)
-something round approximately 4mm diameter. I used a steel mandrel.
-pendant
-beads, wire, or charms for embellishment and weight
Instructions:
Begin by hand coiling wire on your mandrel. You can work directly off the coil of wire to save materials. This particular mandrel seems to be the perfect size to allow the ribbon to move easily when tugged, but not to slip on its own.
Coil until you have about 1/2″ long coil. Cut tail about 3/4″ long.
Begin to spiral the end of wire toward the coil.
Continue until the spiral sits on top of the coil.
Repeat on the other side.
If you will not be attaching your pendant or beads with jump rings, you need to add those to the ribbon now before you add the coil.
Feed one end of the ribbon through the coil.
At this point, make sure the ribbon isn’t twisted in a manner you don’t like. The 2nd end of the ribbon needs to be fed into the coil from the OPPOSITE direction. This is a challenge. To aid me, I grab a piece of scrap wire sitting on my table and use it as a trocar (surgical reference. It’s the only thing I could think of to compare.) to guide it through the coil in the opposite direction without pushing out the other end of ribbon you already fed through the coil.
If you managed feeding both ends correctly through the coil, you just completed the most difficult part!
Now it’s time to embellish the ends. You could just do a knot on each end and call it good, but that’s not as much fun. Also, if you want to wear your necklace short and have the ends dangle in the back, it helps to have them slightly weighted. For this demo I slid a bead on each end then knotted the end.
Here’s the finished product (listed on Etsy if you want to see more photos):
For Lime Blueberry Fizz, I used some scrap sterling silver wire to make some fun spiral zig zag charms and tied them into the knot.
For this Nightmare Insomnia in the Garden Necklace (sold), I added small Hill Tribe flower charms to each end.
Have fun playing with this technique and make sure you show me pics of your creations.
Very cool!
I love the beauty and versatility of custom made components! Thanks so much for sharing this tutorial and your lovely necklaces!
Wow, gorgeous! I’ve been thinking of trying my hand at hammering wire and this tutorial really got me really inspired
What a great tutorial! I’d like to link to it from my blog if that’s ok?
I am glad you like it enough to share it with others. Please feel free to link away
Love your work! Ironically, I did a post on my blog (RecklessBeading.blogspot.com) about not wanting to cut the beautiful hand-painted ribbon holding the Maku Studio pendant that I bought. I made a scarf circle for the finding and crocheted wire birds nests for the ribbon ends but your tutorial is a good solution as well. I will put a link to your tutorial in my post so people have suggestions for two findings.
What a wonderful idea! I have some small lightweight bracelets with leather ties and I wanted an adjustable clasp but the usual “tied adjustable knot” wasn’t what I had in mind. This will be perfect! Thank you so much for sharing.
Looking for a source for hand dyed silk ribbon. Any suggestions anyone?
I’ve gotten some from here before and love them: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Jamnglass
Jenny–What a “find” this tutorial was! I was asking in a Facebook group a couple of days ago about how I could fasten the silk ribbon on a wrap around bracelet and still have it be adjustable. One person kept after it even after the discussion and found this for me!
I tried it last night–only with a bead I had handy since I was just experimenting. Wa-la! I’ll be making some of these as I love doing wirework anyway and your version looks nicer!
I’m not sure I’ve ever found a tutorial so handy at just the right time and be so easy to follow! (Never would have thought of pushing the ribbon through with the wire either, but it worked perfectly!) Thanks so much for posting this! –Sharyl
P.S. Such a nice surprise this was on your blog, since I just spent many hours working with your lovely focal lampwork bead! You’ve made some wonderful jewelry, above, too!
I am SO GLAD your found this tutorial at just the right time. yay! Glad to help.
This looks so much better than the two knots I tied into a silk ribbon this weekend will give it a try and see if it works.. my ribbon is a different shape….
Thanks!
Where do you get your ribbon?
I get most of my ribbon from here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Jamnglass I used to have a different source, but she doesn’t seem to be doing the silk ribbon anymore.
Love this idea! And will have to steal!
What a great tutorial. Thanks for posting it. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference.
Great tutorial! THANKS!
Very interesting, I plan to try this. Thank you.
Thanks so much for sharing this technique, simple yet so practical and looks great! I’ll definitely use this little beauty.
Something that may help you in threading the second ribbon back through, or even the first one, is a bridge flosser. They’re about three inches long and made of what looks like blue fishing line and there’s a loop on one end. It’s very easy to thread a ribbon through the loop (plenty of room there) and then threading the other end through the wound wire. It would be the same concept as a needle threader, but larger and gentle on ribbons. These can be purchased in the oral health area of your local drug store.
Hope this helps, and thanks again!
Great idea! And I have some of those I use for the permanent retainer fixed to my bottom teeth. Thanks!
I got the link from a friend and want to say its a great tut, and thank you for sharing;)
This is so timely. I was just wondering what to do and other ideas on jewelry made with a ribbon. Wonderful. Thank you.
Thanks for this tutorial. I found it via the Handmade jewellry newsletter.