Costume Jewelry Repair

I’ve mentioned my collector friend Loretta for whom I frequently do jewelry repairs. This is one of the necklaces she brought in for repair. What a mess. Only one small section was still strung to allow me to see the original design.

But the bigger problem was that she also wanted the necklace lengthened to 34 inches. Of course that means I had to find suitable materials to match or complement the beads she brought.

Matching would have been impossible because these pretty glass beads are Dutch trade beads dating back to the 1600s! How exciting to be able to work with and add my own artistic touch to something with so much history.

As you can see in the photo, the necklace had been strung on plastic monofilament. For the repair, I used 7 Strand Micro Cable Stainless Steel Wire twisted cable for added strength. This necklace will not break again – at least in Loretta’s lifetime!

I used a toggle clasp to make it easy to get on and off. Loretta said the original clasp was a barrel screw together one and very tricky to close.

More Jewelry Repairs

This necklace has some of the most gorgeous Oriental hand-carved wood and bone beads I have ever seen. Personally, I would have made several necklaces with them to better feature each one.

Anyway, it was originally strung on a raw leather beading cord which dried out and broke. Loretta wanted the necklace to look as it did when she bought it; but strung on something more durable.

We decided to use 7 strand twisted cable through a black rubber beading tube (shown at the bottom of the photo).

The leather cord had simply been tied in a knot. You can’t do that with beading cable or rubber tubing, so I suggested we use one of those new magnetic barrel clasps.

Loretta was very skeptical that the magnet would be strong enough for a necklace of these rather large beads, so I had her test one. They have amazing grip, yet are easy to put on and take off.

This was the first time I has used one and I didn’t anticipate how (literally) sticky they would be to bead with. As I tried to attach the clasp, it kept picking up my crimp beads and glomming onto my pliers! As with any craft, there are techniques you just have to learn with practice.

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