Easy Base Metal Necklace Clasp

by Tamara Summers.
(Kitchener, Ontario)

Recently I had company for dinner. The lady had on a base metal necklace. As we talked about jewellery, she said that she really had trouble putting her necklaces on and taking them off, especially if it was a short necklace. She had broken a finger in the past.

She demonstrated, and literally couldn’t get her necklace off while I was watching. I took it off of her and suggested she leave it with me so I could change out the clasp for her. The offending clasp was a lobster claw.

I looked in my supplies later and didn’t have a better clasp, or a wire that was the right colour or gauge to match the base metal. I didn’t want to have to go and buy something, so I looked into my box of silver beads and findings to see if I had anything that might work to make a clasp.

My eyes fell on a container of base metal earwires. Hmm … I wonder. I had so many of them and don’t use them that often, so I didn’t mind experimenting. The colour was perfect and the metal was strong enough for the necklace.

It worked very well. And was so easy. For the loop part of the clasp I just bent inward the part that flared out, and wrapped it around. I made two of them, with her extender chain in between, so she had a variety of lengths.

They aren’t round, as you can see, but I decided I liked the shape, and just made sure they were both the same so it looked intentional.

For the hook end, all I did was snip off part of the earwire, and ensure that it wasn’t sharp.

It ended up looking nice, and when I took it over to her, she was so happy with it.

Tamara Summers
Pink Pearls by Tamara