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Southwestern Lariat Necklace (Tutorial)

by Rena Klingenberg. © 2003-Present Rena Klingenberg. All Rights Reserved

This lariat necklace is made from three elements of classic Southwestern style – turquoise, copper, and leather.

It’s a simple design that makes a big impression.

It’s also versatile – you can wear this one necklace in three different lengths, depending on how far you slide the briolettes away from the donut:

The briolette dangles don’t fit through the donut hole.

Instead, the cord is long enough for you to put the necklace on over your head, and then adjust the necklace length by sliding the cord through the donut hole.

Supplies:

• Donut bead.
  My donut is 35mm wide, with a 9mm hole.
  Make sure the donut’s hole can accommodate 4 strands of your leather cord.
  
• 2 briolette or teardrop beads.
  My briolettes are glass beads, about 14mm x 12mm.
  Your briolette beads do NOT need to fit through your donut hole (mine don’t fit).
  
• Copper Artistic wire (or craft wire, or regular copper wire) – soft round wire, 20 gauge.
  You’ll need 2 pieces of wire, each 10″ (25.5 cm) long.
  (Make sure your wire will fit through your briolette bead holes.)
  
• 2 jump rings, large enough to accommodate one strand of your leather cord plus a little extra room to spare.
  
• Leather cord – 60″ (152.5cm) long.
  I used 2mm wide, round leather cord in “Natural” color.
  
• Wire cutter.
• Flat nose pliers.
• Chain nose pliers.
• Round nose pliers.

How to Make a
Southwestern Lariat Necklace:

We’re going to start by wire-wrapping our briolette beads.

You can see my wire-wrapped briolette instructions, step by step below :

Cut your 2 pieces of wire, 10″ (25.5 cm) long:

Now we’ll work on one briolette at a time.

Pick up one of your wires, and place your flat nose pliers about 2″ (51mm) from one end of the wire:

Use your flat nose pliers to make a bend that’s a little sharper than 90-degrees – so that your wire looks like this:

Now we’ll add a briolette bead to the wire.

The instructions for each step are below this photo:

• Photo 1:
  String one of your briolette beads onto the long end of your wire, so that the 2″ (51mm) wire end sticks up above the top of your bead.
• Photo 2:
  Use your chain nose pliers to grasp the long wire end right next to your bead, and bend the long wire upward until your wires cross above the tip of your bead.
• Photo 3:
  Use your chain nose pliers to grasp the longer wire end just above where it crosses the shorter wire. Bend the longer wire so that it now points straight upward.
• Photo 4:
  Use your chain nose pliers to grasp the shorter wire end, right where it crosses the longer wire. Bend the shorter wire so that it now makes a 90-degree angle with the longer wire.

Now we’ll wrap the shorter wire end around the longer wire end.

The instructions for each step are below this photo:

• Photo 1:
  Use your chain nose pliers to grip both wires, between the top of the bead and the place where the wires cross. Use your flat nose pliers to grip the end of the shorter wire.
• Photo 2:
  Use your flat nose pliers to wrap the shorter wire around the longer wire, for a total of 2 or 3 wraps. You’ll get the smoothest, best wraps if you keep your shorter wire pulled taut, wrapping firmly as you go.
• Photo 3:
  Use your wire cutter to clip off the remaining end of your shorter wire. Cut the wire as close as possible to the wraps you just made.
• Photo 4:
  Now your wire and briolette bead should look like this.

Now we’ll make a wrapped wire loop above the wraps you just made – and then we’ll wrap the wire down to cover the top of the briolette bead.

The instructions for each step are below this photo:

• Photo 1:
  With the tips of your round nose pliers, grip your wire above the wire wraps you made. Bend your wire over the top of your plier jaw.
• Photo 2:
  Move your pliers to grip the longer end of your wire, right next to the bend you just made. Then wrap the wire around your plier jaw to form a loop, with the long wire end pointing straight out in back.
• Photo 3:
  Now use your flat nose pliers to grip the wire loop you just made. Start wrapping your long wire below the loop you just made.
• Photo 4:
  Keep wrapping smoothly around your other wires, working downward toward your bead. When you have a small tail of wire left, use your flat nose pliers to squeeze gently down on the wire wraps you just made.

Tip:
You can also see my quick video on How to Make a Wire Wrapped Loop.

Next, use the tips of your round nose pliers to grasp the tip of your wire tail:

Curve the wire around your plier jaw to make a little curve or open spiral:

Now wire wrap your second briolette bead the same way, so that your beads look like this:

Twist open your jump rings, and place a jump ring through each briolette’s wire loop:

Now cut your leather cord to 60″ (152.5cm) long:

If your leather cord keeps curling up:
See my quick tip for How to Straighten Leather Cord.

Once your leather cord is straight, find the midpoint of the cord.

Fold the cord in half so the two ends are together.

Now move the fold about 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51mm) to one side of the midpoint – so that one end of your cord is 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51mm) longer than the other side:

Now we’re going to attach the cord to your donut bead with a lark’s head knot.

Start by threading the folded end of the cord through the hole in your donut bead:

Then pull both ends of the cord through the folded cord loop, and pull the cords tight to make a firm knot around your donut:

Now pass both ends of your cord through the hole in your donut, like this:

Now it’s time to attach the wire-wrapped briolette beads to the cord ends.

Thread the jump ring of one briolette onto one of the cord ends:

Tie the cord end around the jump ring in a simple overhand knot:

. . . and pull the knot as tight as you can (you can use your flat nose pliers to pull firmly on the little cord end):

Tie the other wire-wrapped briolette onto the remaining end of your cord.

Now they should look like this, with one briolette hanging 1.5 to 2 inches (38 to 51mm) higher than the other:

To put your necklace on, pull the cords so that the briolettes are close to the donut:

Slip the necklace over your head, and then pull the briolettes downward so the the donut rests at your preferred necklace length.