DIY | Ribbon Bar Necklace

In more recent months I've been trading in my chunky jewelry for more dainty pieces and there's nothing more dainty than a bar necklace. You can find bar necklaces everywhere from Etsy to Forever 21. The first time I saw a bar necklace was on blogger Chelsea of ChelseaWears.com. She often wears the Minoux tiny bar necklace in her videos and I've been wanting something similar for months now. This sparked an idea in my head- why don't I try to make my own bar necklace out of ribbon and recycled jewelry?

What You Will Need
Ribbon- you can use any color and width that you want
An old necklace- get something that you no longer use. If you don't have anything to reuse just buy chain, jump rings, and a lobster clasp.
Jewelry making tools- you will need round nose pliers, flat nose pliers, and flush-cutters
A lighter- you will need this to burn the stray edges of the ribbon

I started off by removing all the jump rings from the necklace. Mine had a lot of jump rings which were very useful for this DIY, and I still have a few left for another project. If you're going to be buying jump rings I suggest getting big ones for the ribbon bar and also smaller ones to attach the ribbon bar to the chains.

Then you're going to be cutting two pieces of string. I really didn't do any exact measurements because I tend to eyeball things all the time. It is up to you how long you want your ribbon bar to be. I wanted mine to be around the same size as my index finger so maybe that can help you out. Also take into consideration that the ribbon will look very long at first but once you start the square knot it will shrink in size. It's always better to start off with longer pieces than cut a short piece and not have enough ribbon.

Getting started on the square knot was certainly not easy. It took a lot of trial and error because it seems like my lanyard making skills were completely rusty. I followed this gif tutorial to get myself started on the square knot.

To make a square knot you're going to start off with two loops. To form the loops you will grab one strand and draw it towards the center and you will do the same to the piece of ribbon across the one you just moved. From there you can start weaving the ribbon. Remember that you want your ribbon to go over the first loop and under the second one. Another important thing to consider is that you want the ribbon to go through the closed end of the loop. If you loop it in the open end everything will just come apart. You will know if you did it right if it looks like picture above.

You want to make sure you pull all the strings super tight as shown. You honestly don't have to worry about being perfect with this whatsoever. The ribbon will twist and turn but that's completely ok. It will look great after you're completely done, trust me. You will continue to do the square knots until you are done with ribbon, this would be a good time to watch some YouTube videos or TV.

Once you're done with your ribbon you're going to form a regular knot to close things off. Make sure the knot is very tight.

Open the jump ring with your pliers and insert it through the knot. Once you do that you want to close the jump ring with your pliers. I found that the flat-nose pliers were better when working with the bigger jump rings.

Cut the excess ribbon off and then grab your lighter and burn off the ends of the knot. I made sure to also burn the knot itself so the ribbon can melt a little and create a strong bond. Be extremely careful with this step because the jump ring will get very hot. Avoid touching that end of the ribbon bar until it has cooled down completely.

This is how the ribbon bar should look once you've attached the jump ring and have burned the knot.

Now it's time to cut the chain for your necklace! I basically just laid the chain on me to see how long I wanted it to be. I wanted my necklace to be mid-length but this is definitely going to be a matter of preference. Once you've figure out the length that you want lay the chain down on a table, put the ribbon bar above it and snip where the chain meets one of the jump rings. Once you have half of your chain it should be way easier to get the exact length of the other chain.

Now that you have your two chains (ha! 2 Chainz) ready you're going to attach them to your ribbon bar by using smaller jump rings.

This is how your necklace should look after attaching the chain to the ribbon bar.

The final step is to put a bigger jump ring and re-attach the lobster clasp. Make sure to use your pliers to close the jump rings completely.

Now you have a brand new necklace made out of jewelry that was completely forgotten. I really love how this turned out and I want to make more in a few different colors. I really hope you liked this DIY and learned that you don't always need to buy a bunch of material to make something new. The necklace I used hadn't been worn in years and honestly I thought it was kind of ugly, but now I've given it a new life. You will definitely be seeing this piece in upcoming outfits and videos.

Let me know if you try this DIY by tagging me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. You can also use the hashtag #NeuzethDIY so I can find your picture. Also if you speak Spanish you will now find a Mexican flag in the menu bar next to DIY. If you click on that you will be taken to my blog post in Spanish.

Have you ever made something new out of old jewelry or clothes? If so let me know in the comments below!