DIY Backdrop Necklace

Due to my lack of finances & the lack of back drop necklaces on the market, I decided to DIY. It would have been a LOT easier to go get pre-made links and just put them together, but have I ever done things the easy way? Of course not. 

Supplies:

24 gauge half hard wire: $3.99 for 12m

sterling silver pins: already had them

blue glass bead for anchor: had it

blue and clear beads for decoration: had them

round nose pliers, needle nose pliers, wire cutters: had it

... you can see I spent a lot of money here.

I started by stringing my anchor bead at the bottom on a pin & forming another loop on the other end of the bead to attach them links to, using the round nose pliers. Then I tediously formed each link (5 of them in a sequence) before attaching another pin & set of 3 beads. All in all, it took about 3 hours to get it this long. Another 1 1/2 to add about 3 inches & then after trying on my dress, I spent another 15 minutes taking off the last 1 1/2 hours of work because it was way too long/heavy. I am wearing my mom's drop pearl necklace (her daddy got it for her on her 16th birthday and my sister wore it in her wedding, too), so I put a pre-made link at the top to attach to the clip on my mom's necklace. The necklace is super light, so the necklace weighed it down considerably. Therefore, I cut it about in half, so it falls to about the middle of my shoulder blades, and hopefully won't pull down so much on the necklace, itself.

PS. I promise that's not dust in the photo - it's the finish on my armoir!