There are two ways one can shorten a beaded necklace. You can do it temporarily or permanently. Sometimes, our necklaces might be too long to pull off some looks and require shortening to achieve a polished look.
If you want to keep the beaded necklace in its original length but still wear it in different ways, you can do a temporary shortening.However, you might not have time to go back and forth with temporary hacks.
We shall teach you some great ways to shorten your beaded necklaces. You will learn both temporary and permanent ways, so keep reading.
How to shorten a beaded necklace
If you are looking for a quick fix, you should opt for temporary measures.
However, you can do the shortening once and for all. Let’s get started.
Use a ribbon
This is a temporary hack for the person who has no desire to reconstruct the necklace. You will need a ribbon and a brooch for a classic look. Your ribbon needs to compliment your intended outfit to avoid being tacky.
When you have your necklace, ribbon, brooch, and scissors, you can begin the simple hack to shorten your beads. Place your beaded necklace on a table horizontally and fold it into a u-shape. Cut the ribbon and obtain two pieces.
On both ends of the folded ribbon, tie both ribbons into double knots.
Fasten the knots to avoid the embarrassing disbandment of your necklace.
Take your brooch and clasp it on one side of the beads. Your shorter neckpiece is now ready to go. You can do this with different ribbons for different outfits to ensure that your neckpiece complements your wardrobe.
You can do this using more than one beaded necklace. This is where you play with colors and make a gorgeous unique piece.
Restringing
You can restring your necklace with a similar silk cord. This is easier than most people might think. You will need a beading tray to remove the beads and keep the arrangement.
You will also need a silk string or thin beading wire depending on your beaded necklace. Cut the clasp and its hoop with a wire snip and place it aside. Remember to cut the string or wire to your desired length.
When this is done, make a knot on one end of your string and start feeding your beads to the wire from the other end. When you’re done, put a crimp bead to each side of the necklace where the clamp and hoop will go.
Return the clasp and the hoop to their respective sides and feed the wires through the crimp beads and an extra bead on both sides. Snip the crimp beds until they are flat, and snip the extra wires. Your necklace will be the same, only shorter.
Take out some of the Beads
This method requires one to lose some beads to achieve a shorter look. You will need a pair of wire snips, chain pliers, a crimp bead, and a crimp cover. The first step is to snip the necklace clasp to access the beads.
Use your wire snips for this step and remove the old crimp bead. Don’t be tempted to cut where you feel your length should start, you need to cut a few centimeters from the clasp to ensure you still have enough wire or silk string to work with.
The next step is to remove some of the beads and place them aside. Slide your crimp bead into the sire or silk string. This bead can be purchased in any beads craft store.
Place your clasp next to the crimp bead with your wire having an extra length. Next, feed the wire into the crimp bead and an extra bead.
Take your plier and snip the crimp bead gently until it’s flat. Lastly, cut the extra length of the wire with your wire snip. A crimp cover is nice to achieve a finished look, so, you can put it on your crimp bead.
Make a temporary or permanent bracelet from your beaded necklace
This has been done and proved to work perfectly, and it’s as simple as ABC. All you need to do is take your beaded necklace and fold it until it fits your wrists. Use a safety pin or an earring to hold the strands in place and rock your chunky bracelet.
In permanent changes, you will need to restring into a short length the size of the bracelet. As we have looked at in the restringing process above, you will need a crimp bead and a crimp bead cover for a finished look.
Make a bracelet with an arrangement of your choice using the same beads placed in a beading tray. You can make more than one bracelet depending on the number of your beads.
When you have proportionally placed all beads, put a clasp and tiny hoop on each side of the bead and fasten with a crimp bead on either side. Cover the crimp beads to achieve a professional look. Ensure that your bracelets fit by using the perfect wire or silk string.
Necklace shorteners
These shorteners are designed to shorten necklaces. When working with beads, go for a silicon shortener to avoid scratching and damaging your beads with metal.
There are two ways around this. If you have a necklace display structure at home, you can use it. You can also use anything with a neck like a teddy bear.
Firstly, place your beaded jewelry on a table horizontally and fold it into a u-shape. Take it and hang it on your dummy and open your silicon shortener.
Hook it on the two ends of the folded necklace, and voila! You have a double-strand masterpiece. You can add a twist to this design by twisting the beads before hooking them on a shortener to make a chunky, single piece.
These options are endless, and you can choose to use multiple beaded necklaces with all sorts of colors to make it funky. The procedure remains the same for the single and the double necklace pieces.
Just use a jeweler
Jewelers who have been in the game for a long time know all the possible ways to shorten your beaded necklace without causing any damage.
This is the right move, especially if you are going for permanent options like restringing and redesigning the necklace. Jewelers will know what to do with damaged strings and bead arrangements and will give you a polished look.
The masters of craft have done it over and over. You cannot risk your precious beads, especially if they have sentimental memories for you. Just let the experts do it.
Conclusion
There are many ways to shorten your beaded necklace temporarily or permanently.
You should be extra keen on permanent options to avoid damaging your neckpiece.
Do not use metal shorteners on beads as they can scratch and damage them.
Try these tricks above and explore your creativity as you achieve your desired length.
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Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.