It was a little traumatizing to finally get to Topshop — after hearing about it for years — and then find not much age-appropriate for me, other than a bangle. So let’s look at the positive in this situation. What a bangle it is!
But here’s the thing: I never saw it as a bangle. It was destined from first sight to become a big-whoop pendant necklace.
The key is, have a fresh eye when looking at things. Don’t use things as they’re intended. Bangles are perfect for making over-sized pendants.
You can make a similar necklace with any over-sized item with a big opening in the middle. Then find something to hang in the opening. Here you’ll see what I mean …
The supplies are somewhat simple. I say “somewhat” because usually my DIYs do not involve plugging something into an electrical outlet. If an electrical plug is involved, that means there’s some drilling or sawing or heavier-duty sanding, and it’s not so super simple any more.
Supplies
Everything passed inspection. And believe me you don’t want to disappoint this particular Inspector because you will hear about it for awhile. Maybe even at 4 a.m.
Making the Pendant Necklace
This bangle is wood with a thin metal lining. As a first step, I drilled a hole. The drill bit was able to drill through the thin metal but the pressure distorted the metal a bit. The wood also split, but paint or wood stain can hide that. I started with the smallest drill bit and gradually stepped up, but the wood still split. So, be careful. These things are manufactured cheap.
Safety tip: Watch out for sharp metal pieces. Sand them down and vacuum up the metal shards ASAP. Especially if you have kids and four-legged Inspectors running around.
I had two matching gold-tone pendants (probably from JoAnn or Michaels jewelry-making aisles) already on hand. So I glued them together with E6000 glue, because the pendant is free to spin and I wanted both sides to look the same.
Then, I knotted leather cord on the gold-tone pendants. Then threaded this leather cord through the hole drilled in the bangle. This was tough – the leather was thin enough to go through the hole but it needed help getting pulled through.
Here’s a trick:
Poke a needle or pin through the leather cord, and pull the needle or pin through the hole. The leather cord will follow.
Try to use a strong needle or pin because I broke a few thin needles while trying to poke them through the leather. It was tough stuff.
To finish off the necklace, I simply knotted the leather cord. It’s a long necklace so it doesn’t need a fixture. You can just slip the necklace on over your head.
Here’s the obligatory pin-worthy image:
That’s really it! Super easy.
If you find an object you’d like to use as a pendant that can’t be drilled, such as a thin metal bangle, you can creatively knot the cord around it instead of drilling through it.