Flight of Fancy

Create this stunning gold and crystal scalloped necklace, all for less than a tenner!

Caroline Sykes, MJ Designer

"Use just a few expensive beads to lift a piece and make it look opulent without costing a fortune"

Just because cash may be a little tight at the moment shouldn't mean you have to compromise on style. Look great this summer in up-to-the-minute peacock hues without breaking the bank. This Bollywood inspired choker by Caroline Sykes of Magpie Jewellery is great for the beach, shopping trips or nights out with the girls. What more could you want!

Choker

1. Wrap 1m of goldplated wire around a 3cm mandrel to make a coil (or purchase the kit for a ready-made coil). Using wire cutters, trim a 1.5cm section from 10 loops in in the coil, to make the curved sections. Discard the cutaway pieces.
2. Using round-nosed pliers, make a small loop in one end of each curved wire piece, at a 90 degree angle to the wire. Make up six drops by threading a head pin with a crystal bead, three seeds (one of each colour) and a bugle bead. Create another, omitting the bugle. Make a small loop with the roundnosed pliers, leaving enough space between the bead and loop to wrap the head pin around itself, then trim the excess.
3. For the bottom scallop, take a curved wire piece and add three seed beads, (one of each colour) then thread on a head pin drop. Pass on three more seeds. Using roundnosed pliers, make a loop at the other end of the curve, again at a 90 degree angle.
4. For the second row, take another curved piece and add three seeds, thread through the loop on one side of the section just beaded, then pass on three more seeds. Using round-nosed pliers, make a loop at the other end of the curve. Repeat this step with another curved piece going through the other side of the bottom scallop. Finally, place one of the drops between the two new scallops.
5. For the third row, thread three seeds onto curved wire and pass through the end of the left scallop and the loop on the drop. Thread through the scallop on the right and add on more seeds then turn the end. Add curved wire threaded with seed beads, as before, at either side of this central one, and place drops in between. Continue, in the same way for the top row, linking on four scallops and picking up the two drops positioned previously.
6. Use round-nosed pliers to curve one end of a memory wire necklace section into a loop. Thread on seed beads in a regular pattern around one third of its length. Try it against the scalloped section to check it will be centred on the wire. Once happy, thread the end of the wire through the first scallop of the top section.
7. Add more seed beads to fill the space in between, then secure the other side. Add a drop, then the next loop. Continue until all the loops and two more drops are threaded onto the memory wire. Complete by covering the rest of the wire with seed beads and turn the end as before to close.