Quick and Easy DIY: River Rock Choker Necklace

All you need to make a river rock choker necklace like this one is a package of 16 gauge copper wire from the hardware store, a small pair of needle nose pliers (with built in wire cutter), a pen and some pre-drilled stones. (My favorite stone supplier is Rhonda from stonestudiostoo on Etsy, but if you’re feeling adventurous you can check out my other papernstitch tutorial on how to drill your own stones).

1. Make Your Own Jump Rings: Jump rings are the wire circles you’ll attach to the stones to turn them into pendants. This is where the pen comes into play! Wrap the wire around the pen in a tight spiral a few times and then slide the wire off the pen. Cut off the extra at both ends with the wire cutters and then make one cut across the middle of the coil and they’ll fall apart in rings! If your needle nose pliers are too big to fit through the rings, you can still get it to work by bending up one ring at a time and snipping it off the coil. If the ends of the rings are too pointy or jagged, you can clean them up later with some creative snipping

2. Attach the River Rocks to the Rings: Use the pliers to hold on to one end of the ring and bend it to the side far enough to be able to slip the wire through the hole in the stone and then bend it back into place.

3. Cut the Wire for the Choker: You can experiment with different wire lengths for the choker necklace, but to begin with, cut a piece of wire that’s 20-21″ (51-53 cm) long.

4. Form the Spiral Ends: Grasp one end of the wire with the tip of your needle nose pliers and pull the wire around the pliers in a circle to form a spiral. Repeat for the other end. (Not only is this a nice decorative detail, you can link the spirals at the back to serve as a clasp!)

5. Bend the Wire Around to Form a Closed Circle: If you get the two ends together and the spirals both face the same direction, you can simply rotate one so they’ll face opposite directions and interlock more easily.

6. Thread the Stone or Stones onto the Choker: Easy Peasy! The cool thing about this project is that you can change out stones, take some off, add more on, depending on your mood!

Even though these river rocks choker necklaces are easy to make and don’t require a lot of expensive materials, they carry a big “Wow!” factor so they’d be a great do it yourself project for holiday gifts for your friends and family!

About Jenny: Jenny Hoople makes natural stone jewelry and beaded gemstone jewelrythat is as natural, colorful and authentic as the people its given to. She lives near Madison, Wisconsin with her little Mexican husband and memories of their wonderful bunny companion (who crossed over the rainbow bridge after 7 happy, bun-filled years). Shes passionate about color combinations, the handmade movement and living closer to the “real business of life”. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @Jennyhoople.

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