Laced Heart Necklace

Create a sweet laced heart necklace with Elaine Ray's pierced heart pendant and waxed linen. The lacing technique is a bit like lacing your shoes!

These hearts have a row of three pairs of holes in the center of the heart and 'hanging holes' along the top points. They offer unlimited lacing potential, or could be riveted or wire stapled to your designs. This project uses all the holes for some linen lacing and knotting.

Designer Cynthia Deis

Finished length 18 inches

Ingredients

- 1 Elaine Ray ceramic Stitched Heart pendant
- 5 Elaine Ray ceramic small flat tube beads, 10 mm
- 5 Elaine Ray ceramic disc beads, 12 mm
- 8 Elaine Ray ceramic round beads, 6 mm
- 25 dark topaz druk beads, 8 mm
- 100 inches of waxed linen cording, cut into 2-14 inch pieces and 2-36 inch pieces
- Lock and key toggle set

Tools

- Scissors

1. Thread both 14 inch pieces of linen through the back of the heart pendant as shown. Begin lacing as though you were lacing a pair of shoes. When the linen pieces are threaded through the last holes in the bottom of the heart pendant, pull the lacing tight. Cross the strands over one another and thread them back through the middle holes on the pendant. Pull snug. Thread the linen from the back to the front through the bottom holes and tie on the front of the pendant.

2. Thread an Elaine Ray bead onto one of the linen ends. Tie a knot approx. 2.5 inches from the heart pendant to secure the bead. Repeat this, putting one bead of each kind onto a strand of linen and staggering the knots by ½ inch to stagger the length of the beads. Trim all ends.

3. Thread a 36-inch piece of linen through one of the hanging holes on the top of the heart. Tie and overhand knot in the linen. String a bead on one strand of the linen and knot it with an overhand knot. String a second bead on the alternating strand so that the beads 'dance' along the length of the linen. Repeat, until a you have used ½ of your beads.

4. Thread the linen strands through the ring on the toggle bar. Double the linen strands back and tie an overhand knot in the linen to secure the toggle bar approximately 2 inches from the end of the knotted beads. Pull knot tight and trim ends.

5. Repeat from #3 on the other side of the heart with the remaining beads and the toggle ring to finish the necklace.

To adjust the length of this necklace add or subtract beads or knot the toggle pieces at different points.

Click here for a printable version of this tutorial