Tutorial Tuesday: Multiple Washer Necklace

I saw this idea from Becca at Blue Cricket Design. I thought that it was so cute. I thought I would put my personal touch on it and add decorative paper to each washer, I love color.

There were at least four men that asked me what I was doing at the hardware store. I had several washers out on the shelf trying to decide what sizes I wanted and all. Even though I'm quite comfortable at hardware stores and usually know what I'm doing, I don't think they are used to seeing many women going through multiple washers :)

This looks pretty hard, but once you get the hang out of, it's quite simple. Just study the pictures and hopefully once you start, they will make sense. I"m going to try to explain it the best that I can.

This is how I made it:

1)Picked out various washers from hardware store. Sorry I don't remember what sizes they were. I decided to do a pattern, 3 small- 3 medium- 3 large- 3 medium- 3 small

2) I cut out circles to fit the washers, luckily I have punches that worked out great!

3) Using mod podge, I sealed the paper on the washers

4) Using about 5 ft of ribbon (longer is always better), I burned the edges and then put the ribbon through the first washer, leaving enough slack at the left for the top of the necklace. I used 3/8" stitched grosgain ribbon, but you can use whatever you want to.

5) Taking the longer ribbon (right side), go through the second washer from the top side (decorative paper side)

6)Next, take the long ribbon and go back through the top of the first washer. The second washer will now be on top of the first washer
7) Take the long ribbon and put it through the bottom of the second washer (metal side) and pull tight

8)This is what the first two washers should look like after pulling tight

9) Continue doing that over and over until you have finished your pattern

10) Tie off the two ends. You will want the ends to be long enough to fit around your neck.

Here is another one I did with just 9 washers. I did the same pattern 3 medium to 3 large to 3 medium

**Although this is a super cute necklace, it's not the lightest thing, so three hours of church was about my max. It was worth it though, I had at least 10 comments on it :) One of my favorite things about these necklaces is the fact that you can have it be nice and long, or make it short. I wore it short with this shirt but would wear it long with a higher collared shirt.