Do you make jewelry for Halloween or other holidays? Do you make things that can ONLY be worn close to that holiday or do you try to make it something that could be worn year round?

I made a few pair of earrings for Halloween in this post: 3 Pair of Earrings to Make for Halloween and while I like making jewelry for specific holidays or occasions I also want pieces that can be used any time too.

Like this new Black as Night necklace I made this past weekend. I have lots of different bead strands created in a few different ways along with two different kinds of chain. I like that there is a lot of variety in size, shape and texture and because it is all black I can wear it any time of the year.

It definitely has a Halloween look to it too. Kind of scary old mansion looking.

Here is what I did:

I created two strands of  4mm Round Black Opaque on black Size 6 nylon cord from Beadalon with a knot in between each bead.

You can see the knots in between the beads and I did that on purpose so that 1) the beads would go farther and 2) so the knots are part of the design element. Kind of like a teeny tiny bead in between.

I knotted one strand of  6mm Black Glass Rounds on two strands of nylon cord again using the cord as part of the design element.

There is no pattern to the knotting, I put a bead on, tied the two cords into a knot and then put another bead on. I continued until the strand was as long as I needed.

For this strand I used more of the 4mm Black Rounds plus 1 pkg of Black Beadelle beads and Black Round Metal Beads.

And I added two strands of Chain Black Ball/Link.

There is also one strand of Small Oval Chain on which I placed a Black Oval Accent as a pendant.

I used two pieces from the Black Metal Donut package on each end to anchor all of the strands. Everything is attached here with a gun metal jump ring and crimp beads.

Put one of the 6mm jump rings into the hole on the Donut and make sure it is closed securely. You can also use two jump rings or a double jump ring to help make sure your necklace stays together.

For the strands using thread or cord I tied a square knot and then used a bit of clear fingernail polish to make sure the knot stays tied and the cord doesn’t fray.

The chains are added to the 6mm jump ring with 4mm jump rings.

Finally, I added a length of velvet ribbon by folding it in halve and putting one end through the donut then adding a ribbon closure I had in my stash. I stitched the velvet ribbon on my sewing machine to give it some texture (hard to see in photos) and to secure both lengths of ribbon together to make it look nicer.

This necklace could be worn as part of a costume – think scary old lady in shredded black gown and wild gray hair – or with a white shirt and jeans.

You know, now that I’m thinking about that Halloween costume I could totally see me answering the door for trick or treater in that costume. I’m going to have to add that to my “to do” list!

Do you dress up for Halloween? What will you go as this year?