Tutorial :: The Newsroom Inspired Necklace

Since The Newsroom has started up again, I thought it was about time I share my MacKenzie inspired necklace. Since I know there's a far chance some of you share my love for her necklace I figured I would put together a quick DIY; the basics are covered in the video below, in depth instructions, tips, and suggestions for alterations are covered in the rest of the post.

Supplies:

•  Pliers (2 pairs of needle nose pliers, and a pair with wire cutters)
• A ruler
• A 20” (50 cm) length of gold chain
• A clasp
• 7-15 jump rings
• 5 flat circular gold charms

Specfically, your chain needs to be cut into three segments, one 18” (46cm) in length and two 1” (2cm) pieces. With the charms anything goes. The original charms are embossed 1/2” (1 cm) diameter discs in yellow and rose gold. Here’s a link to Dominique Cohen’s post on their necklace if you’re interested in the original.Since I was upcycling a bunch of old necklaces, I used gold charms with Greek emblems. Plain gold discs would be interesting as well if you can’t find anything embossed to your liking.

While the necklace is pretty straight forward, make sure your jump rings are big enough for your clasp to grab on to with a bit of wiggle room, but small enough that they’ll fit through the links on your chain. Another thing to consider is that there are several different options for the clasps. There are the kind I used, as well as lobster clasps, which are larger and easier to fasten.

 

Putting It Together:
I don’t show this in the video since I haven’t quite gotten the hang of filming macro shots, but for those of you who haven’t worked with jump rings before, here’s the easiest way to open them. You’re going to want to take your two pairs of pliers and grasp the jump ring on either side of the split. Then all you have to do to open or close them is twist one pair of pliers toward you. You don’t have to pull them apart, just twist and the ring will open.Once you have that sorted, go ahead and open all your jump rings.

To start you’re going to lay out your three lengths of chain, as shown below. First you’re going to want to attach one half of your clasp, a jump ring (if desired. I used a smaller one), a short length of chain, a jump ring, the second short length of chain, a jump ring, your long chain, a jump ring (if desired), and the second half of your clasp. The optional jump rings are aesthetic. Take a look at some of the jewelry you have lying around and see what you like. The other two jump rings are put in place so that you can wear the necklace at varying lengths. Essentially they function like the loop half of your clasp, giving the hook side something to attach to.

 

 Once you have the chain put together go ahead and try it on. Since my neck is pretty small I wanted to make sure the chain fell in the right place along my collarbone since I’m less concerned with the necklace itself and more concerned with what it looks like when MacKenzie’s wearing it. I ended up cutting the chain to create a third short section, which allows me to wear the necklace at another shorter length. This isn’t included in the original Dominique Cohen version so it’s optional. Similarly, if you want a longer chain, you can go ahead and add extra length as you see fit.

Now that the chain has been adjusted to your liking, you can go ahead and add the charms. To do this, I located the center of the chain and placed the first jump ring. After that I spaced the charms evenly along the chain, about 2-3” (5-7.5 cm) apart, starting from the center. Once I had the jump rings in place I went ahead and added the charms, making sure they all faced the same direction, then and closed the jump rings.

 

And there you have it, your brand new necklace. Go ahead and show it off, or better yet reward yourself with the latest episode of The Newsroom. If you have questions feel free to leave them in the comments or in the comments to the video and if you do make a necklace I would love to see it.

Alterations:
The original necklace has the charms attached to the necklace by short chains. I haven’t noticed this on the show, but it’s clear in the photos provided by Dominque Cohen. Because I used bigger jump rings, I like the distance between my charms and the chain, but if you want to go ahead and add the chains to create more of a gap, here’s what I would recommend. Follow the instructions I’ve provided, stopping before you attach the charms to the jump rings. Instead of attaching the charms, add a jump ring to each of the charms along with a short length of chain (I would recommend around a half inch (1cm)). Then attach these mini chains to the jump rings on the necklace to create the dangles between the chain and the necklace. Keep in mind when gathering supplies that this means you’ll need at least another 2.5” (6.5 cm) of chain and an additional 5 jump rings.