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Metal Coil Necklace

Metal Coil Necklace Tutorial

This tutorial covers how to make a super easy industrial-looking necklace out of electrical metal clad cable AKA metal coil, or simply MC as it is known in the trade. My husband is an electrician and occasionally he brings me home random cool stuff to make other, random cool stuff with, such as jewelry. I have had a giant pile of this coil cable sitting around for months now, waiting for a project. This is what I came up with.

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For this project, you will need a short length of the metal coil. If you have a friend or family member in the electrical trade, then that is a bonus for you. Perhaps they will bring you home some for you to create with. Other than that, you can purchase the coil at any DIY or hardware store in the electrical department. The thing is, they sell it in 25 and 50 foot rolls, so you'd have to have many projects planned to justify getting a whole roll-- or get some crafty friends together and do this project together. You'll also need assorted jewelry pliers (flat- and bent-nosed pliers are fine for this project, and also a pair of wire cutters), safety goggles, a pair of metal shears, a metal file, jump rings, a length of chain in the color of your choice (I used a gunmetal flat chain) and a clasp.
It is a good idea to wear safety goggles for this part, since you never know when a stray piece of metal might fly up and hit you in the eye. Carefully cut a segment of the metal coil with the metal shears. Mine ended up being about 4 (10.2 cm) inches long. File the sharp edges down with the metal file. Make sure that any edges that might touch your skin are smooth.

Using wire cutters, cut the chain to the length you desire. A typical length for necklaces is 18 inches (45.7 cm) and a choker is 14 to 16 inches (35.6 cm to 40.6 cm), but these lengths will vary depending on neck size and comfort.

Thread the chain through the metal coil as pictured.
The next step is to attach the jump rings to both ends of the chain. (You can either use 2 pairs of flat-nosed or one flat and one bent-nosed, whatever you have handy). Open both of the jump rings using the flat nosed and the bent nose pliers by gently pulling one end away from you and one end towards you, so that the ring opens at the cut. Attach the clasp to one of the rings. To close the jump rings, you are going to do the reverse of what you did to open them. The ends should click together. Make sure the ends are completely closed--you don't want to lose the clasp.