I'm a Barbie Girl, In a Barbie World

I’m channelling my inner child today and making some Barbie inspired jewellery. The Barbie movie has taken the World by storm and so I thought I’d join the club and make some Barbie inspired movie. I’m not making exact replicas of the Barbie jewellery. I know some have made the clam shell necklace that Barbie wears in the movie – if you would like to see how that’s done here’s a tutorial that I found.

I decided to make three different pieces for my Barbie Jewellery Collection. A stretch bracelet, a pair of earrings and a necklace.

Barbie’s Jewelry Style

When I looked at Barbie’s jewellery I noticed two things. Firstly, it was all plastic which makes sense – Barbie lives in a plastic world, so I tried to use only plastic materials. Unfortunately, I did need to use some wire and metal findings but I did stick to all acrylic beads. To be honest, it was a bit challenging as I wanted to incorporate some cool glass beads I have, but I stayed true to Barbie and used only acrylic ones.

I also noticed that Barbie’s jewellery was all made from very smooth round beads. There were no bicones, cubes or other shaped beads.

Instructions

Watch the video or follow the step by step instructions below.

Barbie’s Stretch Bracelet

With the stretch bracelet I veered off a bit from the smooth, round beads. I used these gorgeous Bubblegum Resin Rhinestone Balls in the colour Plum with an AB Finish. Even though they aren’t smooth, I did think that Barbie would approve of them because of the colour and the way they sparkle. I also chose these silver Acrylic And Net Beads. They look like metal but are, in fact, made from plastic.

Materials

*In the video I demonstrated with some Hot Pink elastic but I don’t recommend that you use that as it’s not that strong. You will see in the video that it frayed as I was using it. I don’t have a link for it because I’ve had it forever and don’t know where it came from.

Tools

How to Make a Barbie Stretch Bracelet

Pre-stretch the elastic so that it won’t stretch once the bracelet is made.

Fold the elastic in half and put the bead stopper on both of the pieces of the cut end.

Thread the folded end of the elastic through the needle so that you have 4 strands to thread through your needle. Your needle should NOT be inside the loop or you won’t be able to remove it.

Thread on the beads, alternatively.

Use my ultimate knot to tie the ends so that it won’t ever come undone, then trim the ends.

Barbie’s Earrings

These earrings are super quick and easy to make. I definitely went with the smooth, round and shiny on these.

Materials

Tools

How to Make Barbie Earrings

Cut a piece of the wire and make a loop in one end. If you haven’t used a 1 Step Looper before, please watch this video about how it changed my life. If you don’t have a 1-Step Looper and have never made a loop before, please watch this video.

Thread on a clear flower, the bubblegum bead and another clear flower. Make sure the flowers are facing the bead.

Make a loop in the other end close to the flower. Turn the loops so that they are facing in opposite directions. This ensures that everything will sit properly when done.

Make the second component in exactly the same way, this time threading on the clear flower, the 10mm Eco-Friendly Transparent Fuchsia Bead then the 6mm Eco-Friendly Transparent Clear Bead. Make a loop in the other end and turn the loops so that they are going in opposite directions.

Open the loop of the ear wire and thread on the top loop of the bubblegum component. Close the loop.

Open the lower loop of the top component and attach the lower component. Close the loop.

Open the lower loop of the lower component and thread on the heart charm making sure that it’s facing the same way as the round part of the ear hook. Close the loop.

Repeat for the other earring.

Barbie’s Necklace

I wanted to give a nod to the clamshell necklace but didn’t want to replicate it so I used some acrylic flower petals instead.

Materials

Acrylic Lucite Rose Petal 28mm x 25mm – Rose x3
Vacuum Beads 4mm - White AB x35
Vacuum Beads 6mm – Pink x56
Lobster Claw Clasp 12mm – Platinum x1
Jump Rings Round 6mm x 0.6mm – Silver x4*
Jump Rings Round 4mm x 0.8mm – Silver x1
Coloured Tiger Tail 0.38mm x 50m – Silver – approximately 60cm
Magical Crimp Tubes 2mm x 2mm x2

*The gauge of the jump rings is important as the 4mm beads need to fit onto it.

Tools

How to Make a Barbie Necklace

Open a 6mm jump ring and thread on one of the petals and a 4mm bead, making sure that the bead is sitting on the indentation in the front of the petal. Ensure that the jump ring is very well closed as it will be threaded onto Tiger Tail and you don’t want it to fall off. If you haven’t used jump rings before you can watch this video.

Repeat two more times.

Place the bead stopper on the end of the tiger tail.

Thread one of the petal components onto the tiger tail, followed by:

4mm White x1
6mm Pink x2
4mm White x1
6mm Pink x2
4mm White x1

Thread on another petal and repeat until all three petals are on.

String on the following beads:

4mm White x1
6mm Pink x2

Repeat until you have 12 sets of the pink 6mm beads. End with a 4mm White bead.

Move the bead stopper to the other end of the tiger tail (the one you have finished stringing) and thread the beads on in the same manner. If you need to make the necklace longer, just add more beads here.

Put both ends of the tiger tail into the bead stopper.

Open the 4mm jump ring and thread on the loop of the clasp. Close the jump ring making sure that it’s closed really well.

Remove the right hand side piece of tiger tail (left if you’re left handed) from the bead stopper. Thread on a crimp bead, the 4mm jump ring you just attached to the clasp and then thread the tiger tail back down through the crimp bead. Using the Magical Crimping tool squeeze the crimp bead, turn a quarter turn and squeeze again. If you don’t have a Magical Crimping tool you can cover the crimp bead with a crimp cover.

I like to thread my tiger tail through a couple of beads then trim off the short end.

Take the final jump ring and make sure that it is really well closed.

Run all of the beads up to the crimp bead. Remove the bead stopper and thread on the remaining crimp bead and the 6mm jump ring. Thread the tiger tail back through the crimp bead and a couple of the beads. Pull everything up so that there are no gaps, checking that it’s not so tight that the beads can’t move freely.

Squash the crimp bead as you did before using the Magical crimping tool. Trim off the excess tiger tail.

Now you have a full set of Barbie inspired jewelry. What do you think? Even if it’s not your cup of tea, I’m sure you have a young lady in your life that would love this Barbie jewelry.

Useful Techniques

Here are links to some tutorials I have done for all of the techniques I used in making this project.

Jewellery I’m Wearing

The necklace that I’m wearing in the video was made using the same stringing technique as the necklace I made here. The materials I used are:

Acrylic Imitation Gemstones 10mm - Pearl Pink x34
Vacuum Beads 4mm - White AB x36
Murano Glass Round Pendant 38mm x 26mm – Pink x1
Lobster Claw Clasp 12mm – Platinum x1
Jump Rings Round 6mm x 0.6mm - Silver x1
Jump Rings Round 4mm x 0.8mm – Silver x1
Coloured Tiger Tail 0.38mm x 50m – Silver approximately 50cm
Magical Crimp Tubes 2mm x 2mm x2

I am also wearing my Chandelier Heart Earrings (made in pink). I loved these earrings so much that I made them in three colours.

I’m also wearing two bracelets. The first is my spring memory wire bracelet.

The second is the I love Spring stretch bracelet.

Both are equally suitable for Barbie to wear.

I loved making these Barbie inspired jewellery pieces. They were really fun to make and it was great to indulge my inner child for a bit. How are you? Were you a Barbie girl or boy? Did you own a Barbie growing up? Let me know in the comments below.