{Neon Statement Necklace}

Hey, y'all!  You know I LOVE jewelry, and I find myself making more and more of it lately.  I really love statement necklaces, so I decided to make my own utilizing a supply that's found at the hardware store.

Over a year ago, I was browsing the hardware section of Walmart to find something to inspire me to make jewelry.  I found a bag of cotter pins of various sizes.

I used them to make a pair of earrings that you can find {HERE}.  Since then, I've had the leftover cotter pins in a jar in my craft room, waiting patiently until I thought of another way to make them beautiful.  Recently, inspiration struck!  I knew I could use them to make a statement necklace--a NEON statement necklace.  I gathered a bunch of them of different sizes and Krylon's Fluorescent spray paint to begin the process of making them beautiful.

You can see my technical spray painting set up above.  ;)  I spread the cotter pins out on a wire that I stuck in the ground, and then I just sprayed them with a few coats of the spray paint.  It wouldn't hurt to spray them with a few coats of clear spray paint as well, but I wasn't patient enough to do that.

I matched the sprayed cotter pins up by size, and then I put them together in a "V" pattern.  I had to make something for them to hang on, and I decided gold would look great with the neon pink.

I cut a piece of chain 20" long.  (The type of chain I used will allow me to shorten it if I want.)  I attached a jump ring to one end.  Then I carefully threaded the cotter pins on and attached the clasp and second jump ring to the other end of the chain.  Immediate neon statement necklace awesomeness ensued!

You can't really grasp the fluorescence of the neon in the photos.  It's pretty darn bright.

I love the gold with the neon pink.

And I love the way it fans out when I wear it.  Do you love the statement necklace trend or do you prefer more "subtle" necklaces? You can find more of my DIY necklace tutorials {HERE}.