Carbon Couture: Your Cheat Sheet to Everything Chic: Ms. Brightside

Imagine starting your own jewelry business and in under a year your pieces are featured on "Gossip Girl," beloved by Natalie Portman, and carried in stores such as Henri Bendel and Harvey Nichols. For sisters Danielle and Jodi Snyder this is their reality. The Florida natives felt they could capture the polarity between "rough and edgy" and "soft, feminine and dainty" to fill a need that just wasn't being met by other jewelry designers. With this concept and a little manipulation of their names, Dannijo was born. Favoring neon colors, heaps of delicate chains, and interesting textures like yarn, the line has a decidedly tribal feel sure to brighten any ensemble.

What You'll Need:
Rubber tubing (I used an old stethoscope)
Strip of tie dye felt or fabric
2 yards suede or hemp string
2 yards chain
Beads (optional)
Copper wire
Necklace clasp
Super glue
Pliers

First, cut your rubber tubing to the appropriate length. The tubing should circle in front of your neck ending at just about your shoulders. Next, lay the piece of felt face down. Spread a line of super glue across one edge and place the tubing on top. Be sure to bend the tubing as straight as possible and hold in place for approximately 30 to 60 seconds. Continue coating the felt with glue and twist around the tube in sections, making sure the felt is pulled taut. When the entire tube is covered, cut the excess felt off in a straight line and glue the edge down.

There should be some extra felt on either end of the tube. Pinch it together and tightly wrap wire around the end of the tube, similar to how many pieces of candy are wrapped. Next, take a 4 inch piece of wire and insert it into the middle of the pinched fabric, pushing it down into the tubing. Put a few drops of glue where the wire enters the fabric to ensure it doesn't slide out. Using your needle nose pliers, make a loop out of the remaining wire sticking out. This is where you will attach your chain. Repeat for other side.

Next, you need to attach your tubing to a chain that will go around your neck. If you already have some heavy duty chain that will work well and yield a similar result to the original. I made a beaded chain using this wire wrapped loop technique. Measure around your neck to determine where your necklace hits and how much chain you'll need. Cut the proper length, then cut that chain piece in half. Attach your necklace closure at one end of each chain and attach the other ends to the wire loops on the felt tube at either side.

Lastly, tie a piece of suede string on a wire loop near the clasp. Twist it all the way around the necklace, and tie it off near the clasp on the other side.