Can anyone help me identify this pattern? I’ve seen it called a number of names (double twisted rope, DNA, grape, popcorn. I would really love to trymaking it, but my efforts have been in vain.
I think I can answer this. All of the names you listed are actually used interchangeably depending on who you’re talking to, but I’m guessing what you really want to know is how you make it, and that’s the part I might be able to answer. The base pattern is your basic rope chain made loosely (instead of a tight weave) with heavy links, I’m actually wearing one right now. But the balls are the interesting part. The balls aren’t soldered on or even threaded through the links. They’re actually bar bells that are rods with balls on either end (jewelry bar bells, not weighted bar bells you use at the gym). They’re threaded through the links at the desired intervals and the ball is then attached to the other end of the rod once you’ve fitted it through the link. See how the balls all have a mate directly opposite them? That’s how they made it. You just need some heavy links and some bar bells kinda like what they use in tongue piercings actually. You could make your own bar bells, but it will be a lot of work. I would hazard a guess that you make some decently thick wire and some balls. Then solder or fuse a ball on one end of the rod. Then you’d have to use a tap and die set to create screw threads on the other end of the rod. Then drill a hole in some loose balls and use a tap and die set to create screw threads inside those, thread the rod with just the soldered ball on through a link, then screw the other ball on the end of the rod to lock it in place within the necklace links. Like I said, a lot of work. Or you could just buy some bar bells. Someone else might have another idea for making bar bells, but most bar bells that I’ve seen have a rod that has one ball soldered on one end and on the other end there are threads, and you have to screw the second ball on tightly to have one ball on either side of the rod. I guess it depends on if you’re wanting to make the necklace entirely from scrap yourself or if you’re ok with buying the components and then just putting it together. Hopefully someone else will weigh in on other ways to make your own bar bells. Anyway, just my two cents. When you’re making the rope chain you’ll want to leave a decent amount of space in the links for where you’re going to thread the bar bells, and you’ll want to make sure the rods on the bar bells will fit within those gaps. I’ve seen some of these chains where the bar bells are threaded through at such consistent intervals that it looks like a rope chain necklace with a whole other ball chain twisted all the way around it (but they’re actually just really packed in bar bells), or you can space your bar bells out like in the picture you posted. You can get curved bar bells where the rod is curved, which is what they use in eyebrow piercings, or you can get straight bar bells, which is what they use in tongue piercings. They’re usually surgical steel, but I bet you can find them in silver and gold. I’ve seen the curved bar bells used when the rope chain is smaller or packed in more tightly, that curved rod on the bar bell will let you get through the links better so you can thread those bar bells in. The straight bar bells is what’s in the picture you posted, and you’ll probably have to use a looser weave with larger heavier links to make that rope chain so you have enough clearance in the gaps in the links to stick the bar bells in. Anyway, I hope this was helpful and that I understood your question correctly. I apologize if I’m just repeating info you already had!
This would be beautiful in gold with pearls for the balls. Maybe both black and white pearls alternating.
Or in silver with black onyx or hematite or other hardstone balls.
Any color ball that has good contrast against the chain would lend a bit more drama to the design.
They are very striking necklaces. I like unusual and ornate chains. You can also have bar bells that have stone settings on either ball if you wanted to add stones to the necklace for color. I had a second thought with some different tentative solutions. I’ve used lots of bar bells over the years for different piercings. The biggest problem with bar bells is that one ball that’s screwed into the rod, no matter how tight you get it, it’s going to come loose and fall off at some point, and that would just suck. So I can think of two solutions off the top of my head to solve this dilemma. One, put a very small pallion of easy or medium solder and a small amount of flux inside the ball that has the screw threads, put the rod through the chain links where you want it, then take the loose ball with the solder and flux and screw it into the rod and heat it to make the solder run inside and that way it’s soldered on without getting solder on the necklace links. That’s probably what I would do if I had to make one of these. It probably wouldn’t work if you used bar bells that had stone settings in them unless you set the stones yourself after the other ball is soldered onto the other end of the rod and locked into the links. The other thing you can do is make or get some bar bells that have both balls soldered on, nothing screws off. The bar bells are placed at certain points in the necklace and go through 2-3 links. So if you’re making the links and the rope chain itself by hand, when you get to the links where you want a bar bell, open those links, put your bar bell in the links, tighten the links up only enough to keep the bar bell from falling out, then just continue on attaching the links as usual for the pattern and putting bar bells where you want them and closing them as you go. This is probably the easiest way to do it. You wouldn’t have to deal with the screw threads at all, just solder a ball on either end of a rod and put it through the links where you want it to create this pattern.
Just a dab of epoxy on the threads would keep them from unscrewing. If the threads were well fitted, Loctite Red 271 would keep the balls on forever, or as near forever as makes no never mind.
Thank you so much Dana. I really appreciate your thorough explanation. I’m now excited to get started! It’s going to take some experimenting, but when it’s finished, I’ll post a photo (now that I’ve figured out how to do that😵💫
Elliot - I never thought about pearls! That would be exquisite. Do you think tat the pearls might get damaged from the movement against the chain?
Also, I think that for starters, I’ll take the easy road - Loctite.
Sorry if I over-explained. I try to give info the way I want to get info, which means every single detail and possibility of every detail and everything everybody knows about the entire topic and the whole history of it, I want names, dates, examples, websites, sources, books, videos, etc etc. I hate it when I ask a question and then just get some vague one sentence response, like that’s not very helpful lol. I’m like, YOU MUST TELL ME EVERYTHING NOW!!! And people are like 
cuz my social skills are terrible 
Dana - I know what you mean. Sometimes when I explain something, I try to anticipate any questions & cover questions from past experiences. If people aren’t actually rolling their eyes when I talk, I’m sure they’re rolling their eyes in their minds.
Thank you for all of the information - I really do appreciate it.
Regarding pearls, over time there would be some wear to the area around the drilled hole from bearing against the links, but it’s not something I’d worry about. You could guard the pearls against such wear by setting them in a cup and post instead of just on a post. In fact, if you set them in a cup and post you could get away with using 3/4 pearls, which could lower the cost significantly.
I assume you’d use half drilled stones? But they’ll be subjected to a lot of stress. Would glue be enough to hold them? How else might you do it?
