Have you been checking out all those killer chain harnesses on Pinterst lately? Ugh! I die.

They’re S&M inspired medieval-chic with an intricate, industrial, and delicate feminine edge. I’m not sure how that’s even possible in one sentence, but the chain harness does it. And it does it well.

I became enamored with a particular chain shoulder harness I saw on Pinterest, as it was simply so different, and I set out to make it. This would make a killer Christmas gift, as the supplies are relatively inexpensive, it requires little skill, and only takes about an hour or so. So let’s get to it!

Chain Shoulder Harness Tutorial

What You’ll Need

• A spool of lightweight chain
• Needle-nose pliers
• Wire cutters
• Lobster clasps in the same shade as your chain
• Jump rings in the same shade as your chain

Tutorial

We’re not getting real scientific here, OK? If you want to, that’s fine. You’ll need a measuring tape. But for the rest of us haphazarders….

1. Using the chain, measure a length of chain around your neck that will lay right above your collarbones. Not quite a choker, but fairly short. Use your wire cutters to clip the chain at this length.

2. Using your pliers, open a jump ring. Hold one side of the jump ring in your left hand (if you’re right handed), right next to the break in the jump ring, and grasp the other side of the jump ring with the pliers. Gently bend the side forward. Thread one end of the chain into the jump ring. Do not close. Switch hands and thread a lobster clasp onto the other side of the jump ring. Using the pliers, gently close the jump ring back up tightly.

3. Add a jump ring to the other end of the chain. Close. You should be able to wear this as a basic chain necklace. If not, you did something wrong. Email me.

4. Using the spool of chain, measure a length of chain to fit loosely around your shoulder when your arm is down. If you measure it with your arm out, it’ll bust when you put your arm down. We don’t want that. Clip the chain with the wire cutters.

5. Open a jump ring and thread one end of the chain on one side and thread the other end of the chain on the other side of the jump ring. Close the jump ring. You should have a connected circle of chain that will fit around your shoulder. Try it on before moving ahead.

6. Put on both pieces and loosely measure the length of chain you need between the necklace and the shoulder, starting at the very top of the shoulder. Clip this piece of chain.

7. Open a jump ring. Slip this jump ring onto the chain at the top of your shoulder. What I did was put on the necklace part, feel around for where I wanted the top connecting chain to be, pinched it with my finger and thumb, took off the necklace, then slipped the jump ring on at that point. Slip one end of the connecting chain on the same jump ring and close with your pliers.

8. Open a jump ring and slip it through one link of the shoulder chain loop. Slip the end of the first connecting chain through the other end of the jump ring and close with your pliers. You’ll be working from this setup from here on out.

9. I kept the neck chains fairly close together, letting them splay out on the shoulder loop. Put the harness on: put the necklace piece on then gently slip your hand through the shoulder loop. Place the connecting chain on the top of your shoulder, for measurement purposes.

9.5 Take a picture of your dog because she looks cute in her puffy jacket.

10. Measure your next connecting chain. Space your next connecting chain at about 1 cm forward (towards your heart, not towards your back) from the first connecting chain on the necklace and about 1 inch forward from the first connecting chain on the shoulder loop. Measure a piece of chain that would drape nicely at these spots, clip with your wire cutters.