A Guide For Making Your Own Jewelry

As well as an interesting hobby, making your own jewelry can be quite a lucrative past time, particularly when friends and family admire the pieces and ask if you could make jewelry for them.

Some tools will be needed in order to create certain pieces of jewelry and following a jewelry guide will be particularly helpful when learning the basics. Most good hobby and craft shops will sell the beads, tools and other accessories needed to create the type of jewelry you may want to make.

Equipment Needed To Make Jewelry

Equipment needed to make earrings include flat nosed pliers, round pliers, wire cutters, string, beads, clasps, set of ear wires, head pins and a tape measure. These should be easily found at any hardware store or arts and crafts shops, where your may also find some guides to making your own jewelry.

How To Make The Earrings

Select the colour and type of beads you prefer, to make the earrings. Slide the beads onto the head pins. To secure the beads to the head pins, take the flat nosed pliers and bend the head pin to a 45° angle. Using the round nosed pliers, grip the bend that you have just made and continue to bend until a loop has been formed. Any excess wire on the head pin needs to be trimmed off. Slide a piece of ear wire through the loop in the head pin, and then close it.

How To Make A Necklace

Decide on the length of the necklace you would like to make, before selecting the beads you want to use, and then follow the jewelry guide to help you make the buckles. You can alternate different colours of the beads to create the type of necklace you require.

Using the tape measure decide how long you would like the necklace to be and cut the string accordingly. Slide each bead onto the string and from time to time, tie a knot in the string, to ensure that the beads do not slip off. When all the beads have been threaded onto the string, attach the clasp at one end, and attach the hook at the other end. The necklace is now ready to wear.