Quilt Patchwork Patterns

Designing Jewelry

Before you start making your own jewelry, designing and planning is important.  When you plan, always remember that you’ve got to be organized in all aspects as you go along with your jewelry making.  Required tools and material are critical ; however, you do not just grab those things as you need them.  Sometimes we mess up by trying the incorrect materials ; an example of this is when we selected the wrong beads and finishing up with a mess, a complete waste of your time and materials.  So, it is very important to chose the right kind of materials you’ll be using, or rather selected a high quality of materials which will last long without fading. 

The most common materials are handmade glass beads, gemstones, and other metal materials that come in various sizes, colors, and varieties.  They are the most beautiful materials that make up your jewelry.  However looks can be deceiving.  Beads are beautiful tiny pieces, but if you aren’t wise enough to pick high quality beads, you could finish up with faded beads.  Gemstones and other metal materials, if carefully looked after, will last many lifetimes, but others do not.  Sometimes high quality beads, gemstones, and other metal materials are far more expensive to buy, but it really pays when you realize that they can last for a lifetime! 

But if you’re planning to make fun and trendy designs, you can go with the less expensive materials.  Finding out how to source the best wholesale jewelry is best done online through places such as eBay. 

As beads and other materials come in different sizes, choosing the right size for your design is very important too.  You do not want to choose heavy beads to pull off the design shape of your necklace.  Heavy beads could cause tiara tips bending over in your jewelry.  Very light beads can look flimsy and will not go with your desired designed shape. 

Making a dramatic design statement typically comes with lots of massive beads; in this case you can incorporate hollow metal beads, wood or other light weight materials, which will help you make the completed item from being too heavy to wear.  There are lots of light weight beads that look stunning, Bali silver beads are a excellent example of this. 

The point of the beads is really essential if you are designing a special bead effect for your jewelry.  Add a dramatic touch which will make a certain bead stand out .  Others use organic designs, composed of beads that blend together giving an overall beautiful cohesive impression, so selecting beads that are similar in color tone and sizes are very important things to do. 

After having completed a number of items, and probably planning on selling them, you can come up with this equation for your pricing: value of the beads + your time + expenses and other materials.  There are many places that you can sell your jewelry : craft shows, home parties and you can find out all about setting up your online jewelry store by searching the Net for ideas.

SImple Jewelry Gifts You Can Make

As the holidays get closer, we know there will be some people we want to give presents to.If you are on a tight budget, what can you give?   Well, you can make them a gift!

A simple thing you can create is jewelry.Jewelry is a gift that can be used longer than baked goods. Additionally, sometimes it is even cheaper.   Here are 2 easy types of jewelry to make: beaded earrings or bracelets.  Earrings are usually cheaper to make as there are less beads involved.  However, sometimes the beads used to make bracelets are really inexpensive.  And of course, you can always make a matching set! So lets go over how to make jewelry!

Getting Started

First you need to get supplies.Craft stores like ArtBeads, Micheals, and Joanns should carry everything you need.  For either project you need: beads, round nose pliers and wire cutters.  For earrings you will also want earwires, headpins and tweezers; for bracelets, you need memory wire.Most crafters will create both types of jewelry for some extra variety.

Remember that fancier beads will make fancier jewelry.  Sometimes you can get freshwater pearls rather inexpensively that makes wonderful jewelry.

Making The Jewelry

Both types of jewelry need loops to be created.Use your round nose pliers to create these.Wirecutters make trimming off extra wire a snap.

For earrings:  add beads to each headpin, close off headpin with a loop and attach the loop to the earwires' loop.

For bracelets: create a starting loop, add beads, and then close it off with a loop.

Nice Touches

Putting the earrings on cardboard or a blank business card makes them look more professional.   Having the earrings or bracelet in a small plastic baggie helps make certain that the beautiful jewelry won't be damaged.  If you have extra jewelry boxes around, these help even more.

Enjoy giving these great gifts!

Making Polymer Jewelry

Beautiful pieces of jewelry can be made of many alternative materials ; gemstones, metal, Handmade Glass Beads.  Artists have so many to choose between.  One of the most common and popular materials are beads.  The creativity of an artist is challenged when finding other materials that she’ll make into excellent jewelry.  One such material is polymer clay which is perhaps the most recent favored trend in jewelry making.  Polymer clay is a type that isn’t like modeling and pottery clay.  It is mixed with PVC plastic and a variety of plasticizer chemical that keeps the clay moldable and soft till it is baked to its final shape.  Regularly polymer clay is used with metal to create jewelry and there are many techniques in adding more colors to metal. 

The color and sparkle of polymer beads comes from Micas, which are colored pigments.  Kaolin clay makes the polymer opaque which makes polymer clay a particularly various and easy-to-work-with material when making jewelry.  One good thing about polymer clay is that it doesn’t require a high temperature when baking ; in fact for better results you can use your own stove for baking the clay.  Another thing that makes polymer clay more acceptable to use is the fact that you do not want as many tools to improve the creativity of your jewelry.  Most designers employ a pasta roller machine to squash the clay and acclimatize it to be used.  This kind of clay can be simply rolled and formed into whatever look you wish. 

Workmen have different brands of polymer clay to choose from too.  Two of the most popular are Fimo and Sculpy.  These brands of polymer clay are available in major craft stores.  They come in numerous colors, from fluorescent and day glow colors to shades of metallic like gold and silver.  Metallic colors of polymer clay can be easily shaped and used as a replacement for metal itself.  Another excellent place to find supplies is online, although you must watch out when trying to find credible dealers.  There are thousands of sites that offer jewelry material for sale.  Finding How to Source the Best Wholesale Jewelry supplies isn’t that troublesome if you look on eBay.  All suppliers have a feedback rating and so it is better to find ones that have a good history with no problems simply by taking a look at their feedback from past purchasers. 

If you would like to come up with lovely and colorful jewelry at less cost, polymer clay is ideal for you.  Whether you purchase ready-made or create jewelry items yourself, this clay will make contributions to you having the ability to make lovely handcrafted jewelry pieces at the fraction of the price of using other materials.  After practicing more and understanding the uses of polymer clay, you will then explore the assorted varieties and brands.  Try and experiment!  Let your creativity shine with this medium and create beautiful Polymer Clay Jewelry designs.