Want a simple and versatile earring design that you can replicate over and over again? This wire-wrapped briolette earring design can be used for any tip-drilled teardrop beads or briolettes. That’s what makes these some of my favorite earrings to make! The result is simple yet can look dramatically different depending on what colors and gemstone beads or crystal pendants you choose.
Continue Reading…
When I first saw the cool shape of Swarovski’s crystal dome beads (from their Fall/Winter 2014/15 Innovations), two thoughts immediately came to my mind – bell and angel skirt.
Dome Bead Innovation
This tutorial shows you how to use these sparkling faceted beads to make angel skirts for earring designs. The exact same combinations can also be used to make single angels for pendants, bookmarks, gift tags, and more!
There are two styles of Swarovski dome beads to choose from. The large dome beads give you a more elongated shape:
Article 5541 Large Dome Beads
The small dome beads have a more rounded out bell shape:
Article 5542 Small Dome Beads
The main components of any crystal angel design are: halos, heads, wing beads, and bodies:
Angel Earrings in Progress
TierraCast makes a variety of wing bead styles. Additional wing beads are also available in base metal and sterling silver.
Various Metal Wing Beads
Popular bead styles for halos include heishi, and beaded heishi beads as well as rhinestone rondelles.
Metal Halo Beads
Here are several combinations of halos, wings, and bodies in different colors and sizes. For a complete parts list of supplies ready to buy, click each image below! (Or browse our Rings & Things Design Gallery.)
Heavenly Angel Earrings
Lilac Shadow Angel Earrings
Angel in Training Earrings
Blue Shade Angel Earrings
Christmas Angel Earrings
Forest Fairy Earrings
Other popular shapes for body include the Teardrop bead and the cone-shaped Swarovski Crystal Artemis bead.
Crystal Angel Earrings with Teardrop Beads
Artemis Crystal Angel Earrings
Keep in mind that angels can be any color! Choose whatever colors you like for whatever mood you’re in!
Dark Fairy Earrings
No matter whether you’re preparing for Christmas or you’re a year round angel aficionado, take inspiration from these designs and create your own heavenly host.
~ Rita
Personalized jewelry is very popular, and quite simple to create! A four-piece jewelry making tool set and basic assembly techniques are all you need to create custom necklaces.
(Click for larger image)
It is easy to personalize jewelry using birthstone-color gemstones and Swarovski crystal, along with a sterling silver charm or two. Rings & Things sells a huge selection of lightweight budget-friendly sterling charms and necklace chains.
Chains are easily adorned with add-a-dangle, or add-a-gemstone charms. To create these assorted dangles, you just need a selection of small beads from your stash and some sterling ball-end head pins.
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These colorful dangles allow you to add several birthstones to a custom piece, or accessorize it according the whimsy of the wearer. A mixture of natural stones, freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals is very popular. Making oversized loops on the dangles makes it easy to slide them onto nearly any chain without adding a jump ring.
If you sell custom necklaces, consider displaying the basics in a fun display (along with a few completed samples):
(Click for larger image)
This jewelry also makes great gifts and mementos for friends, family and other loved ones. Have fun making these darling necklaces!
When you hear the word “margarita,” you probably don’t think of Christmas trees … unless you’re a fan of Swarovski crystal margarita beads! Christmas tree earrings made from these sparkling beauties are one of the most popular Christmas jewelry projects around. Plus, these crystal charm designs are super easy to make! So, grab a tasty beverage and a friend or two and have a good time making margarita trees all evening. Continue Reading…
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays – I suppose because I love having an excuse to wear a costume. Honestly, candy has nothing to do with it! 😉
Apparently I’m not the only one who loves dressing up in ghoulish attire because our Halloween beads & charms are selling as fast as fun-size candy at the grocery store !
Below you’ll find 5 DIY Halloween jewelry tutorials, from cute to classy! You can make these projects with beads and supplies from Rings & Things. Happy jewelry making as the clock ticks towards Halloween …
Mmmwwwuuuaaahaahaahaahaa!
“Charmed” Bracelet
This hauntingly cool charm bracelet is made by attaching TierraCast Halloween charms and 4mm round Czech glass firepolish beads to a ready-made chain bracelet blank complete with clasp.
Click here for a full parts list, suggested tools, & tips.
“Ceramic Pumpkins Trio” Earrings
Who doesn’t love easy earring designs? Choose from 3 different ceramic beads to make your favorite version of these cute seasonal danglers. The kidney wires insure a secure earring design that won’t fall out even during serious bouts of trick or treating!
Parts list, tips, & suggested tools here.
“Craneos y Flores” Bracelet
One of our most popular designs this season is the “Craneos y Flores” bracelet which links gemstone skulls and ceramic spacer gear beads. This project is great for el Dia de los Muertos too!
Get the parts list, suggested tools, and tips here.
“Vintaj Pumpkin” Earrings
These stylish harvest earrings pair Vintaj Natural Brass petal blanks, TierraCast leaves, and large bone beads colored with Vintaj Patina inks. This makes a great mixed media project for those of you who want to expand your jewelry making skills!
Click here for parts, how-to tips, & suggested tools.
“Fang’s” Pin
For those of you who want to try metal stamping and riveting, this is the perfect project for you! Frame a spooky creature of your choice with a custom stamped brass frame. You’ll create a top-notch bar pin for your party agenda.
Suggested tools, parts list, and design tips can be found here.
Lady Skeleton Cameo ~ not a project, but isn’t it cool?
Okay, I admit this lady skeleton cameo isn’t a completed project, but it’s currently my favorite Halloween component. It’s available in two sizes, too! Choose from 25x18mm and 40x30mm.
What cool stuff can you make with it?
If the above projects aren’t enough to get your spine tingling, find more Halloween & Day of the Dead jewelry projects in our Design Gallery.
Keep in mind that you can always take the basic idea of a project and morph it into your own design. Don’t be afraid to experiment … Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Frankenstein would approve! ~ Melissa
Layout
Create Hinge Tabs
Roll Into Cylinders
Cut Tubing
Slide tubing down the channel and finesse hinges as needed. Rivet tubing into place to finish the hinge. Open and close hinge to ensure a proper fit.
Assemble Hinge and Insert Tubing
Lay out Etched Metal Page
Prepare Embellishments
Lay out Etched Metal Page
Rivet Domes Into Place
Carefully clean and polish the pendant before attaching the necklace chain.
Clean Finished Pendant
Handmade jewelry looks great on a custom beaded necklace, on leather cording, silk ribbon or chain. I created a necklace by making individual links using the one-step looping plier, eye pins, metal beads and natural agates. The links were connected using jump rings.
Memory Journal Necklace
Enter to win our Resin Flower Gluing Kit. Just comment at the end of this post — by May 6, 2013 — with your favorite Pantone Spring 2013 Color Trend to be entered into our drawing.
In celebration of Spring, here are the Spring 2013 Pantone Color Trends. Just click on any of the color swatches below and find the treasures available in our online store. Also visit our Design Gallery for all the designs you see here and many more. All designs are FREE – no login required!
Comment now with your favorite Pantone Spring 2013 Color Trend to win. Contest ends May 6, 2013.
~Jan
Around here I am kind of known as the “cluster earring girl”. I guess you could say it’s my signature. I just love to make earrings that resemble little bundle of grapes! Anytime I see a new bead, be it a keishi freshwater pearl or a hematite cube, I imagine, how would those look in cluster dangling from my ear?
Cluster Earrings with Cubic Zirconia Briolettes and Rainbow Sparkly Glass
I am going to show you how to make a basic cluster, using some sparkly glass beads. Once you get the basic “formula” down, the possibilities are really endless, and the results are always beautiful! You can embellish this style by adding charms, graduating the size of the beads, or mixing different materials. Clusters can be at the top of the earring, nested above a delicately wire-wrapped briolette, or they can be hanging from a focal bead or metal connector.
There are only a couple of steps to follow when it comes to making this type of earring.
Step 1. Choose a bead that has a size anywhere from about 3mm to 8mm. You can use a round, cube, chip, or rondelle shape; both smooth or faceted beads will work. Depending on how long you want the earrings you will need anywhere from 5 to 21 beads per earring.
Hemetite Cubes, Freshwater Pearls, Sparkly Glass Rounds and Rondelles
Step 2. Choose head pins. My favorite are ball-end, but any head pins will work. If you are doing a simple loop, 1″ headpins are long enough. If you would like to try a wrapped loop you will want 1.5″ or longer.
Ball end head pins are my favorite!
Step 3. Assemble your cluster pieces. Do this by putting one bead onto every headpin and securing with a loop. You can do a simple loop or for a fancier look try a wrapped loop. Use side-cutters to clip any excess wire and chain nose pliers to tuck the extra wire. Assemble all the beads on head pins, before you assemble the earrings.
Place beads on head pins first.
You will need side cutters to clip the excess wire
On the left are wrapped loops, on the right are simple loops. Either will work for this style of earring.
Step 4. Once you have all of your pieces made, you can begin assembling the clusters. To do this you will need jump rings. Smaller jump rings will create a tighter cluster, larger jump rings will make a looser, more airy cluster. I follow a very basic pattern for the assembly. On the first jump ring, place only one looped head pin. Add a jump ring and two more head pins, one on each side. Continue, forming a chain until you reach your desired length.
Attach one beaded head pin to a jump ring
Attach a second jump to the first jump ring and place two more beaded head pins
Keep building your cluster!
I used eleven beads on each earring.
Step 5. Attach ear wires! I sometimes I add one more looped head pin to the ear wire itself, though this step is not necessary. It’s that simple! (p.s. the earring wires I used are niobium! They are great for sensitive ears and will match your antique copper and antique brass earring designs!)
Attach earring wires and you are done! These completed earrings are the exact same, except one has small jump rings and one has larger jump rings.
Examples of Cluster Style Earrings
Well, I hope you enjoyed my tutorial 🙂 For more designs with “Cluster Style” check out the design gallery at our online store, Rings-things.com. If you have any questions about the beads I used for any of these earrings please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible! Happy Beading!
Tiffany @ The Rings and Things Showroom
Other great how-to blogs:
How to Make Wrapped Leather Bracelets
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Inspired by this blog post? Visit the Rings & Things Design Gallery for more inspiring “cluster earrings” designs! The free jewelry-making instructions include a complete supply list!
“Tiny Dancer Earrings” Tutorial by Rings & Things designer Valorie Nygaard-Pouzar.
“Christmas Cluster Earrings” Tutorial by Rings & Things designer Rita Hutchinson.
“Mardi Gras Earrings” Tutorial by Rings & Things designer Tiffany White.
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Editor’s note: This had a few old & broken links, but since this is such a great Winter holiday jewelry design technique, the links are all freshly updated as of November 2019.
p.s. Here are some more Winter Holiday jewelry design ideas, and a slew of semi-formal / prom / bridal jewelry tutorials, too.
bazillion new metal beads in our online store! Most of them have large holes, too – perfect for all the leather and Pandora-style jewelry that is so popular these days.
Toni’s bracelet design allows the cube bead to make a statement.
Whether you prefer antiqued silver, antiqued brass or antiqued copper in your jewelry designs, there are tons of new bead options with strong geometric shapes, fancy details and great textures. A few of my favorites include:
New summery flower beads in antiqued brass and silver.
Hollow metal barrel beads that remind me of Donkey Kong!
Tube beads and other unique shapes with hammered texture.
I don’t know exactly what this will end up being, but these chunky tube beads told me they wanted to be strung on leather with our new larger-hole shell pearls. We shall see!
The future of this piece is a mystery at this point!
Finally, here are a pair of earrings Toni made. What a great go-with-everything design! For variety, it would be easy to add a splash of color or sparkle by capping the dotty tube beads with small gemstones or crystals.
West Yin earrings.
Do metal beads inspire you to add bright colors or to keep in neutral? I would love to hear what kind of combinations you come up with! ~ Cindy
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Thanks to a couple hundred 🙂 of you guys for jumping in on our latest Design Challenge: brushed copper beads! *And welcome to you visitors from the Rings & Things News Flash email!*
From the dozen or so
brushed copper bead recipients, Rings & Things received dozens of awesome photos showing what they designed.
The grand prize winner is Kym Hunter! Kym built this simple but wonderful ring.
Front view (showing the flower bead)
We loved the simplicity, cleverness and cuteness of Kym’s ring! Besides two brushed copper beads (puffed flower and striped disk), Kym used just a couple of pieces of felt and some copper wire–to great effect.
See Kym’s other brushed-copper bead creations at the original Design Challenge blog post. They’re in a photo gallery there with everyone else’s entries.
Don’t miss out! You’ll find jewelry there like Melissa Meman’s drape earrings, inventively using the small brushed disk beads (which she oxidized) as vertical design elements .
I promise you’ll have a great time browsing the photos 🙂 Thanks for sending a friend the link, to share & enjoy!
