DIY Jewelry Projects Archives - Page 19 of 23 - Rings and ThingsRings and Things

Season of Giving

December 20, 2011

The holiday season is all about giving, yet it has been a tough year economically and budgets are tight. Fortunately, Rings & Things offers a voluntary donation program for employees where a set dollar amount is deducted from each paycheck. At the end of the year, owners Russ & Dee match the deducted funds and give the money to charity. Each employee chooses which charity to support. So, for example, just $2 per bi-weekly paycheck translates into a $100 donation!

Yesterday our HR manager sent out the grand total: through this humble program, Rings & Things employees donated more than $10,000 to charity in 2011! It is really exciting to see a those few dollars we end up not even missing each month add up to something so substantial. The nonprofits selected this year include:

Spokesman Review Christmas Fund ~ 2nd Harvest Food Bank ~ ACLU Foundation ~ Alzheimers Association ~ Anna Ogden Hall ~ Cancer Patient Care ~ American Childhood Cancer Organization ~ Doctors without Borders ~ KSFC ~ KYRS ~ Living Tongues Institute ~ Las Hermanas ~ Meals on Wheels ~ Planned Parenthood ~ SCRAPS ~ SNAP ~ Spokanimal ~ Union Gospel Mission ~ Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery ~ YFA Connections

Christmas is just days away, but to make them easier to find I also wanted to post a recap of the 12 Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs. There’s always next year to plan for, plus many of the techniques are adaptable to any occasion!

Day 1 – Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree Earrings

Day 2 – Bottle Cap Baubles

Day 3 – Lampwork Glass Bead Zipper Pulls

Day 4 – Beaded Snowflakes

Day 5 – Swarovski Crystal Holiday Light Charms

Day 6 – Family Keepsakes

Day 7 – Faux Stained Glass Soldered Ornaments

Day 8 – Mini Ceramic Cookies Charm Bracelet

Day 9 – Hinged Picture Frames

Day 10 – Velvet Ribbon and Bead Bookmarks

Day 11 – Stamped Metal Gift Tags

Day 12 – Brass Fairy Door Sandwich Pendants

Happy holidays everyone! ~ Cindy

DIY Earring Project: Swarovski Crystal Tassel Earrings

December 19, 2011

Tassel Earrings made using WireLace, Swarovski Crystals and Vintaj charms and bead caps

Tassel Earrings made using WireLace, Swarovski Crystals, and Vintaj birds and bead caps

I have always been a sucker for anything sparkly. So when I started working here at Rings and Things, I soon became addicted to everything Swarovski! I know all the colors and all the shapes. Bronze Shade, Golden Shadow, Silver Night, Red Magma and of course the coveted Bermuda Blue! I dream of crystals. Seriously. I rarely leave work without buying a few new crystals. (Basically I get paid in crystals!) So here is my new fun crystal project!

Crystal Bead Mixes: Swarovski Crystal Jams

Some of the different Swarovski Crystal Jams bicone bead mixes.

One thing we do here at Rings & Things are make these magical little baggies full of mixed Swarovski Crystals called crystal jams. I love crystal jams because they are carefully selected assortments that contain several colors that coordinate. I have been wanting to make something with one of the crystal jams for a while so when a co-worker suggested these tassel earrings, I couldn’t resist.

Supplies for Swarovski Crystal Tassel Earrings

Supplies needed to make these lovely earrings.

The crystal jam I decided to use for this project is called Brown Sugar. It blends golden shades of topaz, beige and browns. I paired the crystals with chocolate WireLace, shell pearls, Vintaj bead caps, Vintaj bird charms, and niobium earring wires. I also use Hypo Cement to seal the edges of the WireLace.

Supplies needed:

One Gross (144) Swarovski Crystal Jam Mix, 4mm bicones
1mm WireLace in a coordinating color
Hypo Cement
Vintaj natural brass fold-over crimp ends
earring wires of your choice
Optional decorative charms and beads
Cardstock to make template

Step 1 - How to make Swarovski Crystal and WireLace Tassels

First make several templates from card stock. Start with a 3×3 inch square. Cut a triangle out of one corner of the square, leaving about an inch on each side. Create a stair pattern up the diagonal, making a new step at each 1/4 inch.

Step 2 - How to make Swarovski Crystal and WireLace Tassels

Start threading the crystals onto the wire lace. Make a slit on the top left to string the lace through after each new loop is made.

Step 3 - How to make Swarovski Crystal and WireLace Tassels

Place anywhere from 5 to 10 crystals per step on the template.

Step 4 - How to make Swarovski Crystal and WireLace Tassels

Keep going until you have the desired amount of loops for your tassle.

Step 5 - How to make Swarovski Crystal and WireLace Tassels

For this one, I used 8 bicones on each loop, and made 8 loops, so a total of 64 bicones per earring.

Step 6 - How to make a Wire Lace and Swarovski crystal tassel.

Tie the two ends together. Then wrap one end under all the loops and tie another secure square knot. This way all the loops are connected.

Step 7 - How to make a Wire Lace and Swarovski crystal tassel.

Remove tassel from the template. I found that the best way to do this is to cut away the template from the tassel. This is why you need to make several templates.

Step 8 - How to make a Wire Lace and Swarovski crystal tassel for earrings.

Trim excess Wire Lace and add a dab of Hypo Fabric Cement to secure the loose ends. Attach your fold-over crimp before the glue sets. Fold the crimp over using your chain nose pliers.

Finished Tassel Earrings, made with shell pearls, wire lace, large Vintaj bead caps, Vintaj bird charms and niobium earring wires.

Finished Tassel Earrings! I used some beautiful shell pearls, large Vintaj bead caps, cute little Vintaj bird charms and niobium earring wires.

Well I hope you liked my tassel earrings! I think that this technique could really be applied to all different beads and cording so go nuts with it! Now I just need to figure out what to name these earrings…..

~~Tiffany in the Showroom

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 11 – Stamped Metal Gift Tags

December 8, 2011

The best thing about metal stamping is the ability to personalize jewelry and ornaments with the exact words, phrases and names you want. Hammering metal is one of those instant gratification crafts. In just a few minutes you can create a completely customized gift that will be functional for years. Below are some examples of custom gift tags and other gift items to inspire your Christmas crafting. Continue Reading…

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 10 – Velvet Bookmarks

December 5, 2011

Yes, it is just my opinion, but I’ll say it as though it is a fact: books always make great gifts. I love giving books. I love receiving books. And it is easy to make pretty ribbon bookmarks to personalize your gifts even more!

Start with a length of beautiful
velvet ribbon.

Use choker clamps to attach beads and baubles to the ends.

Amy’s bookmarks are in our design gallery, where you’ll also find a list of the exact supplies she used to make them.

Sure, Kindles and other e-readers are gaining popularity, but nothing really compares to curling up with an actual paper book and a big mug of your favorite beverage. Make the moment even more indulgent with a luxurious bookmark! Need a jewelry-making book to gift (to a friend or maybe yourself)? Here are three recommendations:

Jewelry Lab by Melissa Manley

Wire Style 2 by Denise Peck (includes DVD)

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques by Vanetta Seecharran.

Happy reading! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 8 – Ceramic Holiday Cookies Charm Bracelet

November 30, 2011

Me. Want. Cookies! When I was in junior high, one of my mom’s friends actually paid me to make Christmas cookies for her cookie exchange each December. I was thrilled to be earning money. She paid me well, but was still getting an amazing bargain considering how many hours I spent rolling dough and piping frosting.

I still like baking, but chocolate chip is about as fancy as it gets. Detailed little gingerbread houses are a thing of the past – or a thing for jewelry. Check out these adorable little ceramic Christmas cookie beads:

Ceramic cookie houses with Swarovski crystal bicones.

Amongst our rather large selection of hand-painted Peruvian ceramic beads I also found cute little ceramic gift boxes and ornaments:

Presents!

These little guys would make great earrings.

There are a many other cuties available, but I digress. Today’s Christmas jewelry project is a charm bracelet using the cookie beads and sparkly little crystals.

Supplies Needed for Charm Bracelet:

Charm bracelet with toggle clasp

Head pins – you can get away with using shorties, but longer are fine too.

Ceramic cookie beads

4mm Crystal Jam bicone mix (I used Karma Chameleon)

Metal spacer beads

Jump rings

Jewelry-making tool set

This design is a great opportunity to perfect your technique for making simple loops! Simply string beads on a pin, bend wire 90 degrees, trim the wire to about 4mm (1/6th of an inch), grab the very end of the wire with round-nose pliers and loop it back over to touch the base of the wire. The metal spacer beads are decorative, but they also help fill the ceramic bead holes.

The anatomy of a wire loop.

Assembly goes faster if you make a little production line out of it.

Once you have all the dangles made, group them together however you like and attach them to the bracelet using jump rings. It seemed to be missing something, so I added a TierraCast gingerbread man charm and a
fern green bicone drop as an accent near the clasp to finish my easy Christmas cookie charm bracelet.

Can’t catch me!

And now I’m off to find some more cookies – edible ones this time! ~ Cindy

How to make ball-end head pins with a micro torch

November 28, 2011

Little butane torches are sweet, and not just because they are often used to caramelize sugar on fancy desserts. Micro torches are great for a ton of jewelry making techniques – soldering, fusing fine silver, sintering small Art Clay Silver pieces, even enameling. One really fun and easy project for the micro torch is balling up wire to make your own ball-end head pins.

Supplies needed:

Non-plated wire (I’m using fine silver wire. Sterling silver and copper wire also work. Brass, nickel silver, steel and coated craft wires do not.)

Micro torch

Butane (sold at most hardware and general stores)

Cross locking tweezers

Bowl of water

Making DIY head pins is addictive. Using the locking tweezers, simply hold the wire vertically above the bowl of water. Heat the end of the wire with the torch.

As the wire starts to melt, it crawls up the wire. Once you have a good size ball, quench the wire in the water. Ta da!

If you get too ambitious, the ball might get too big and drop off the wire. Not a big deal. The little balls make cute additions to other projects, and the water ensures you’re not burning down the house. A little practice is all it takes to consistently make the balls the same size.

The balled wire also makes nice French hook ear wires. Don’t have a torch? Rings & Things micro torch kit contains everything you need to get started, except the fuel. A book such as Soldering Made Simple: Easy techniques for the kitchen-table jeweler or Melissa Manley’s Jewelry Lab will provide loads of inspiration and how-tos for more complicated projects that take full advantage of your new tool’s powers! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 7 – Faux Stained Glass Soldered Ornaments

November 23, 2011

Capture the look of snow falling – even if it is raining outside!

Have you heard of Tim Holtz? If you make jewelry, perhaps not. However, he is wildly popular and famous amongst scrapbookers or mixed-media artists. Rings & Things started carrying some of his Idea-ology trinkets and components because they make fun additions to mixed-media designs (both jewelry and jewelry displays!). And then we added his line of alcohol inks because they can be used to colorize metal and other non-porous surfaces. And now we’ve added his acrylic paint dabbers. I watched his video on how to use the paint dabbers to create a resist for alcohol inks and was intrigued. Watch the video, you’ll see what I mean.

Oh, boys.

So Tim – pictured above with our buyer Nory in a headlock! – demonstrates the inks on paper. I wanted to use the process on glass – specifically memory glass slides – in order to make a faux stained glass ornament. One of the coolest things about the alcohol inks is how you can blend them together. My theory was that if I did all my inking and painting on the inside surfaces of the glass, the colors would be safe from the ravages of time.

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 6 – Family Keepsakes

November 22, 2011

Not all Christmas crafts or Christmas jewelry designs need to be Christmas-y. Sometimes the best jewelry presents are the ones with special meaning.

A perfect keepsake for a sister.

Soldered and riveted necklace by designer Mollie Valente. Photo by her sister, Janet, of Pink Poppy Studio on Etsy. The photo inside the one of a kind pendant is of their mother. (I’ll be posting a tutorial on how to sweat solder brass charms onto other metal components – just like Mollie did with the brass key charm and fairy door set – soon.)

If soldering and riveting sounds like too much work (work?!? it is fun!) then check out our hinged pendant frames. All you need to do is cut a picture to size and insert it in the frame. Here is a design by Amy that features a photo from her childhood:

Amy and her sister are swimming with their dad in this snapshot from California road trip.

A third option is to glue an image into a bezel and cover it with jewelry resin, like Rita did for her keepsake necklace:

“Days Gone By”

No traditional “jewelry making skills” are required here – she simply strung the pendant on a pre-made choker.

Maybe it is time to print out some of those digital photos languishing on your computer – or make photocopies of antique originals languishing in a box – and make some keepsakes to treasure! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 5 – Swarovski Crystal Holiday Lights

November 18, 2011

Swarovski crystal holiday lights

Hi bloglandia! Here is another sparkly design, courtesy of the Create Your Style with Swarovski Elements design team: holiday light charms! You need just four ingredients to make them:

9x6mm crystal teardrop beads

4mm rhinestone wheel beads

5mm round crystal beads

Head pins

Simply stack the crystals on head pins and complete each charm with a simple loop or wrapped loop. The crystal lights can be used individually or en masse to create all sorts of jewelry:

Dangly Christmas light earrings are so festive!

Holiday light earrings are also cute with just one light bulb.

Or, instead of head pins, string the light pattern on a strand of beading cable for a necklace like this.

For easy charm bracelets, just add some lights to a toggle bracelet!

Aren’t they de-light-ful? (Sorry, that’s the cold medicine talking!) Happy Friday! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 4 – Beaded Snowflakes

November 17, 2011

Making beaded snowflakes is a fun project for anyone old enough to not put beads in their mouth!

Day 4 is an ultra-simple, instant gratification project: beaded snowflakes. Simply take a wire snowflake form and add beads. This is an ideal project for using up leftover beads, especially sparkly glass beads!

There are several options for keeping the beads in place:

Use crimp beads. (Use a crimp with loop at the top to make it easy to hang).
Glue the last bead in place.
Use round-nose pliers to loop the end of the wire.
Or – the easiest and best in my opinion – use a French wire keeper. French wire keepers are little rubber stoppers that keep earrings in place – or beads on snowflake forms. French wire keepers also make great pin backs, or clutches/nuts for post earrings. A very versatile little jewelry finding indeed!

Dress up the view with sparkly snowflakes!

Winter – and the cold & flu season – is upon us. I didn’t post day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas jewelry designs yesterday because I never made it out of bed. Silly head cold. So let that be a lesson to you all – it is never to early to start your holiday projects because you never know what interruptions you might face!

Happy beading! ~ Cindy

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