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DIY Jewelry Projects

The Spokane keychain experiment

October 28, 2009

Strung on #61-723-49-02 Beadalon, this keychain held up in daily use for over 2 years!

Rita's keys

How burly is your Beadalon?

This is a nice testament to the durability of the stringing materials you can buy here. 🙂 Thanks to Rita who works here, for pointing out that you can learn from broken jewelry too!

FYI, the big cool bead is #28-900-01-01 (George O’Grady borosilicate glass). It’s been restrung on #40-099-28-3 beading chain, finished off with a #41-151-99-20-3 crimp tube at one end and #41-256-02-3 crimps at the other end. The crimp at the end of the tassel is covered with a crimp cover from the #48-289-00-3 set. The clip itself isn’t ours, but is similar to our new #30-610-01-1 teardrop clip.

By the way, here's "Mark 2" :)

By the way, here’s “Mark 2” 🙂

Dare to share — have a jewelry failure that we can learn from? Spill it in a comment here!

Cowgirl Moon & Dry Harvest – Resin Belt Buckles

September 16, 2009

These are one of the neatest new design ideas that our free-ranging design team has roped lately. Git along with it!

Top: "Cowgirl Moon". Bottom: "Dry Harvest".

Top: “Cowgirl Moon”. Bottom: “Dry Harvest”.

Created by: Laurae Sather

Cowgirl Moon Belt Buckle
1 #21-340-03-030 35x50mm rectangle gemstone donut, sodalite
1 #30-193 Belt-buckle back, nickel silver
1 #82-500-08 8oz kit EasyCast epoxy
1 Artisan drawn or copyright-free image

Dry Harvest Belt Buckle
1 #21-340-03-031 35x50mm rectangle gemstone donut, tigereye
1 #30-193 Belt-buckle back, nickel silver
1 #82-500-08 8oz kit EasyCast epoxy
1 Artisan drawn or copyright-free image

Tools and supplies: resin mixing supplies (#82-599), Crafter’s Pickâ„¢ The Ultimate adhesive (#60-280), Mod Podge®

TIPS:
Cut image to fit buckle blank, coat both sides with Mod Podge and let dry. Glue your image to the buckle blank. Once dry, glue the rectangular gemstone donut to the buckle blank and let it dry overnight.

Follow the directions for mixing the EasyCast epoxy and fill the ‘donut hole’ over the image with resin. Let it dry overnight, attach a belt and you’re ready to saddle up!

See our Epoxy Resin Technique Sheet for resin tips.

To view (PDF files), you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download it free here.

View more Resin design ideas, or post questions on the Rings & Things Discussion Forum. Don’t be shy! If you’re wondering, so is someone else!

Thanks, Laurae, for (excuse me) adding a new notch to our design repertoire!

DIY popular clasp extender: how clever!

January 2, 2009

Happy New Year! Here’s a very quick tip for growing your business in 2009.

One of Rings & Things’ popular
free jewelry projects lately is a clever clasp-extender item that’s easy to make. This gadget makes it easy for your customers to, well, customize the necklaces they buy from you,
making them just the right length. Using less than a handful of stock items, you can expand your inventory with a truly useful and attractive product.

Necklace Extender


Necklace Extender

Check out this great project, #68-002-51: Necklace Extender with Magnetic Clasp, along with dozens of others that we provide!