Vintaj Natural Brass findings and leather bracelets go together like butter on bread! You can unite them with rivets, thread, jump rings and more.
With just a few supplies, you can create stylish and unique cuff bracelets, incorporating popular and trendsetting Vintaj Natural Brass findings. For this riveted version, all you need is:
Continue Reading…Charm Bracelet
Create a beautiful, heirloom-quality charm bracelet using freshwater keishi pearls, Swarovski faceted crystal beads, and unique sterling silver bead caps, charms, and findings.
A four-piece jewelry making tool set and basic assembly techniques are all you need to create this stunning bracelet. I recommend using the Chain Stā tool which suspends the bracelet horizontally making it easier to see where you are placing charms.
Create Eight Styles of Charms
For this design, charms were arranged in the following pattern:
Ethereal Pearl Charm
Create 7 Ethereal Pearl Charms using: Center-Drilled Freshwater Keishi Pearl 2″ Ball End Head Pins 4mm Round Jump Rings
Oopsy Daisy Charm
Falling Leaf Charm
Delicate Sprout Charm
Budding Flower Charm
Cherry Blossom Charm
Have fun making the bracelet!
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
The initial bends when trying to band wire together can be frustrating. I have tried every tool, hoping to find something that would accurately bend wire into two perfectly-placed right angle bends without marring it. Now there is a specialty tool made just for perfect double right angle bends — Beadalon Wire Banding Pliers!
I am a perfectionist in the jewelry I create, and the last thing I want to do is fight with the very beginning of the project and end up with scratched banding, or having the banding bend be just a little off. Not only is it frustrating, but the accuracy of the banding can make or break the entire piece.
This tool is very easy to use — now you can quickly create two right angle bends close together, so you can neatly band the remainder of your wires together. We have created the graphic tutorial below to help you to learn how to use these cool wire banding pliers.
Please visit our Design Gallery for 100’s of free jewelry projects / tutorials, but we apologize that as of 2015 during a site upgrade, the 2 wire wrapping projects projects below have retired.
Drusilla’s Bracelet of Submission by Amy Scalise
Square Rose Ring by Valorie Nygaard-Pouzar
Although Rings & Things no longer sells any banding pliers, we’ve kept this infographic for those of you who already own some and need a quick refresher:
Beadalon Wire Banding Pliers Graphic Tutorial
In this do-it-yourself jewelry-making tutorial, the bracelet blanks from last week’s blog post, “Customizing Tim Holtz idea-ology® Word Bands for a Handmade Look”, combine with Rings & Things’ new leather strips to make two styles of leather cuffs.
Combine a customized bracelet blank with one of the many colors of Rings & Things’ leather strips to create a handmade leather bracelet.
Leather Bracelet Style One – A Single-Wrap Bracelet with Drawstring Clasp:
“In the Moment Leather Cuff Bracelet”
Step 1: Gather together the supplies you will need to make a drawstring clasp leather bracelet.
You will need the following tools and supplies:
ruler
1/2″ wide leather strip
3mm suede lace
5-ply waxed linen cord
large-hole bead (hole size 4mm)
customized Tim Holtz idea-ology® word bands
Sharpie®, Extra Fine Point
Step 2: Cut the leather strip to length. Size the leather so it fits comfortably on the wrist, ends butted together; mark the leather at the cut length. Use a ruler and hobby knife to make a straight cut at the mark.
Step 3: Measure and mark the position of the holes to be punched (it is easiest to do this before you curve the word band). Mark two “stitching” holes on either side of the two word-band loops. Also mark a “lacing” hole set 1/4th inch from each leather end.
Step 4: Use a rotary leather hole punch to cut holes in the leather strip at the marked positions. Use the smallest punch (2mm) to punch the stitching holes for the bracelet blank; use the largest punch (4.5mm) to punch the lacing holes for the drawstring closure.
Step 5: Align the bracelet blank with the punched stitching holes and stitch each side in place. The waxed linen cording is stiff enough to go through the 2mm holes without a needle. After making two or three stitches, pull the cord tight and secure with a knot on the backside of the bracelet.
Step 6: To create the drawstring closure, lace the suede cord through one hole and then back out, so the cord tails are on the outside of the cuff. String both cord ends through the large hole bead. Combine both cord ends and make an overhand knot approximately 2″ from the cuff. Slide the bead to tighten or loosen the cuff.
“Live in the Moment” leather-cuff bracelet with drawstring clasp is ready to wear.
Leather Bracelet Style Two – A Double-Wrap Bracelet with Hitch Clasp:
“The Journey Leather Wrap Bracelet”
Step 1: Gather together the supplies you will need to make a double-wrap leather cuff bracelet with hitch fastener.
You will need the following tools and supplies:
ruler
Sharpie®, Extra Fine Point
1/2″ wide leather strip
5-ply waxed linen cord
customized Tim Holtz idea-ology® word bands
Step 2: Cut the leather strip to length. Size the leather so it fits comfortably wrapped twice around the wrist; add one inch for the closure overlap. Mark the leather at the cut length. Use a ruler and hobby knife to make a straight cut at the mark.
Step 3: Measure and mark the position of the holes to be punched (it is easiest to do this before you curve the word band). Place the leather on your wrist and determine approximate placement for the metal blank. Mark two “stitching” holes on either side of the two word-band loops. Also mark a “hitch” hole set 1/4th inch from the first leather end and 1/2 inch from the second end.
Step 4: Use a rotary leather hole punch to create holes in the leather strip at the marked positions. Use the smallest punch (2mm) to punch the stitching holes for the bracelet blank; use the largest punch (4.5mm) to punch the fastener holes for the hitch closure.
Step 5: Align the bracelet blank with the punched stitching holes and use waxed linen cord to attach the word band blank to the bracelet. Stitch the blank in place and knot the cord on the back side. For ease, a large sewing needle can be used.
Step 6 a: On one end hole insert the screw side of the hitch fastener.
Step 6 b: Attach and screw the hitch in place. From the backside, use a flat-head screw driver to tighten the hitch.
Step 7 a: On the other end hole, use the hobby knife to cut 1/8″ slits on opposite sides of the hole, running parallel to the strip length. This will allow the hitch to slip into the hole, but stay securely in place.
Step 7 b: Insert the hitch through the hole to close the fastener.
“The Journey Leather Wrap Bracelet” is ready to wear!
Bracelets can be worn together for a layered look.
Make things,
Mollie
I love hand-stamped metal jewelry and given the popularity of this jewelry trend, chances are you do too. Metal stamping takes a few tools, basic stamping instruction, and practice; and sometimes more practice. But even though metal stamping is fairly easy, turning Tim Holtz idea-ology® word bands into bracelet blanks is even easier. Plus who can resist the 12 inspirational quotes?
The following is a DIY tutorial for turning Tim Holtz idea-ology® word blanks into curved bracelet blanks for use in your mixed-media jewelry projects.
You will need these tools and supplies:
Tape the word band, script side up, to the steel block with masking tape. Repeatedly strike the word band with the pein side of the chasing hammer to add a hammered texture. Remove the word band from the steel block.
Use nylon-jaw, bracelet-bending pliers to turn the idea-ology word band into a curved bracelet blank. Place the flat blank lengthwise in the pliers’ jaw with the script side facing the concave half of the jaw. Gently squeeze the pliers. Reposition the blank and repeat until the word band is fully curved.
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For a splash of color, paint the idea-ology word band’s script with Vintaj patina. Use a paint brush to liberally apply the patina to the word band, making sure patina is applied into all the letter indentations. You can use a mix of patina colors, or a single color. Allow to air dry for a few minutes.
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Wipe the word band with a damp paper towel or baby wipe to remove the excess patina. As you wipe, be careful not to remove the color in the letter indentations. Allow the patina to fully dry.
Now your “stamped” bracelet blank is ready to adorn your choice of bracelet (or maybe you turned all 12 word bands into bracelet blanks). In the next Rings & Things Blog post (How to Make Leather Bracelets – Two Finishing Methods), I will share two ways to finish leather cuff bracelets using the customized word bands and our new colorful leather strips. oh, and “word” from Tim Holtz is we can look forward to new styles of word bands coming soon, “Word Bands Observation” and “Word Bands Christmas”.
Make things!
Mollie
Create wrapped bracelets with this simple lashing technique.
Making wrapped bracelets just got easier because this simple lashing technique takes just minutes to learn. You can combine leather cord with rhinestone chain for a sophisticated style or use ball chain and leather for an industrial look.
Lashed wrapped leather bracelets aren’t just popular because they look great — they’re also a hit because once you know a couple tricks to get started, they are an easy and fun DIY jewelry project to make! A great twist on this hugely popular style is to lash chain instead of beads to leather cord. Read on to make your own leather and chain wrap bracelets! Continue Reading…
Growing up in the 1970’s, I predictably spent part of my childhood making macramé. In fact, I spent hours tied to the ends of masses of cording creating the ubiquitous plant hangers that have become an icon of the era. Call me sentimental, but I got a warm and fuzzy feeling when asked to dust off my knotting fingers and make a hemp macramé bracelet for Rings & Things’ Blog.
Continue Reading…
I love this simple, sleek Greek leather bracelet by designer Mollie Valente. And I’m not the only one who appreciates this combination of simplicity and Greek leather — it is the most popular project on our site for the first 3 months of this year!
Greek leather bracelet – DIY
crystal heart
Swarovski’s Crystal Bronze Shade (see all 79 shapes!) picks up and reflects the hues nearby, and even changes color depending on the intensity and type of light coming into it — it can look bronze, olive, or even a shimmering gray-blue.
This bracelet features four 7.5″ strands of supple olive-green Greek leather:
Olive green Greek leather
with hook
center-crimp tube with loop
Hold the 4 strands of Greek leather together with classic center-crimp tubes. To use center-crimp tubes, select a size slightly larger than your cord — for this bracelet, the 4.5mm inner diameter perfectly holds 4 pieces of round 2mm cord. Add a dab of flexible glue to the ends, and firmly crimp the center section of the tube with round-nose or narrow flat-nose pliers.
Use a hook on one end, and an eye (or loop) on the other end of the bracelet.
Hammered square drum bead
The square drum beads have a 5mm hole – great for heavy cord and multistrand designs. They are available in 4 plating colors, and a slightly smaller triangular shape too. A large 8mm round jump ring fits nicely around the bead, so you can hang charms, small pendants or beaded dangles.
Click image for full tutorial and parts list
Browse our Design Gallery for 100’s more jewelry design ideas and techniques (it’s always free — no login required!).
Questions about this or any other design in our Gallery or catalog?
Comment below, or ask us on Facebook! ~Polly