How to make the jewel in your crown

There are many ways of making your own jewellery collection and starting out doesn’t have to be expensive or require lots of complicated tools. So how do you begin? All you need to make your own individual pieces of jewellery are a little imagination and perhaps a pair of pliers. Experiment with a few ideas and different adornments and you could be surprised with what you can put together.

Using adhesives

Devcon Epoxy is the adhesive to use for any jewellery making. It is a “two-tube” glue, where a small amount from each tube is mixed together. Always make sure equal quantities are used and mix very well, ensure the surfaces to be cemented together are clean and, where possible, abrade the surfaces to be glued to get a more secure bond. (Superglue is not recommended for jewellery making as it will not fill gaps and requires two perfectly flat surfaces to achieve a good bond.)

Tumble-polished stones

Make simple pendants, eardrops or key rings by attaching a couple of standard jewellery components, using adhesive.

Half-drilled beads

Make earstuds by cementing half-drilled beads on to ear studs or create pendant drops by cementing half-drilled beads to a peg and loop. These can then be used as small drops for earwires, or to hang from a chain, individually or in combination with other stones. Top-drilled teardrops can be mounted in the same way for necklets and eardrops.

Cabochons

These are flat-backed stones, which are ideal for cementing into mounts using epoxy adhesive. Make ear studs using French earwires with a flat plate or use earwires with millgrain cups. Set cabochons in milled-edge cup pendants and attach them to your choice of earwire to make attractive eardrops. Simple pendants can also be made by setting cabochons in milled-edge cup pendants and hung on a chain.

Faceted stones

These stones usually require a bit more experience for setting, but you can buy back-set mounts and snaptite settings which are easy alternatives so you can create professional looking jewellery with the minimum of experience.

Back-set mounts

Back-set mounts are for faceted stones and it is a simple matter to place the stone in the mounts, then gently ease the claws over the back of the stone. A curved burnisher is a good tool for doing this, but you can improvise with any other small implement that will enable you to ease the claws firmly over the stone. For inexpensive pieces of jewellery, you can use cubic zirconia (diamond simulant) faceted stones.

Snaptite settings

Snaptite settings are the easiest way to make professional looking earstuds. Simply push the correct size stone into place and adjust the claws slightly if necessary. Round and oval stones are the easiest to set; triangles and stars require a bit more patience.

Using leather thong or cotton cord

Leather thong and cotton cord is used with pendant shapes – stars, moons, bears, fish, arrowheads etc. The pendants can simply be threaded individually or used in combination with other stones or beads. Alternatively, use jewellery tubing with a loop to attach a silver pendant. To give a final finish to the cord, use hooks and fasteners.

Necklets

A popular way to create your own necklaces is by using necklet wire. These cable-like wires come complete with a fastener, one end of which is left open to enable the beads of your choice to be threaded on. Make your selection of gemstone beads, which can be combined with sterling silver beads to make very attractive but simple pieces of jewellery.

Head pins and eye pins

Use head pins or eye pins for making dangly eardrops. Thread on the beads of your choice, then, to finish, just create a loop at the end of the wire and attach to the earwire of your choice. For longer drops, use eye pins and link these together to create more movement.

Bead links for necklets and bracelets

Chains can be interspersed with beads by creating small links, making individual necklets and bracelets. Using round nose pliers, with a short length of silver wire (0.6mm) create a loop at one end of the wire, thread on the bead and create another loop to hold the bead in place. Make as many of these links as required and then attach them to the silver chain of your choice.

Milled-edge cup pendants

These cup settings can be mounted with cabochons, using adhesive, and then used as pendants or eardrops. Two-loop pendants can be used to make more individual creations. Try linking them with the bead links described above. Add a silver two-loop pendant or a feather for a longer design. There are endless combinations. Try out some different ideas.

Freshwater pearl necklaces

Freshwater pearls must be one of the most popular types of beads for making both necklaces and earwires. Traditional strands of pearls can be easily strung, but try creating something a little more unusual by adding gemstone or metal beads.

Tiaras

There are a multitude of ideas for making tiaras. However here are a few points to note. Tiara bases are plated metal and are therefore unsuitable for soldering. Techniques to use are wrapping and twisting wire, and gluing using epoxy adhesive. Silver and gold plated wires are quite malleable and are easy to form around the base. A structure can then be created to your design, adding beads, pearls or even wire-wrapped tumble-polished stones or crystals. The base can always be covered with ribbon to finish the tiara or hide any untidy areas.

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