Making Jewellery from Shells and Pearls
Making Jewellery from Shells and Pearls
A popular medium for making your own jewellery at home is shells in their various forms and colours. When visiting the seaside you can usually find a selection of shells on the beach that can be used in your own jewellery projects. Shells come in so many different shades and types of colour from light pinks through to the amazing mother of pearl colour of the abalone shell. If you use your imagination when collecting shells at the beach you can create designs for your shell jewellery around the shells available to you. As well as shells other interesting beach combing articles can be used to make your own jewellery. Unusual shapes and colours of pebble can be found on the beach that would make a nice addition to an item of jewellery. Often stones on the beach can be found with holes worn in them from thousands of years of being buffeted by the waves, these can be easily threaded onto your jewellery designs.
When you have completed your beach combing expedition wash your various shells and stones in clean water ready to use in your jewellery. If you will be making necklaces you need to drill some holes in your shells to allow you to thread them onto your wire or string. Stones and other items like coral can be glued onto jewellery to create unusual pendants, rings and earrings. Mother of pearl can easily be found on the beach and the amazing colour can make some of the best pendants, necklaces and bracelets. Jewellery suppliers offer many different types of fittings and jewellery mounts that will allow you to set your mother of pearl and stones into silver or even gold jewellery. Shells can be threaded onto string or twine and clasps added in silver or base metals to secure the jewellery. Many varieties of clasp are also available from most good jewellery suppliers in precious metals as well as base metals.
If you wish to invest some additional time and money into your jewellery from the sea designs you may want to try using some of the more expensive jewellery materials. You can use pearls in your jewellery pieces to add that extra bit of class to your creations. When using pearls you may prefer to use clasps and jewellery wire made from 14 karat gold rather than lower cost silver or base metals. Nothing sets off pearl jewellery better than gold fittings and accessories, although some excellent results can be accomplished using silver with pearls too. Obviously pearls are highly unlikely to be found when beach combing, but will be available at most good jewellery supply stockists. When purchasing your pearls it is advisable to get them already drilled as this will allow you to concentrate on the creative side of making your jewellery. Cultured pearls are less expensive than saltwater pearls as they are easier to obtain, but they are still supplied in a beautiful range of different colours from pure white through gold and pink to pitch black. Stringing pearls can take time to get right as each pearl needs to be secured perfectly tight on the string to create the best effect with your pearls.
