Craft Ideas

How to make Beads out of Paper

Each of these many colored beads will surprise you because each is different. String them together to make one-of-a-kind necklaces and bracelets. To fill your jewellery box or surprise someone: The materials you will need are: Typing paper: lightweight cardboard: transparent tape: strong thread: pictures from old magazines. Tools need: ruler: pencil: scissors: needle: and round toothpick.

Fold up 1 inch at the bottom of a sheet of typing paper. On the folded part, mark off ½ inch on the short edge and 5 ½ inches on the long edge. Draw a line joining the two marks.

Cut out along the pencil line. Unfold. This triangle will be the pattern for one set of beads. To make the pattern easier to use, tape it to a piece of lightweight cardboard and cut out the cardboard.

Now fold up 1 inch at the other end of the sheet of paper. On the folded part, mark off ¼ inch on the short edge and 7 ¼ inches on the long edge. Join the two marks, cut out along the line, and unfold. This triangle will be the pattern for a second set of beads. Tape it to a piece of cardboard and cut out.

For a necklace, put a length of thread around your neck and cut the thread off when it is as long as you want your necklace to be. Then thread it through a needle.

Pick some colourful pictures in an old magazine. Magazines with glossy paper are best. What the pictures show doesn’t matter.

Put one of your triangle patterns on a picture, draw around it, can cut the triangle out.

Lay a round toothpick on the back side of the picture triangle, across the wide end. Roll the triangle up around the tooth-pick. Roll straight so that the two sides taper evenly. This makes a bead.

Tape the loose end to keep the bead from unrolling. Remove the toothpick and run the needle through the hole to thread the bead.

Repeat, using the other triangle pattern, to make a differently shaped bead. Keep changing the triangle patterns until your necklace is completely threaded with beads. Then tie the ends together.

You can make differently shaped beads by changing the size of the triangle pattern Experiment until you find some new shapes you like.

You can make bracelets instead of necklaces by stringing the beads on shorter threads.

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.

Creating Jewellery with Silver Wire

Sterling silver jewellery can be crafted from silver wire to create interesting designs and effects. Most silver jewellery wire available for crafting jewellery pieces will be sterling silver which is 92.5 percent pure silver alloyed with 7.5 percent other metals. Quite fine silver wire is generally used for jewellery manufacture as it is easy to bend and work with. As well as the silver wire other materials can be used in your jewellery creation such as precious gemstones, polished stones, glass or crystals.

Before you begin working your materials to create your own designs of jewellery it is advisable to put some design ideas on paper first. Even if you adapt your design while your creative juices are flowing a design on paper gives a good basic starting point for your jewellery design. Fine silver wire can be used for threading drilled gemstone beads and other interesting materials but silver for making jewellery is available in many different shapes for you to work with. Thicker silver wire can be twisted or wrapped into various forms and shapes to create your final piece of jewellery. Flat pieces of silver can be hammered out into exciting designs and given a textured finish surface to make bangles or wide necklets.

If you are new to making your own jewellery you may want to start with a lower cost alternative to silver wire initially. Silver bonded wire is available at many craft websites on the internet and in good local craft stores at a lower price than sterling silver wire. This will be a base metal wire that has been plated with silver, so your resulting jewellery piece will still look like silver but will only be silver plated and may be less hard wearing than sterling silver. And rather than using more expensive precious stones in your jewellery you could begin with lower cost beads made from glass crystal, that can still give outstanding results.

The equipment required to start making your own wire jewellery can be as simple as a pair of pliers and some wire cutters. Simple designs can be made without the need for soldering using simple twists to secure beads onto your jewellery. Sooner or later you may require an oxyacetylene torch to enable you to solder high melting temperature metals such as silver. Once you get the hang of soldering your own jewellery the options for designs and artistic creations will be practically endless.

As well as using silver or silver bonded wire many people create their jewellery from gold wire. Gold wire can be used to great effect in combination with other materials such as pearls or polished semiprecious stone beads. After you have become proficient at making your own wire jewellery you may wish to go on to sell your creations at a local fair or craft show. Many people that started jewellery craft as a simple hobby have progressed to making a part time or even full time income from sales of their jewellery. The appeal to the public of handmade wire jewellery is that they will be wearing one off designs that may be unlike any other jewellery available in the stores.

Making your own Unique Bead Jewellery

You can have great fun creating your own bead jewellery and can start with very little financial outlay. All that you require are your choice of beads that you wish to use and some kind of thread or jewellery wire to use to string your beads. There are various different combinations of beads and design that you can try to make your bead jewellery really stand out.

First you will need to decide on how your beads will be presented. You can simply string them in one long necklace or more complicated designs can be created using jewellery wire or other methods of combining your various beads together. Simple thread can be used for stringing beads as well as cord, nylon, and even mono filament fishing line can be used to great effect. Almost any type of string or thread can be used and some people like to use a more rustic looking fibrous string to give a different appearance to their designs. With jewellery wire you can make almost any type of bead jewellery such as earrings, bracelets or more complicated necklace designs.

Beginners do not need to spend a great deal on bead supplies and can still create brilliant designs. Purchasing beads made from materials such as coloured glass, shell, and plastics will help keep the cost of your jewellery fairly low. Once you get the idea of how to create attractive designs you can start to use more expensive beads made from pearls or precious and semiprecious gemstones. The selection of bead colours and textures available to you is enormous. Beads can be obtained in various different forms from the classic round bead to unpolished free form stone chips. By using different colours, shapes and stones in your bead work you can create interesting designs that are unique to you.