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    Basic Jewelry Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started
    Basic Jewelry Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started
    Basic Jewelry Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started
    Ebook381 pages50 minutes

    Basic Jewelry Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started

    By Sandy Allison, Theodore Walker Jr. and Alan Wycheck

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    About this ebook

    The basics of using beads and wire to create custom pieces. Each technique carefully described and illustrated. Create pieces for yourself and friends, or to sell.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStackpole Books
    Release dateFeb 20, 2006
    ISBN9780811745406
    Basic Jewelry Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started

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      Book preview

      Basic Jewelry Making - Sandy Allison

      Resources

      Introduction

      The basic techniques for making beaded jewelry like the kind you see in shops and galleries are relatively few and easy to learn. This book illustrates and explains them all.

      Once you become familiar with the materials, learn how to secure clasps and fittings, discover the ways to plan a piece’s design, and master making loops and working with jump rings, you’ll be able to make beaded necklaces, bracelets, pendants, anklets, and earrings in all sorts of styles: fun, funky, simple, or chic.

      Thousands upon thousands of different beads are available to the home crafter today. After you’ve learned the basics of making beaded jewelry, you can dive right in and use any of them to create one-of-akind pieces in exactly the styles and colors you want.

      You can string beads on wire or cord or use them with headpins and metallic wire that’s been bent and shaped to create even more designs. You can also use the wire by itself to create unique pieces. Learning a few bending techniques will allow you to shape wire into coils, loops, angles, and squares. And these same techniques can be used to shape sterling silver and 14-karatgold wire, opening the door to creating gallery-quality jewelry inexpensively, all without heating or soldering.

      The book begins with the basics of working with beads and bead-stringing wire. It then illustrates and explains simple techniques for bending headpins and metallic wire to create designs that incorporate beads or stand on their own. The last part of the book shows you how to bend and forge silver and gold.

      Once you’ve mastered the basics, the rest is up to you. Let’s get started.

      1

      Working with Beads

      Learning just a few techniques will get you started making beautiful jewelry. In this section, you’ll learn the basics of stringing beads on wire and cord and attaching clasps and fittings with flat and round crimps. You’ll also learn how to plan and execute your designs and the secrets of opening and closing jump rings. Once you’ve mastered these skills, making all kinds of bracelets, necklaces, chokers, anklets, and pendants is simply a matter of putting the techniques together and choosing from the almost infinite variety of beads and fittings available.

      A great thing about making your own jewelry is that the tools and materials you need to get started are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. Your local bead shop or craft center probably has everything you need. You can also buy tools and materials from catalogs and through a number of on-line retailers.

      Tools and Materials

      CRIMPING TOOL

      Sometimes called crimp pliers, this specialty tool has two openings in its jaws: one to flatten a crimp tube over lengths of wire, the other to bend the flattened tube into a rounded shape. Two-part round crimps made with a crimping tool are neater than one-part flat crimps made with pliers, although flat crimps are easier to make, especially if you don’t have much room to maneuver.

      LONG-NOSE PLIERS This tool is handy for holding and manipulating tiny fittings, handling small beads, and bending wire. The tips are tapered and mostly rounded, but the gripping surfaces are flat. Look for a pair with jaws that are completely smooth rather than grooved. Long-nose pliers with grooves (sometimes called needle nose pliers) will work too, but it’s a good idea to wrap pieces of duct tape around the tips to create a smooth surface. For a few techniques, such as opening and closing jump rings, you’ll need two pairs of long-nose pliers.

      ROUND-NOSE PLIERS

      This invaluable tool helps you bend headpins and wire into tiny loops and curves. Round-nose pliers have tapered, completely round tips with no grooves, which makes them less likely to mar the wire surface.

      CUTTERS

      You need these to cut wire and headpins. If you work with silver or gold as well, you should have two pairs of cutters; the stainless steel in bead-stringing wire and some headpins can roughen the tool’s jaws, so you should not use the same pair to trim silver or gold.

      CRIMP TUBES

      Metal crimp tubes fit over lengths of bead-stringing wire and are flattened and often rounded to hold the wire together securely. The tubes come in a variety of sizes, which reflect different diameters. A good standard size is #2, which will work well for many projects; #1 crimp tubes are slightly larger, and #3 tubes are slightly smaller.

      BEAD-STRINGING WIRE

      Bead-stringing wire consists of stainless steel strands braided together for strength and coated with nylon to make stringing beads easier. This wire is the basis for all kinds of necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. Two thicknesses, .015 inch and thicker .018 inch, are used the most. Jewelry that has heavier beads and components or is longer usually requires the thicker wire.

      METALLIC WIRE

      Usually made of copper, metallic wire is smooth and unbraided, unlike bead-stringing wire. It’s sold under a number of generic names (beading wire, artistic wire) and brand names and comes in a variety of colors and finishes.

      Use metallic wire to create your own headpins and dangles, or bend and shape it into earrings, pendants, and necklace components. Different gauges, or thicknesses, are available; the medium 24-gauge and thicker 18-gauge wire are most useful. You’ll discover that some finishes or brands of metallic wire are easier to bend than others, even if they’re the same gauges.

      ELASTIC CORD

      Elastic cord is great for making bracelets. After stringing on beads, you tie the ends

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