Basic Techniques for making jewellery
Basic Bead Earrings(A)
Whether you’re a beginner or an old pro, these basic bead earrings are a must to know how to do for any jewelry maker. They are quick to make and an infinite variety of designs can be created by just using different beads.
You'll need:
2 Head pins
2 Ear hooks
Your choice of beads - about 6 beads will do(four of a size & two of a size, or all 6 the same size)
Wire cutters and wire(make sure the wire is not thicker than the width of the hole of your beads)
Chain-nose pliers
Round-nose pliers
1. First, insert beads onto head pins in the design you prefer. You may want to play around with a little until you get a bead pattern that you like.
2. Now, using chain-nosed pliers, just past the top of the beads, bend the head pin over into a 90 degree angle. Do the same for both earrings and try to make them both the same size.
3. If your head pins are long, you may need to cut off some. I like have have the bent part of the pin to be no more than half an inch. Using wire cutters, trim the head pin so that your bent part is about 1/2 an inch long. Make sure both earring sections are the same length.
4. Use round-nose pliers to curl the bent part of the head pin on both earrings. I usually hold mine so that the bend part is facing away from me and then I loop the curl towards me. Don't worry about closing your loop at this point.
5. Slip on the ear hooks, and use chain-nose pliers to close the curled part around the ear hook.
6. Finally, hold up both earrings to ensure they look approximately the same. Using pliers, adjust as necessary.
As you can see, this is really a method that you can use with all kinds of different beads and earring findings to make a huge assortment of earrings.
Here are a few of the basic earrings that I made.
If this interests you,you can find more helpful techniques and projects here:
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/wireearringprojects/tp/Bead-and-Wire-Earring-Projects.htm
Basic bracelet with eyepins(B)
String the beads in the order you want. Take the wire-cutters to cut off the excess length and use the round-nose pliers to make the curved loop like in (A) above. String the eye end of the next eye pin before you close the loop. Repeat as many time as you need.
Basic bracelet with jewelery wire(C)
Jewelery wire- cut to desired length
Beads of your choice
Toggle and clasp of your choice
2 crimp beads
Wire-cutters
Needle-nose pliers or crimp pliers
String the beads onto the jewelery wire. A crimp-bead is a large-holed, thin-walled metal bead that is crushed to secure the wire. To use a crimp bead, slip the crimp bead onto the wire, thread the wire through the clasp and back through the crimp bead. Snug it all up to take out the excess wire. Then crimp the crimp bead to hold the wire securely. Use a pair of crimp pliers or needle-nose pliers to securely crush the crimp bead and fasten the end. It is important to crimp the bead so that there is an indent between the two pieces of wire.
Basic Technique with Stretch Wire(D)
String the beads as desired and add an extra bead to the end. Tie the free ends of the strechie band tightly to form a knot. Tie two more times for some extra strength. Apply a drop of super glue/ clear nail polish on top of the knots and slide it into the last big bead you added. Allow the bracelet to dry for a couple of hours before stretching it.
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