Button Rings

How much fun it is to be able to use round craft wire and a few "found" items to make a fashionable item! Instead of using buttons, you can substitute large flat beads, add your own flair with a few accent beads, use colored craft wire, and you're making a new ring in just a few minutes.  
This is a great crafts project for young girls at a party or on a rainy afternoon, too!

Materials:
20ga round read soft wire - 2ft
2.5mm round metal beads - 8 (your button may require more beads, depending on its size)
4-hole button 

Tools:
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters
Ring mandrel
Ruler

Instructions

Cut the necessary wire. Place the center of the wire on the ring mandrel, at ¼ size larger than the desired finished size. Wrap both ends of the wire very tightly around the mandrel until you have 3 or 4 full wraps around it.

 

Button Earrings

I always find a few left-overs that can be used for a new project. Today’s very simple tip would work perfect for those miscellaneous buttons, ear wires and beads that you have just sitting around.

Use small 2-hole buttons as connector/ findings to hook ear wires and beads together.

 I prefer to use oval jump-rings to connect the button and beads. CLICK HERE to see how to make your own jump rings. Very easy to do with a mandrel and wire.

Cotter Link Chain

Tools and Materials:
·         20ga dead soft round wire (1.5" (4cm) for one link)
·         Flat nose pliers
·         6 Step Barrel Pliers (you may use round nose pliers with 5mm and 2mm diameter marks)
·         Wire cutters

Oval jump rings

Oval jump rings are a great alternative to round jump rings. These rings are ideal for connecting clasps, charms or beads to chains.

Need a mandrel to make your own oval jump rings? Use a set of two the same size knitting needles, wrap your wire around them.

  Carefully remove coil and cut evenly with sharp flush cutters (double- flush cutters work the best).

 

Spiral Post Earrings, Part 2 (using butane torch & LOS)

This lesson shows how to make a spiral post/stud earrings with balled end.

 Materials:
8” of 21 ga round half hard wire

Earring backs-2
 Tools:

 Flat nose pliers
 Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Bench block
Ball peen hammer
Metal file 
Liver of sulfur (optional) 
Butane torch (optional)

Celtic Wig Jig Earrings

Here is another video how to make a beautiful pair of Celtic Wire Earrings using a Wig Jig.

The final product

Spiral Post Earrings - Part 1.

This lesson shows how to make a spiral post/stud earrings.

Materials:
• 8” of 21 ga round half hard wire
• Earring backs-2
 Tools:
 • Flat nose pliers
 • Round nose pliers
• Wire cutters
 • Bench block
• Ball peen hammer
• Metal file

Beaded Coral Tassel Tutorial

This lesson shows how to make beaded coral tassel. You can use this technique for making earrings, key-chain and bag charms. 

Materials:

Seed beads #11/0
Focal bead (or group of 2-3 large beads)
Beading thread
Lobster clasp (for bag charm)
Split ring (for keychain)
Ear hooks (for earrings) 

Tools:

Beading needle #12 
Scissors (or thread burner) 

Instruction below will show how to make a bag charm, but you can use this technique for making earrings as well.

Step 1: On a comfortable length of thread, pick up focal bead(s) and lobster clasp. Place this group in the middle of thread.

Step 2: Pass the thread back through the bead(s) skipping the clasp. Tighten.

Lark's Knot Earrings

Materials and Tools:

• 5 inches of 20 ga round dead soft wire
• 5 mm Jump Rings, 20 ga - 2
• 4mm Crystals/beads - 2
• 1 pair ear wires
• Round nose pliers
• Chain nose pliers
• Chasing hummer
• Bench block

Boho Style Chandelier Pendant

Do you have some jewelry piece that is broken, has missing parts, or you do not wear it but would love to give it a second life? 

That is what I had before: a pair of broken earrings with missing beads.

The finished result - Boho style pendant!

Extra materials you will need:

Head pins, eye pins*, a jump ring, extra beads of your choice.

1. Take off all the beads you have on your broken jewelry. Clean all the beads and findings if necessary (one of my earrings metal broke while cleaning it, that's why I made a pendant, not a pair of earrings). 

Golden Bohemian Necklace - Reusing and Repairing Jewelry

Do you have some jewelry piece that is broken, has missing parts, or you do not wear it but would love to give it a second life?

My friend Tanya had this pretty golden bracelet with stretched cords. Guess what? We made three different pieces of jewelry from this bracelet!

First jewelry is this eye catching bohemian style necklace.

Work with WigJig - Part 2 - Video

Today, I want to show how to use a wire-wrapping Jig while making this pair of earrings.

In general, I use 20 gauge wire for earrings, 18 ga wire for bracelet components and 18 or 16 ga wire for necklace components. Using dead soft wire may require hardening of the finished piece.

You may use different size of pegs to change  a size of the loop like here.

Use the same element as an embellishment for  a pendant.

Work with WigJig - Part 1

Beaded Tea Ball Infuser

Whether you're brewing cups of your favorite loose-leaf tea or seasoning wine, cider or soup with spices, you'll be happy to have these infusers on hand. Having a nice looking infuser makes your tea taste even better.

You will need an infuser, beading wire 1 ft, crimping beads, beads of your choice, and crimping pliers (buy them here). I have one large bead (diamond shape in my case) as a focal bead.

DIY: Bead Crimping: Necklace - Bracelet

Today I want to show you how to make a necklace or a bracelet using beading wire.

 Beading wire is a flexible stainless steel wire that consists of several strands of wire bound in a nylon coating. It combines the strength of steel with the softness of thread. The more strands in the wire, the more flexible your project will be. There are several brands of beading (stringing) wire on the market: Beadalon®,  Accu-Flex®, Soft Flex®, etc. 

To make this necklace you will need: variety of gem chips, beading wire, two crimp beads, 2 crimp covers, clasp (toggle), crimping pliers, chain nose (I used bent nose) pliers, wire cutters. 

Oxidizing Jewelry with Liver of Sulfur

If you want to add a rustic or antique look to copper, brass, or silver jewelry, add a patina by oxidizing it. 
I will show how I oxidized my copper bracelet with liver of sulfur. 

You can find liver of sulfur in a liquid, gel, or dry (rock) form.

First, clean the piece that you plan to oxidize using a soft, dry cloth. This will ensure that any dirt or  oil does not cause uneven oxidation.

Spiral Shawl Pin

This hand-shaped, hammered spiral keeps your scarf or shawl in place without piercing or snagging the yarns. 

You will need:

Round nose pliers, flat nose pliers, chasing hammer, bench block, 12ga wire - 6"

Christmas Earrings from Recycled Garland

Last week we were decorating out Christmas tree, and I found a broken garland with red shiny beds and Santas' heads.

I did not want to restring or fix it, but could not throw 3 yards of this garland also.

 So, I decided to make easy earrings as a little gift to my colleagues. Just added some silver beads, string on the head pin (I used eye pins since the bead hole was too large)

Two-loop wire wrapped connector

 

Materials

• 20- to 24-gauge round dead soft wire
  Size of the wire depends on the size of the link you are going to make. The bigger the link, the thicker the wire. 

Tools

• Chain nose pliers
• Round nose pliers or 6-step Barrel Pliers
• 9mm Bail Making Pliers (or a matching cylindrical object such as a pen)
  Diameter of the bail making pliers depends on the size of the link.
• Nylon jaw pliers (optional)
• Wire cutters

Instructions

1. You can start working from the spool. Wrap the wire one and a half times around a 9mm jaw.
   
   
   

Nailed Pearl Earrings

While I was threading pearls onto headpins for another project, the way they were lying on the table brought this idea to me. Of course, you can change the color of the pearls or the metal; or even use crystal beads instead of pearls, to alter this "cluster" design. Making an ear hook from a headpin really saves time too, because its end is already filed!

Materials and Tools

• 12  8mm freshwater pearl beads
• 12  3/4" head pins, in a gauge that fits your chosen pearls
• 2   2" 21-gauge head pins
• Round nose pliers
• Chain nose pliers

DIY: Feather Earrings

Today, I will show how to make Stylish Feather Earrings For Stylish Women.

To make a pair of these earrings you will need:

- pair of ear-wires
- cord ends - 2
- eye-pins -2
- lamp-work beads (or any beads of your choice) -2
- feathers
- round-nose pliers
- chain-nose pliers
- wire-cutters