DIY Vacuformer

I have always wanted one of these.  Could also use toaster oven to heat the plastic.
From Sci-Spot.com

Cast with Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty.  It's inexpensive and fun.  One use is to paint raised designs on furniture or cast as separate pieces.  Maybe cast some small picture frames?
Could the models be made from cardboard?

Sequins and Rhinestones

There's a place called SequinAppliques.com.  Be still my heart.
They are tiny and inexpensive.   The vintage looking bullion is really beautiful.
Be sure to look at her buttons.  She has every kind you can imagine and more.

Fabric Button Earrings Tutorial

From Tote Magazine

Jewelry Making Trends Spring/Summer 2015

From Fire Mountain Gems

Paper Picture Frame Template

This makes a nice presentation for earrings or a gift card.

Jewelry Design Tool

Create Your Style Online with a multitude of different shapes, sizes and colors of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements!

With the online design tool you can create your own necklaces and bracelets. The tool is unique and your possibilities are unlimited:
•Start from scratch, create and save your own designs with the brilliant electronic version of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements
•Adopt existing templates, exclusively designed for Swarovski, to your wishes.
•Calculate the amount of Crystal Beads, Crystal Pearls or Pendants you are going to need to realize your creation.
•You can print your colorful creations, save and load them at any time.

Printable ring sizer chart

A tool from Danforth Diamond

Making a Turk's Head Knot Ring

Photo tutorials on Maille Artisans International League.
Scroll down the page for photo tutorial.
How to make the jig.

How to make the ring.

How to dye buttons, golfballs, feathers & beads

From the good folks at Rit.

How to dye plastic from PinkBird Beads

Silk Organza Necklace

For the price of a yard of silk organza, some memory wire, and a sterling silver clasp, you can put together your own version of this stylish piece. From Country Living magazine.

Organza Flowers

Excellent tutorial by capusitalinda. I have this type of organza ribbon. I think some already burned circles should be in the kit I'm making for Sophia. She went nuts for the beads in my craftroom and feels confident that she will like beadwork because she knows crossstitch.

How to Properly Close a Jump Ring

It's been awhile since I've had time to post. I'm working on a very large project that I'll be able to talk about after next week. Bear with me, I have lots of goodies and fun coming up.

Christine Cox, owner of Volcano Arts, publishes an e-mail newsletter that's one I always find interesting. This month there is this tutorial regarding jump rings. It's the finishing skill that elevates my jewelry making and is really difficult for me to do well.

Decoupage Faux Engraved Tile

I'm always thinking of Christmas ornament ideas and was really taken by the look of this cross by Eileen Bergen, The Artful Crafter. It's decoupage on foam core board making the technique interesting to me since weight is always a factor with ornament making. I don't know that I would make crosses but doves might be nice for me.
Visit the Artful Crafter for project directions.

Wire Crochet Patterns and Tips

Shared by Michelle Ryan.

Girl's Projects

A friend has asked for craft project suggestions for her 13 yr. old daughter's sleep over party.
I think it might be fun to make some rings and charms.
This great tutorial at PlanetJune for fun and simple Shrink Plastic Rings is great inspiration.
If you decide to do this, there are some good tips in the comments and it would probably be a good idea to check with the other mothers about working with hot materials.

Then there is this tutorial by Meander on the ThreadBanger Forum about glazing shrink plastic charms with clear embossing powder. It's a nice soft finishing touch.

From Ruby's Jewelry Design and Beadwork is this simple beaded ring tutorial.
Ruby has quite a large collection of beadwork tutorials here.

This printable ring sizer from AtlantisRing.com would be helpful. You would want to have the correct size mandrels (dowels, pens etc.) for each girl to wrap her shrink plastic ring to the correct size.

Basic Wire Jewelry Skills

From Connie Fox.
Instructions for fundamental wire techniques in jewelry making.

Click here to say thank you to her.
Connie makes an eye the same way I do. She rolls from the cut end of the wire then bends the eye to center it. Hers are much better than mine.
Most instructions I've seen say to make a 90 degree bend first. I find it more difficult to get the eyes all the same size with this method unless I slip a wire cutting jig onto the bent wire.

I used to do piecework beaded jewelry making in my spare time. The man who owned the company considered buying head pins a waste of material so we made our dangles with 22 gauge half hard wire and size 11 or 14 seed beads. Then crimped the end of the wire with the joint of the pliers to form a paddle that would not slip through the seed bead. An example is shown below.
First make the eye. Hold the eye and slip on the beads. Firm them up tight to the eye, cut the wire and crimp. This dangle is not from the jewelry company, it's my own earrings of cat face beads. Now that I see this enlarged image...this is not a good eye....it's oval and not fully closed.
I didn't say that I was good at working with wire just that I do the best I can! ;-)

Here is a picture of a couple of my pliers. Look at the joint to see the flat area I use to crimp the paddle end..
Click to see larger image.

I'm ham fisted and have problems marring the wire. My solution to this problem is shown on the pink set of pliers. I have made a little protector from shrink tubing that I got at Radio Shack. The tubing is used to bundle wires but works great for my use. I just cut a piece of the closest size tubing and used my heat gun to shrink the tubing to fit (a hairdryer will work too).
This little cap is removable and made my work so much easier.

This is a picture of some of my wire cutting jigs. Aack.. the smallest one is buried on my table somewhere and not shown. These are made from wooden beads from the jewelry company but a red plastic coffee stirrer stick has a hole down the center, is easily cut to size and makes a great jig. All your wire pieces will be the same size. I use the smallest jig to cut the wire for the top eye when making a beaded link. That lightest jig is my perfect "s" hook.

Try as I might I have a hard time getting the second eye on a beaded link to be round. Maybe my jig needs to be a little bit longer.

Making the circle that these dangles hang on is more difficult than it looks especially since there has to be a left and a right in a set of earrings. My tools for this were made by my boss when I worked at a small machine shop and are tool steel rods with a piece of a large paper clip stuck in a small drilled hole. If I were to need another one and had to make it myself I would use a dowel and a piece of paper clip.
These are my own earrings and not a design from the jewelry company.


To make the circles start by making an eye that is not fully closed. Place the eye over the hook on the tool, wrap the wire around and away from yourself for one and wrap towards yourself for the second of a set. Remove from the tool. Slip on the dangles. Bend the long end of the wire to 90 degrees, slip into the eye and close the eye. Add a bead, slip on a wire cutting jig and cut the wire. Form the top eye that attaches to the ear wire.

Bitty Bead tutorial

I followed this tutorial for making beaded beads sometime last year. I formed some of the beads around a jelly bracelet. It's comfortable but ugly. The tiny beaded beads are nicer but I call them "go blind beads" because they are so small.