Wire jewellery Ideas
Sea glass (sometimes called ‘beach glass’) is a beautiful and unique element to use for jewelry making. This is what you will need to know to make your own sea glass jewelry.
Don’t use the fake stuff. You must use real beach glass when making it. Get hold of some real sea glass and not anything manufactured to look similar to the real thing. The real stuff will have lots of scratches and marks from hitting rocks and shore. The manufactured glass has a smooth look to it.
Make use of wire. There are several different methods to attach it to your jewelry. Wrap a wire around the glass and bend it to make a pendant. To do this, use some needle-nosed pliers and your preferred kind of wire – this could be gold plated, copper plated or sterling silver wire. When looking at the numbers on the wire’s packaging, the higher the number (or gauge) the thicker the wire. So, if you are looking for a thin wire search for a gauge between 18 and 22. Also there are a few types of wire shapes, from square to round to flat or beaded. If your choices are there, get round as a beginner, because it’s easiest to work with. The piece of glass needs a wire wrapped around it in any fashion. Don’t forget to make the loop through which you pass your jewelry. Your sea glass is ready to make into jewelry after you have attached the wire to it.
Drill a hole in it. One of several options for attaching it to jewelry is by drilling a hole in it. This will to some extent, affect the natural look of stone, but will certainly prevent it falling off of your jewelry. You must have a steady hand and patience to drill through sea glass or any other glass! If you get in a hurry, it will split in half.
It is best to use a small drill bit like a Dremel which has a diamond bit. Then while pouring water over the piece, clamp down your sea glass and drill. This could be a little tricky, so if you are not sure, try and find pre-drilled beach glass to use when making your jewelry. The other alternative is to find an experienced jewelry maker and have them do the drilling. This will ensure your piece of the glass doesn’t get ruined so you can keep it for ever.
Jewelry making with sea glass is easy. You need only decide how to attach it to make bracelets or necklaces. When you’ve finished the sea glass piece you can use it as a beautiful piece of jewelry by itself, or add more beads and other things to go with it.
Tiffany Provost writes about jewelry and other hobbies for HowToDoThings.com.
What can I do with a bag of round buttons (like the pin/brooch type)?
Years and years ago, my mom got a huge bag of buttons from a census or something and they’re like two or two-and-a-half inches in diameter and they’re made of metal.
A few of years ago, I thought it was cool to scrape off the yellow paint-ish stuff on the front so that it would just be silver. Then I taped letters and/or designs on the front and spraypainted it gold. I peeled off the tape, and it was interesting but also very, very time consuming.
What else can I do?
I’m going through a wire jewelry phase right now, so anything in that “field” would be better, but all ideas are welcome.
Make brooches out of them using pieces of broken pottery, beads, recycled jewelry. Be sure to use a very strong jewelry glue so the brooches don’t disintegrate. If you can drill or poke holes through the buttons, you can hang beads on wire.
Have fun.
Beginner Wire jewelry DVD by Stari Girl Jewelry
