Crafts

3 easy DIY jewellery projects

Nov 07, 2014

Making jewellery is one of the most fun crafts out there but if you haven’t given it a go, it can be daunting to walk into a craft store and not know where to start! Even if you’re a jewellery expert, you’ll love these 3 easy DIY projects we found.

Trapeze earrings

Time needed: an hour

Materials: pliers, gold chain, thin gold wire, gold ear wires, glass teardrop beads in your favourite colour

Step 1: Cut about a 7.5cm piece of your gold wire.

Step 2: Make a super small loop at the end, and twist the wire to hold.

Step 3: Thread on 5 of your glass teardrops. Then, make another loop at the end of the wire to finish, twist, and cut.

Step 4: Repeat step 2 to make your second link.

Step 5: Take your gold wire, and attach a piece to both loops on your link. My earrings turned out to be about 4.5cm long, but you can use any length of chain you’d like to make them shorter/longer. Just make sure the same amount of links hang from each loop, otherwise they will be lopsided!

Step 6: Then, just thread the two ends of chain onto your ear wire (I had to cut the bottom off my ear wire and re-loop it, as it was facing the wrong way originally. Make sure the loop faces you so that your dangle faces forward).

Done and ready to wear!

Source: Quiet Lion Creations

Colour block necklace

Time needed: an afternoon or evening

Materials: silver or gold necklace chain, 6 eye pins, 2 head pins, 3 colours of Polymer clay, needle nose pliers, cheap tile or smooth, flat, clean surface, non-serrated knife, wire cutters

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Step 1: Condition the clay by simply mixing it and squishing it with your fingers. You may want to roll it into a log between your palms, fold it in half, and then roll again. The smaller the piece of clay you are conditioning, the faster it will soften up.

Step 2: Press the clay out into a flat, even pancake on the tile. Use your knife to slice off the edges into the shapes for your pendant.

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Step 3: Poke holes in each of the clay pieces. Use an eye pin, a wood skewer, bead reamer or any other thin, pointy object.

Step 4: Then bake according to the clay directions – my pieces were about 5mm thick so they took 30 minutes at 135 celsius.

Step 5: To finish, assemble the pieces and attach to the chain. Use your 6 eye pins (for the top three pieces) and 2 head pins (for the bottom pieces. Insert them through the holes you’ve made and used round nose pliers to make a simple loop (find out how here) to attach them together.

Finished and it looks great!