“That’s it!” you tell your husband, “Today you’ll enjoy some quality time with the kids. I need a little peace and quiet to start working on my necklace, you know, the one I showed you last week…”
Sounds familiar?
“Tomorrow I’m going to start dieting”, “We have to redecorate the living room!”… There’s more where these came from.
Strongly motivated & oozing inspiration and energy, you sit in front of the computer, looking for that crystal necklace photo you saved, desperately trying to figure out how & what to do first. Don’t put it off just yet!
Cup Chain team have compiled a list of 10 useful tips we hope will give you a little push and help make your crafting and jewelry designing more fun.
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Tip 1 – Making space for creation
Don't be tempted to grab a few moments of working on the sofa, your bed or on the floor...!
Take your work seriously and make room for it.
Working with very small elements, sharp tools, glue and other materials needs to done on a wide strong table.
Jewelry making, as any other craft work, requires patience and time. Organize a comfortable chair for you to set. Strong light is very important and even spend a few minutes to hang same nice pictures or decorative elements for a creative mood.
Tip 2 – Working tools
Using high quality tools is just a must!
Invest your money and buy a very good pair of plier tools, a cutting tool, prong pusher, scissors, glue for jewelry making and more...
You’d rather purchase a good cutting tool than replacing the cheaper version every other week.
It's all about the safety of your hands and the finished look of your jewelry.
You can see Cup Chain's high quality jewelry making tools here
Tip 3 – Endless world of materials
Take the time and effort to collect a variety of different materials that can be used to create a rich looking jewelry pieces.
Choose different crystal, glass stones, wooden beads, leather cords, plastic flowers, different stone settings, metal chains. The sky is the limit when it comes to the materials that you can use for making the jewelry of your dreams.
Creating in a colorful and diverse environment is a playful experience and pure fun!
Tip 4 – What you see in front of you
Organize your different materials in transparent containers.
You can find small drawers, boxes, jars and other containers all made from transparent materials, so it will be much easier to see what’s inside each box and to be able to quickly find what you’re looking for.
This organizing tip will be the key to work faster!
Tip 5 - Creating comfortable jewelry
Assemble jewelry pieces that would be comfortable for everyone to wear every day!
Creating is a process of connecting elements together by using metal jump rings, glue, embedding stones, making knots and wrapping strings.
All of these doings has to be made carefully with attention to every detail in order to create the perfect piece of jewelry possible.
“So much comfortable to wear!” will be one of the best compliments you can get from any one wearing your jewelry.
Tip 6 – Looking for inspirations
Inspiration can come from many things, such as your surrounding nature, books or ideas,art, images & shapes that we see on television, internet or magazines.
Look at fashion trends, color schemes, or even other jewels you love.
Having same images, sketches of shapes and color combinations that you gathered from from different sources in front of you, can make your creating process much easier and flowing.
Take inspiration from what you see combine it with your taste and create new and beautiful jewelry!
In this next photo you can see our Inspiration was Thanksgiving.
To see the full Thankgiving inspiration tutorial click here
You can also get isnpired by Cup Chain's inspirations page which offers a lot of color combinations and diffrent styles.
Tip 7 – Basic jewelry sizes
Using a body scheme drawing with the different and basic lengths for chains and bracelets will help you in designing jewelry pieces that will fit the wearer.
Adding a few centimeters (5cm is fine) of an extension chain is the easiest way to give the person wearing it the option to make it bigger or smaller - whatever he likes.
Don't live the end of the extension chain untouched, hang a charm or a small crystal to finish of the jewel with style.
Tip 8 – Embedding crystals
Create a piece of jewelry that will be beautiful, and desirable will always be the main aspiration!
Using stones and crystals is the way to add that sparkle, eye catching color and glamour to your jewelry.
For a truly professional and well made finish use the right tools and glue for jewelry making.
The prong pusher tool is simply a great tool for safely embedding crystals into stone settings.
Working with toothpicks to apply small amounts of glue into the settings for small crystals to be embedded will result in a clean perfect look.
Tip 9 – Connect the element
The very basic thing when starting to combine metal elements is to learn how to properly open and close a metal jump rings.
Start by taking one plier tool in each hand and hold a jump ring with the open part on top and bend the metal in opposite ways. This is the right and easiest way to work with jump rings.
You can see Cup Chain's jewelry findings such as jump rings, chains, glue and many more here
Tip 10 – Cutting with the right tool
When cutting metal wires, foils or connectors, you’ll need to use a good and strong cutting tool.
Hold the metal part you want to cut in one hand, aim the inner part of the cutter towards the table so that any metal piece you cut doesn’t accidentally hit your eyes!
Making a hand-made beautiful jewelry is not that hard. However, this craft requires patience and neatness for getting the best results.
Once you prepare a good working environment and start creating for you and your loved ones, you’ll experience joy and be proud of the results.