So You Want to Make Beaded Jewelry
What does the beginning jewelry maker need to get started? What should someone have in their tool kit? Should they begin with a pattern? What findings, etc. should they have on hand? Which books? Which of our online stuff? Which path should they explore--stringing? Seed bead embroidery? Clay work? Metal clay? How do they get their foot over the doorstep?
Take heart, raw newbie; we're here to walk you through your introduction to the wonderful world of beading!
That Initial Spark
A friend showed you a necklace she made--how did she do that? You saw a lovely set of earrings on our website and felt the spark of inspiration. You recently retired and are a looking for a new hobby, and maybe a way to make some extra money. Welcome to the world of jewelry-making! Feeling a tad overwhelmed? It's totally understandable. How do you get started making beaded jewelry? Here at Fire Mountain Gems and Beads, we like to tell our customers we can supply you with products, materials and know-how--it's up to you to add your talent, inspiration and passion.
Reality check: Of course, you can just go ahead, pick a Design Idea from our Gallery of Designs (or a project with instructions), buy the materials needed and have at it because you're an intuitive learner. And that's great. For many of us, though, we like to have someone show us the ropes (or thread, or chain or cord---sorry) and offer some guidance, tips and advice.
Setting a Goal
Before we get into which products to buy and what project to begin with, let's briefly talk about what you want to accomplish and set a simple goal. Think about your lifestyle, daily routine, responsibilities, commitments, other interests and how much time you would like to spend jewelry-making. Focus your initial efforts on a specific type of beading and jewelry-making, be it stringing, seed bead embroidery, clay work, metal clay or one of many others. You also need to consider what your output will be--how many jewelry designs you want to make in a week, month or year. Doing this will help you save time and money by focusing your efforts with a budget and a schedule.
Easy Starter Project
A simple necklace project is a good place to start learning basic jewelry-making techniques. With only three components, you'll achieve sure-fire success right from the get-go. Just choose a focal with a hole drilled near the top, an ice-pick bail and a chain. Line up the prongs inside the bail with the hole in the focal and pinch together. Slide the chain through the top loop of the bail, and voila! You have a new necklace in minutes.
If you are more of a visual learner, watch this video tutorial on how to attach the ice-pick bail.
All of our Jewelry-Making Projects in the Resource Center contain free full instructions and materials lists to make creating beautiful jewelry easy. Browse our Quick and Easy Projects. These are great for those just starting out on their jewelry-making journey.
Basic Starter Kit
Based on the above example project, a basic starter kit for beading would include:
- Beads - thousands to choose from
- Findings- metal components used to connect and/or assemble jewelry. Findings are essential materials used to thread through, glue on, hook into, link onto or otherwise attach beads and components together
- Stringing Material - wire, thread, cord, ribbon, etc.
- Components: focal, pendant, charms, etc.
- Tools: pliers
These products can be found under the Shop tab, which can be found near the top of every page on our website.
Reality check #2: if you are going to try out each of the projects mentioned (or similar ones you've selected), you'll need time to order the materials listed and give the project a try before we move on to the next section. You may want to just read through the article before trying out anything, just to see where it goes and how it ends.
How-To Videos
Let's take it up slightly in skill level with another project. Because many people like to have an expert talk them through the project, demonstrating each step, here is a…
Simple Project with How-To Video
A few more materials go into making these lovely snowflake earrings. You'll be using a couple of pliers to make a loop and open/close jump rings. This time, you can watch the project come together in a video that clearly shows each step.
Website Resources
For a more focused exploration of what you need to know, we have gathered a wealth of helpful information under the Resource Center tab.
Jewelry Medium
Earlier, we raised the question of what type of beading and jewelry-making you would be most interested in. You may want to start with Jewelry Media to explore the different jewelry-making techniques, such as Bead Stringing, Polymer Clay or Seed Beading. Selecting any of them (for example, Bead Stringing) takes you to a page that shows you How-To Videos, Design Inspirations, Resource and Articles, and our Ask the Experts Q-and-A.
Instructions
We offer many how-tos and tips that can help you with the finishing touches on your pieces. These are available for free in the ''Jewelry-Making Instructions'' section of our website. Most of the project instructions include Additional Resources at the bottom: how-tos such as ''Making a Simple Loop'' or ''Opening a Jump Ring''. Our Jewelry-Making Videos and Jewelry-Making Techniques explain many techniques from the basics to more advanced, ones such as ''How to Add Photographic Images to Apoxie® Sculpt Using Waterslide Image Transfers.''
Inspiration
This section offers you many ways to get inspiration--Gallery of Designs, Beading Contests, Trend Ideas and more--for trying more projects with increasing skill level or eventually creating a design of your own based on one you've seen here.
A Whole New World
Once you've decided what kind of jewelry you want to make, bought some starter materials and tools, and have completed a couple of simple projects, you're ready to begin further explorations in the wonderful world of beading and jewelry-making. We'll be here to help you. Enjoy the trip!
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