Personalized Jewelry

Personalized for the Family

A Sense of Place

Location jewelry lets consumers express pride in where they're from, where they're going and where they are now. Pendants, earrings, finger rings and belt buckles are all perfect for personalization.

Use zip codes, state names or outlines, longitude and latitude, area codes and national and state flags. These can be created as interchangeable charms, large pendants, stampable drops, wire-worked names and a lot more.

Morse code bracelets and other jewelry is a growing trend that sends a clear message of style. It doesn't take much to decipher why Morse code jewelry is popular and why you will enjoy creating bracelets, necklaces and pendants with a word or phrase.

Making Morse Code Jewelry

Pick Your Message

Morse code jewelry messages can be literally anything you can think of. If it can be spelled, you can make it a jewelry design.Popular Morse Code Jewelry Phrases

• Familial titles
  • "Sister" or "Brother"
  • "Daughter" or "Son"
  • "Mama" or "Mother" (We've seen mother and daughter matching sets)
  • "Dad" or "Father" (We've seen father and son matching sets)
  • "Grandma"
  • "Godmother"
  • "Aunt" or "Auntie"
  • "Big Sis" and "Little Sis" matching sets
  • "Twin"
  • "Family"
  • Names of children
    • Each name on a headpin dangling as part of a pendant
    • Multi-strand bracelets or necklaces with each strand center as a child's name
    • Seen with bead dangles as an added personal touch
    • Or, use birthstone colors for bead colors to create the names themselves (which is an idea that can be applied to many other Morse code messages as well)
• Friendship
  • "Friends"
  • "Best Friend"
  • "Soul Sister"
  • "Bestie"
  • "My BFF" or just "BFF"
• Weddings
  • "Bridesmaid"
  • "Maid of Honor"
  • "Mrs." and "Mr." sets

Pick Your Beads and Thread

Now that you know what word, words or phrase you want to use, use the International Morse Code chart to figure out the number of dots and dashes you'll need (and in what order). This will give you an idea of how long the design will be and whether you want to make earrings, a bracelet or necklace. Next, choose which beads you'd like to use. Seed beads and bugle beads work especially well for Morse code jewelry since the seed beads work as dots and bugle beads work as dashes. Of course, any small beads such as micro beads and liquid silver or tiny gemstones, Crystal Passions® crystals, etc. will work fantastically. Feel free to include small additions such as charms or birthstone bead dangles.

For stringing material, choose a strong thread, flexible beading wire (such as Accu-Flex®), thin cording such as hemp or even very thin chain. Creating links from eye pins and using chain for the rest of the bracelet or necklace is another option. Leave the stringing material as is to show the color and texture, or thread on a single color of beads to cover the thread and really bring out the colors of the beads used as letters. Braided strands have also been seen to give the bracelet a bit of thickness.

For earrings, beading hoops are a fantastic foundation. Just open, slide on your beads, secure the wire and attach to an earring finding. 

Another option is to thread your beads onto stringing material and knot or crimp it into a circle. Just be sure to leave a loop at the top to attach to your chosen finding. 

You can leave either style like that or add a corresponding charm or drop to hang inside your hoop.

Blame Napoleon.

His empress, Josephine, wanted a unique way to celebrate their courtship and marriage. To that end, her jeweler--the famous Jean-Baptiste Mellerio--created a set of bracelets that spelled out each of their names and the dates of their courtship and marriage. Each letter was spelled using a gemstone ("A" by Amethyst, etc.).

Over the course of the long war against Napoleon's forces, the idea of spelling messages using gemstones crossed the English Channel into London, spreading up and down the British Isles from the Regency period up through the Victorian Age.

In our modern times of public everything, the idea of secret messages in our jewelry is an enticing idea. Acrostic jewelry is making a comeback, with personalizable pieces available from well-known fashion outlets and design houses such as Lulu Frost, Jessica McCormack and Chaumet.

So ... we can blame Napoleon. It'll be our little secret.

The Alphabet of Gemstones

When the French of Napoleon's time spelled out French words in gemstones, they used the French names of the stones as the basis of their words. With the transition to England, there was a shift to using English names of gemstones. These names did not always line up--a complication even more potent today, as old gemstones shed their inaccurate trade names and receive new, more scientifically accurate, labels.

Even then, there are gaps in the standard English alphabet: finding gemstones that start with W, X and Y is difficult (although, "wood" will do for "W" in a pinch). Oddly, Q and U are covered--thank goodness for quartz and Unakite!

Here's our alphabet of gemstones, each usually available on the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads website.

Gemstone Alphabet

Gemstone Options (most common first, alternatives after)

N/A

N/A

There are many forms acrostic jewelry can take: a single piece of jewelry, a pair of earrings, stackable rings or bracelets, necklaces of long messages--and more! Here are different categories of setting types and what length of message each can carry:

Prong and Tension (Wrap) Settings for Faceted Gems, Chatons, Rhinestones and Cabochons

The simplest place to start is with what are commonly called "mother's rings." These multi-stone ring settings can carry traditional messages of AMOR (Amethyst, Moonstone, Opal, Ruby), ADORE (Amethyst, Diamond, Opal, Ruby, Emerald), REGARD (Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Ruby, Diamond) and DEAREST (Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Turquoise)--as well as names and other words! Try our selection of natural, enhanced and synthetic faceted stones for a great starter alphabet!

Longer messages can be conveyed with necklace settings, with the settings not used for meaningful letters filled with a neutral stone (like black onyx or mountain "jade"). How about a necklace featuring a center spelling Bloodstone, Emerald, Turquoise, Hemalyke--then 1 spacer stone--then Amethyst, Nephrite, Diamond--then 1 spacer stone--then Moonstone, Amethyst, Ruby, Citrine; and filling out the rest of the necklace with white mountain "jade" stones? What a great piece of jewelry for BETH AND MARC on their wedding!

• What you want to say just won't fit? Assemble your own!
  • Create a necklace or bracelet connected by jumprings or split rings using rhinestone cups, Wrap-Tite® settings, bezel link settings, JBB Findings bendable bezel settings or link settings with prongs
    
  • Hanging on cord or chain using Snap-Tite®, Sure-Set™ or other prong settings, Wrap-Tite® settings, fold-back prong settings, JBB Findings bendable bezel settings or Bezelite drops
    
  • Strung on stretch cord or flat memory wire using Beadalon® bezel cups or Bezelites
    
  • Slide onto flat leather cord using Almost Instant Jewelry® mountings

Cabochon and Other Flat Backs (glue on, stone set, dangles/briolettes/drops)

Want different stones than what you've got available as faceted gems and cabochons? Glue-on settings let you use not only calibrated stones, but also freeform flat back components of all shapes.

Dangles

Not really a glue-in kind of jewelry maker? Add gemstone bead drops and briolettes to any ready-to-use multi-loop findings to convey messages like JENN (Jet, Emerald, Nephrite, Nephrite), heart drop, SARA (Sapphire, Amethyst, Ruby, Amethyst)--or ask a question like WED (Wood, Emerald, Diamond) ME (Moonstone, Emerald).

Dione® Add A Bead System

You know what makes acrostic jewelry ultra-simple? Yeah, Dione--just open the end, slide on the bead, close the end. You can easily change messages throughout the day: HUSH (Hemalyke, Unakite, Sodalite, Hemalyke) in the morning before your coffee, SHARP (Sodalite, Hemalyke, Agate, Rhodonite, Pearl) after you get some, and PUB (Pearl, Unakite, Bone) in the afternoon for your destination when you leave work. (You'll never have to worry about that weird guy from the office crashing your girls' night out, again.)

Bead Stringing (stretch and otherwise)

Of course, one of the easiest ways to make acrostic jewelry is simply to string gemstone beads and pearls! You can let the letters run together to conceal the meaning, or separate the words with metal beads, chainmaille clusters, lengths of chain and more. Gemstone beads offer the largest alphabet, too, with letters not available in other jewelry-making components (such as vesuvianite for spelling "LOVE").

• Use Accu-Flex® professional-quality beading for durability
• String on Powercord® stretch beading floss for "power bracelet" styles
• Create knotted strands using silk beading thread for high-end style

Being able to keep private meanings private--when everything seems to be out in public--is an enchanting idea whose time has come again. Acrostic jewelry lets you spell out love, flirt with secrecy, whisper your special day to the world--no one will ever know except you and those you let into the secret.

First used during the 15th century and made popular by the Victorians, commemorative jewelry has reappeared as a method of creating truly unique and one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Commemorative jewelry--also known as "friendship jewelry," "mourning jewelry" and "hairwork"--uses images or hair of loved ones to create mementos of family, personal achievement, affection and remembrance.

Memory and Celebration

Recreate This Style

Hair-weaving techniques are easier than ever with the prevalence of kumihimo cord-braiding supplies and techniques, as well as French knitting and standard braiding. You can find tutorials for preparing the hair on the internet or in books on loan from libraries. Hair braiding and weaving styles work best for longer hair, of course, although short locks can be woven into plaid-like patterns.

Then there are a few techniques and supplies the Victorians didn't have that modern artists do:

Commemorative Jewelry Design Ideas

• Baby's First Haircut: Baby picture with lock of hair necklace
• Engagement: Smiling couple pendant
• Wedding: Woven hair pendant
• Military: Soldier's image under glass cabochon, soldered foil bezel
• Family History: Earring with vintage photo transfer
• In Memoriam: Double-sided glass cab pendant necklace with man's picture on front and hair on back, sliding knot closure on satin cord

Images

These days, a photograph of our loved one is the most common memorial token. With a single image, we remember the way our loved ones were.

• Lockets
• Lockets are the original memorial jewelry. Use it to hold one to two images or as a little container to store a token: a folded note, a pebble from a walkway, a tiny seashell.
• Watch bodies can be used the same way as lockets--just with a little more room.
• Photo transfer
• Omni-Gel™ is a liquid transfer agent that can shift a version of a printed image to glass, metal, fabric, leather or canvas. Seal the image onto the surface and use the component however you like.
• ''Tinning Copper Foil''
• This "stained glass" technique adds a metal rim to the edges of flat glass pieces. Place the image between two panes, edge them with copper foil and solder. (You can add a bail or jumpring this way, too.) Just keep the image slightly smaller than the glass or you'll set your image on fire.
• Sealed under
• A number of clear mediums can be used to create a laminated look for pictures:
  Kato Polyclay clear medium liquid, Vitrium® clear protectant sealant, Mod Podge®, resin, EnviroTex® Jewelry Resin and a few more. Some are placed under mica sheets for a vintage look.

Fingerprints

No two fingerprints are the same--even identical twins have differences! What could be more personal? Some funeral homes will let you request a few fingerprints. They won't give you a full set, but you can ask for a few crisp, well-defined prints. (Just let them know what they're for--it may be an added fee.) If your loved one is passing after a long illness, you can get impressions while they are still at the hospital or in their home.

If you are creating memorial jewelry for a furry or feathery loved one, then getting a nose or paw impression is even easier!

• Get a mold of a thumbprint, paw print or doggie nose using molding compounds. These how-tos will help you choose the one that works for your project:
• Molding Compound and silicone molds are all good ways to make molds.
• Take a print
• Get an inkpad for stamping from your local craft store. (They're also available in most general merchandise stores that have a crafts section--such as Fred Meyer, Target, Walmart, etc.) Take a fingerprint, paw print or nose print yourself. For small children, it may be more convenient to create a full hand or foot stamp. Mica sheets can be easily stamped with ink, so don't forget about this option.
• You can press clays, cast resins, create prints ... whatever is needed to make memorial tokens. Treat them as images, too, and use whatever medium works best for you when preserving an image.

Loss--and the grief that goes with it--is part of being human. Whoever and wherever we love, we will also miss the beings and places we love when they are gone. Memorial jewelry helps us remember them and helps us feel close to them, even though they are gone from the world.