How To Make Your Own Wirework and Beaded Jewellery - 10 Tips
If you would like to make your own jewellery and accessories, getting to grips with some of the materials and techinques can be tricky. To help you to work with beads and wire to create your own masterpieces, Best10Tips has some great advice for those starting out from a professional beaded jewellery maker.
- Get some good jewellery making pliers with cushioned grips that are comfortable to hold and squeeze. Make sure that you have the right pliers for each stage of a jewellery making project. To crimp successfully (and without hurting your hand) you will need some special crimping pliers and you should invest in a sharp pair of jewellery wire cutters (don’t use the cutters on your pliers - they are always blunt).
- Be prepared to have “unpretty” hands. If you do a lot of wirework, you will eventually develop callusses where your pliers rest. You fingernails will always be broken and your hands will be covered in pricks and scratches .
- Know your wire - be prepared for it to snap. When you first start working with jewellery wire (which is usually quite fine, 0.6mm or smaller) you will overtwist the wire, causing it to snap - quite a lot. It takes time to get to know your wire and be able to tell when the next twist is a twist too far.
- Use glass beads, not plastic , for two reasons - 1. Glass beads look much nicer. 2. If you misthread the wrong bead and notice 20 beads later, you can always crack the rogue bead off with some heavy pliers (unless, of course, it is particularly expensive bead).
- Making your own jewellery takes up more space than you think. Although all the bits of this hobby are relatively small, all your beads, wire and tools can take up a surprising amount of space. It probably won’t all fit in one drawer!
- Develop quick reflexes. Wire can “ping” about unexpectedly so be ready to move your face out of the way to avoid getting your eyes scratched. You could wear safety goggles (until you realise it impossible to work with tiny beads with something over your eyes).
- Get some good storage for your beads and findings, preferably one with each compartment self contained, with it’s own lid, to avoid accidental jumbles.
- Buy a bead board. They only cost a few pounds and are worth every penny as they keep you beads and materials safe while you are working with them and allow you to lay out your beads in order before stringing them. A lot of bead boards come with a lid that allow you to travel with them. Most professional beaded jewellery makers use them.
- You can’t work properly with cold or clammy hands.
- Don’t get your beads out in a room with deep pile carpet - you will lose half of them and end up breaking your vacuum cleaner.
These Best10Tips were submitted by Pam from Pretty Things - Handmade Beaded Jewellery and Accessories.
