A Beginner’s Guide to Making Your Own Jewelry
Did you know that early humans were wearing and trading handmade jewelry made from Nassarius snail shells in Morocco 80,000 years ago?
You can be one of the greats too by creating your own beautiful, timeless jewelry.
Don’t know where to start? That’s okay! You’ve found the perfect guide to begin making your own jewelry. You’ll learn about the right materials, tools, and inspiration to get you started.
Continue reading to get informed, inspired, and encouraged about making your own jewelry.
Plan a Workspace
Do you have a space in your home that isn’t being used? Try creating a crafting workspace for your jewelry making.
This might look like taking over the guest bedroom, the basement, or a corner of your living room. Clear a flat surface to work on, like a table or desk. Add a comfortable chair to the mix and you have a basic workspace to begin with.
When you begin gathering supplies and tools, you’ll need boxes and shelves to store them in. Take a trip to your local superstore or a crafting store and find cheap bins, boxes, and shelves to implement into your new workspace.
Organize these however you’d like; perhaps by color, item, or convenience. It’s your creative space now–find what motivates your creativity.
Pick Your Supplies
What is your favorite material to begin with? If you’re unsure, that’s okay.
One major key to finding what you like is going to a crafting store in person and physically seeing and touching materials, like beads and charms.
Find what catches your eye and inspires you to create something. Knowing how to make your own jewelry starts with experimentation and inspiration. If you have a favorite color, if you’re drawn to sparkles, or if you’re obsessed with cute charms, that is a starting point for successful jewelry making.
Find a material that intrigues you. Do glass or semi-precious beads mesmerize you? The Halcraft Collection compares the pros and cons of these beads in their blog.
Start building a collection catered just to you by picking up materials that make you happy.
Gather the Right Tools
When first starting out, you might find that using old wire cutters and pliers works for you.
However, when you get more and more invested in your crafting, you’ll need quality and specialty tools to keep up with you.
Some of these tools might include specialty crafting pliers, clasps, jewelry glue, jump rings, and sharp scissors. You might also find yourself wanting even more specific tools such as metal stamps to create your own charms.
Once you get an idea of what materials you find yourself frequently using, you’ll be able to gauge what jewelry-making supplies you need.
Find What Your Style Is
What type of jewelry interests you the most? Do you enjoy colorful beads strung together to make prism-like necklaces? Are you interested in working with leather and charms? Maybe even clay or glass is your style.
If you don’t know what your style is, experiment until you find it. While this can be fun and exciting, make sure you don’t jump in all at once.
Focus on one favorite style first and see where it takes you. Experimenting with too many options at the same time can be overwhelming and damaging for your creativity.
Learning several different techniques sporadically will benefit you in the long run since you’ll slowly but steadily gather experience in different areas. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get the hang of one style–return to it later. Start a new project and see if your inspiration rushes back.
It’s great to find multiple styles that you’re skilled in. This way if you’re leaning towards selling or gifting your DIY jewelry, you’ll have a range to choose from for each customer.
Look For Inspiration
If you’re struggling to find out how to make jewelry that you love, look for inspiration.
Walk through your favorite stores that sell jewelry and accessories. What do you see? Are there any pieces that catch your eye?
Perhaps there’s a colorful necklace or a pair of super unique earrings. If there are several pieces that inspire you, re-create them. Use different colors and materials to tweak the jewelry to your preferences.
Finding inspiration is easier than you think. If you don’t have the time to physically browse through a store, check online. There are thousands of places to find jewelry inspiration, including both online stores and crafting sites.
Once you find a style or piece of jewelry you enjoy, implement it into your own crafting.
You’ll find that you have a unique style yourself. Sometimes it just takes inspiration and a step in the right direction.
Learn Beneficial Skills
When creating your jewelry, you’ll need to know basic skills. These might include figuring out how to open and close a jump ring or how to attach a clasp to a necklace or bracelet.
Using the tools you have on hand, practice mastering the skills you’ll need to successfully make your own jewelry. You might need to watch how-to videos or read through multiple step-by-step instructions.
Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t getting the hang of these skills easily. It’s natural to need to practice in order to master and maintain a certain skill. When it comes to jewelry making, each skill you learn will be beneficial in the future.
You will never waste time when it comes to learning new skills!
Start Making Your Own Jewelry Today
Now that you have the knowledge and inspiration to begin making your own jewelry, you can start today. There is no limit to your imagination and your creativity.
Experiment until you find your groove and find something to look forward to in your crafting.
Whether it’s scouring for new inspirations, finding new materials, or mastering jewelry-making skills, you can work on something new every day. Soon you’ll find yourself making consistent progress.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to read more from our Fashion tab. Who knows, maybe there’s even more inspiration for you there.
