We have been attired with and making jewelry for thousands of years.  Some of the oldest jewelry to be found dated is from Africa and dates back to over 40,000 years ago. Since then jewelry has been a part of our society throughout time starting from this original date in Africa to the early Egyptians, the Romans and the Greeks up to our modern-day society.

We have been making jewelry to accent themselves from head to toe with things such as crowns, tiaras and ear rings all away down to toe rings and anklets and everything in between.  Literally from head to toe. 

Jewelry making has also been done with all kinds of materials. Everything from wood beads and the most expensive metals  all away to diamonds , silver and gold. These days much of the jewelry made for art purposes is hemp jewelry, wire jewelry and bead jewelry.

 Throughout time jewelry has served many forms and functions. Jewelry has used for numerous reasons including for currency such as wealth displays and storage, functional use such as clasps, pins and buckles, symbolism such as show membership or status, protection in the form of amulets and magical wards and for artistic display.  Even to this day jewelry is most of these same pruposes.

It is also fasinating that jewelry and jewelry making can be found in every place from the poorest, third world countries all the way to some of the wealthiest places on the planet such as Beverly Hills, the French Riviera, New York, and Morraco.

An entire small business has grown up around making jewelry. If you go to any craft show or any place else where artists congregate I’m sure you will see some form of jewelry on display that has been made by the proprietor.

There really is nothing that can be as rewarding as making your own jewelry or starting a small jewelry business on the side.  

The jewelry industry is ever changing and so to stay in step with it, it’s very important to continue providing fresh new ideas and pieces. It’s often a real challenge to come up with fresh ideas for your art jewelry on a regular basis. Sometimes, particularly if your current jewelry line is selling well, it makes sense to go out on a limb and add something to your line that’s completely new and refreshing. Fork jewelry for example.

When adding a new piece to an existing jewelry line, it makes sense to do that with a piece that doesn’t take too long to make. In doing that, you won’t have invested vast sums or large amounts of time before knowing the sales reaction to the added piece. This is a strategy that I’ve used many, many times with considerable success. Selling out of a new art jewelry piece can be both frustrating and thrilling at the same time. But this is also a prudent business strategy and the best kind of market information you can possibly get.

I just recently had the chance to review Maryann Cherubino’s DVD on Making Fork Jewelry and that’s part of what’s driven my thoughts on selling jewelry in this tough economy. If you’re going to succeed as an art jeweler, you need to think smart and focus on being cost effective. So, catching one of the latest trends in art jewelry, Ms. Cherubino is right on the money with her fork jewelry making DVD. Savvy to emerging market and fashion trends, Ms. Cherubino provides excellent training in her DVD on how to make both fork bracelets and necklaces.

Her instructions are so thorough that you could likely start making this jewelry immediately following the one hour DVD. She deftly takes you thru the simple steps of hammering, polishing, bending and grinding off rough edges. Then you add your choice of stone or centerpiece and bend the bracelet into shape. Amazing!

She then makes a second, slightly different bracelet, repeating the steps again. This all makes it tough to miss anything with the way she’s presented the instruction. The final segment of the video then shows you how to alter the entire process slightly to make a necklace/pendant instead of a bracelet. A real benefit for beginners here is that no heating or annealing of the fork is needed to make these gorgeous pieces.

It’s also hard to tell these stunning pieces of art jewelry are made from simple utensils. Not to mention that there’s considerable room for adding your own creativity. You’re able to bend the fork tines in any direction and way you choose for example. Use your own design preferences to surround and encase your center stone. Make the tines linear or sinewy. It’s easy to impose your own unique design sense onto this very appealing type of art jewelry.

Making fork jewelry isn’t only cost effective; it’s also rather quick and surprisingly easy to make. Hunting for and buying contemporary or antique forks allows you to be inspired by the all the gorgeous embellishments that are already done for you on the forks. Also, with the current high price of silver, finding inexpensive sterling forks is a real plus. Honestly, after having watched this video, I realized that you could conceivably make at least a few, if not several, of these pieces in an hour. It’s hard to find a jewelry technique that offers that kind of potential rapid production with a good retail price to boot.

If all this sounds appealing to you, Ms. Cherubino has a quicky video on her site that I encourage you to view to get some more detailed information about the process of making fork jewelry. The DVD, Making Fork Jewelry: How To Make Amazingly Unique Fork Bracelets and Necklaces is more than sufficient for even a beginner to start making these distinctive pieces immediately. Well done.

The most typical materials are handmade glass beads, gemstones, and other metal materials that come in several sizes, colors, and varieties.  They are the most beautiful materials which make up your jewelry.  However looks can be deceiving.  Beads are beautiful small pieces, but if you are not sensible enough to choose good quality beads, you might finish up with faded beads.  Gemstones and other metal materials, if carefully looked after, will last many lifetimes, but others don’t.  Sometimes top quality beads, gemstones, and other metal materials are far more expensive to buy, but it actually pays when you understand that they can last for a lifetime! 

But if you’re meaning to make fun and fashionable designs, you can go with the cheaper materials.  Finding out how to source the best wholesale jewelry is best done online thru places like eBay. 

As beads and other materials come in numerous sizes, picking the right size for your design is critical as well .  You do not need to select heavy beads to pull off the design shape of your necklace.  Heavy beads can cause tiara tips bending over in your jewelry.  Extremely light beads can look flimsy and will not go with your desired designed shape. 

Making a dramatic design statement often comes with plenty of large beads; in this case you can incorporate hollow metal beads, wood or other light weight materials, that may help you make the completed item from being too heavy to wear.  There are many light weight beads that look stunning, Bali silver beads are a nice example of this. 

The purpose of the beads is really essential if you’re designing a special bead effect for your jewelry.  Add a dramatic touch that may make a certain bead stick out.  Others use organic designs, composed of beads that blend together giving an overall gorgeous cohesive impression, so choosing beads that are similar in color tone and sizes are important things to do. 

After having completed a number of items, and doubtless planning on selling them, you can come up with this equation for your pricing: price of the beads + your time + overheads and other materials.  There are many places that you can sell your jewelry : craft shows, home parties and you can learn about setting up your online jewelry store by searching the internet for ideas.

The color and sparkle accent of polymer beads comes from Micas, which are colored pigments.  Kaolin clay makes the polymer see through which makes polymer clay a particularly various and easy-to-work-with material when making jewelry.  One great point about polymer clay is that it doesn’t require a high temperature when baking ; actually for better results you can use your own oven for baking the clay.  Another thing that makes polymer clay more convenient to use is the fact that you do not need as many tools to enhance the creativity of your jewelry.  Most designers employ a pasta roller machine to flatten the clay and acclimatize it to be used.  This type of clay can be easily rolled and formed into whatever look you desire. 

Workmen have different brands of polymer clay to choose between too.  Two of the most popular are Fimo and Sculpy.  These types of polymer clay are available in major craft stores.  They come in numerous colors, from fluorescent and day glow colors to shades of metallic like gold and silver.  Metallic colors of polymer clay can be easily formed and used as a replacement for metal itself.  Another great place to find supplies is online, although you must watch out when attempting to find reputable dealers.  There are thousands of sites that offer jewelry material for sale.  Finding How to Source the Best Wholesale Jewelry supplies isn’t that troublesome if you look on eBay.  All suppliers have a feedback rating and so it is better to find ones that have a good history with no problems just by taking a look at their feedback from past purchasers. 

If you would like to come up with attractive and colorful jewelry at less cost, polymer clay is perfect for you.  Whether you purchase ready-made or create jewelry items yourself, this clay will make a contribution to you having the ability to make beautiful handcrafted jewelry pieces at the fraction of the cost of using other materials.  After practicing more and understanding the usages of polymer clay, you may then explore the various varieties and brands.  Try to experiment!  Let your talent shine with this medium and create beautiful Polymer Clay Jewelry designs.

There are always occassions that we would enjoy giving gifts for.If you are on a tight budget, what can you give?   Well, you can make them a gift!

A simple thing you can create is jewelry.  It lasts longer than homemade cookies and perhaps even costs less.Two easy kinds of jewelry to create are memory wire bracelets and beaded earrings.Due to needing less beads, earrings are generally less expensive to make.If you shop well, acrylic beads for making bracelets can be quite affordable.  And of course, you can always make a matching set! So lets go over how to make jewelry!

Getting Started

First you need to get supplies.Craft stores like ArtBeads, Micheals, and Joanns should carry everything you need.Both projects need wirecutters, round nose pliers, and beads.  For earrings you will also want earwires, headpins and tweezers; for bracelets, you need memory wire.  Many people will make both and then mix and match as appropriate.

Realize that nicer beads creates better looking jewelry.  Sometimes you can get freshwater pearls rather inexpensively that makes wonderful jewelry.

Making The Jewelry

Both types of jewelry need loops to be created.  These are easily created using you round nose pliers.Wirecutters make trimming off extra wire a snap.

For earrings:  add beads to each headpin, close off headpin with a loop and attach the loop to the earwires' loop.

For bracelets: start by making a loop at the end of the wire. Add your beads to the wire to your desired length. Close off the memory wire with a loop when you are finished.

Nice Touches

Putting the earrings on cardboard or a blank business card makes them look more professional.Storing the jewelry in a baggie tends to help make certain that the jewelry stays in new condition for giving.  If you have extra jewelry boxes around, these help even more.

Have a great time giving such lovely presents!