Creative Ways to Save Money on Jewelry Making

Do you make your own jewelry? When I was a little girl I loved to put beads on the tips of feathers I found. My mother would then put ear wires on them to make earrings. I was way too young to wear them though, and heaven only knows what she did with them. I am not sure if I even had pierced ears at the time.

Later, as an adolescent, I made a few things by stringing seed beads (I actually still have one or two of those items around someplace). As an adult, I started making jewelry again, but found myself working with very little budget most of the time, which meant a limited supply of tools and supplies.

I started collecting costume jewelry and beaded necklaces from people clearing out their clutter, as well as salvaging findings and beads from thrift stores. Repurposing old items is a great way for crafters on a budget to get material for new projects, and it saves stuff that isn't biodegradable from ending up in landfills.

Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to create an article for Helium on how to save on Jewelry Making supplies back in June of 2010.

Simple Ways to Save on Jewelry Making Supplies

Jewelry making is a pastime that can quickly lead to an obsession.  Even with simple beaded jewelry there are so many possibilities and so many beautiful things you can create that once you start with the craft you will want to buy everything you see in order to make jewelry from it.

Buying jewelry making supplies can add up, especially when it comes to tools, semiprecious stones, gems and precious metals.  The hobbyist could easily spend a fortune on all manner of items they may never even use.  Below are five simple ideas for saving money on jewelry-making supplies.

Be Selective

It’s really hard to resist the wealth of beautiful beads and stones you find in stores and at gem shows but you have to ask yourself are you buying an item for its appeal or because you are definitely going to make something with it.  Also, if your jewelry making activities are for selling you have to ask yourself if the item is something that is going to be cost effective for you.

If you buy a large amber bead, will you be able to slice it down into smaller discs and make multiple things from it?  If you buy a lovely jasper pendant will you create a special necklace or present it on a simple chain or chording?  When looking at items you have to ask yourself if you have the necessary tools and equipment today to turn the items into finished jewelry pieces.

A strand of jasper beads that are each between a half inch to an inch will go a lot further than a pendant when you are making jewelry to sell at craft shows and you can keep two or three beads from the strand to make something special for yourself.

Clearance Sales and Coupons

Many craft stores and even bog box stores like Walmart have lovely items for jewelry making that they occasionally put on clearance at great prices.  Some of the major craft retailers such as Michael’s, Joann and Hobby Lobby also offer coupon specials of forty or fifty percent off of one item and sometimes will offer a percentage off an entire purchase. 

Shopping online and subscribing to newsletters from craft and jewelry making supply retailers is not only a way to save, it is often a way to access more variety and retailers will keep you informed of new products and special offers.

Discount Stores

One might not think of places like Big Lots or Dollar Tree when thinking of jewelry making supplies but on occasion each of these stores carries beads, tools and other findings suitable for at least creating attractive beaded necklaces, bracelets and especially earrings and with prices often being a dollar or less, hobbyists can stock up and not break the bank.

These stores are also a good source of fiber supplies such as yarns and ribbons which can also be used to make jewelry.  Not all locations of the same retailer carry the exact same selection of merchandise so be sure to check around at different stores.

Thrift Stores and Yard Sales

Shopping at thrift stores is a great way to locate interesting beads and findings for making jewelry.  If you visit often and in different parts of town, or when traveling to other cities, you can find a treasure trove of lovely, unique and unusual items waiting to be reinvented and given new life at a fraction of what it would cost for new items at the craft store or gem show.

Yard and garage sales are another great way to find items that can be reworked into attractive pieces of jewelry at very little cost.  Quite often the person holding the sale just wants to get rid of their clutter and will sell old jewelry in bags or boxes for just a few dollars.

For hobbyist jewelers, buying jewelry making supplies at the thrift store is ideal because the investment is never more than a few dollars per piece so you can experiment without having to worry about cost.

Reuse/Recycle

Sometimes there are great jewelry making supplies right in your own home.  Many people have boxes or even drawers full of old costume jewelry and trendy items that are no longer in fashion that could easily be taken loose and used to create new jewelry pieces.

Friends and family members are a great source for reusable items as well and when you let them know they should talk to you before getting rid of anything you will find yourself showered with all manner of materials on a regular basis, especially if you agree to make something for the person giving you all of their old stuff.

No matter what kind of jewelry you are making, there are always deals to be had on supplies if you take the time to hunt them out.  Being selective and keeping supplies organized so that you know what you have will help insure that you get the most out of what you have regardless of the cost.

How To Upcycle Old Magazines Into New Jewelry

I love making paper beads. I love it so much I could stay up all night creating them. Whenever I teach jewelry making classes with children I almost always spend a couple days making rolled paper beads, and then of course, I become obsessed with making them myself. It's amazing to see what pretty things one can create from such a simple material.

The craft itself is ancient and still practiced in Africa today. The beads are also very easy to make which means they are a kid friendly craft and provide almost instant gratification. I'm planning to create some kind of wired paper bead installation in the not too distant future when I get a little extra time that's not already dedicated to five million other things. It could happen. Really.

In the ongoing move to migrate Helium craft articles to my blog I'm taking a break from sewing to highlight how to make jewelry by upcycling magazine pages. The article used to contain hyperlinks for more information, but the links have become obsolete so I've removed them.

How To Make Jewelry From Old Magazines

Magazine pages are glossy and colorful and ideal for making jewelry.  The pages can be recycled to create beads, brooches, pins and earrings using a variety of very simple techniques and few additional materials.

Beads

Rolled paper beads have been made since ancient Egypt and they are so simple you can create dozens of them within a matter of hours.  Kids enjoy making them as well and when you learn how to choose the right pages you can create an array of beautiful beads even the pickiest person would be proud to own and wear.

To make beads from magazine pages simply cut across either the width or length of the page in such a way that you end up with long triangular strips of paper that are about an inch across the width at the bottom and taper down into a point at the top.

You may want to use a ruler in the beginning or even create a triangle template from leftover cardboard to make forming uniform triangles easier.  You will need two triangles for every pair of earrings you plan to make and a dozen or more for a necklace depending on your desired finished length.

Lay the triangle on your work surface with the most colorful side down and carefully roll up the widest edge around a toothpick just enough so that the paper touches itself and add a dab of glue as you continue rolling and adding small dabs of glue.  

Carefully remove the beads from the toothpicks by sliding them off and sit them aside to dry.  If you are making magazine page beads with very young children they can roll the magazine triangles around plastic drinking straws.  After the beads are dry they can be cut apart for stringing.

Brooches

Magazine pages can be used pretty much in the same way that other papers can for crafting and the same techniques such as origami, iris folding and tea folding used in paper crafts can be used to create jewelry.

To make a simple brooch with a recycled magazine page you will need a small square or rectangle of card stock at least two by two inches, a magazine page, tape, a craft knife (or scissors) and a shape template.  Use the shape template to cut a shape from the center of the cardstock.  (It will look like you have created a new stencil.)

Iris folding involves laying folded strips of paper over an opening to create rows of overlapping folds that fan out slightly at one end.  It’s a little like looking at a camera aperture when it’s closed. 

To Create an iris fold miniature for use in making a brooch, start by cutting a colorful magazine page into one half inch wide strips.  Fold a strip in half length-wise and lay it over the shape cut out on the back of your cardstock template.  You want to lay it down at a slight angle (maybe 25 degrees?) taking care that the edge of the paper does not show in the opening if you turn it over. 

Secure the strip in place with a tiny piece of tape and flip it over just to be sure you have the angle correct.  It is important that the folded edge be the side that shows in the opening and that the open edges are hidden beneath each previous strip when flipped over.  (See the photo at the link above).

Keep adding folded strips of magazine page until the opening is covered.  You may find that as you go along your angles will change slightly as you add new strips and that you may start your angle slightly lower than the position of the previous strip.  When the opening is almost completely covered you will notice a small hole.  Simply take a flat scrap from your magazine page and cover this hole from the back.

Cover the completed iris back with a corresponding size of cardstock, cardboard, foam core or a scrap of matt board and glue on a pin back to complete the brooch.

Bracelets

There are few different ways to use paper to create bracelets, but one quick, easy and fun way to create a bracelet from a recycled magazine page only requires the ability to accordion fold.  If you’ve ever made a folded paper fan, you have the ability to fold an origami bracelet.

You will need a colorful page from a magazine trimmed on the longest side so that is perfectly square.  (i.e. if the page is 10 ½” by 8”, trim the 10.5 side to 8”).  Fold the square in half across the middle on the diagonal making sure to smooth the fold down completely to get a good crease.

Now you will have a triangle shape.  Take the top point of the triangle and fold it down to the middle of the previous fold making sure to have both layers of paper.  You should have a long almost rectangular shape with slanted ends.  Fold the edge of that shape over to meet the previous fold and repeat this step once more.

Now unfold the paper completely.  Starting at the middle of the square, fold the paper down along the first fold line from the center crease.  Now accordion fold back and forth until you get to the last crease.  At this point the tip of the “triangle” should be pointed inward.  Rotate the paper and do the same thing to the other side of the square only this time you will have to invert the fold from a peak fold to a valley fold. 

What you will see when you’re done is a series of alternating triangles as a result of the folding.  Take the entire folded piece and turn it over.  Carefully slide the tip of one end inside the space just past the tip of the other end where the folds begin.  Secure in place with tape and your recycled magazine page bracelet is complete.  (This project was learned from the book “Friendship Origami” by Jill Smolinski)

Decoupage

For Jewelry projects with kids decoupage can be use to reinvent existing wood or plastic beads or to turn a cardboard tube into a bracelet. It is quick and easy and cheap and only requires magazine pages, glue (such as mod podge), and a small (cheap) paint brush.  If you are covering beads you may want to insert toothpicks into foam to allow the beads to dry.  Just check them periodically to make sure they are not sticking to the foam.

To make a decoupage bracelet from tp or paper towel tubes, cut a tube into rings and then make a cut in one ring from top to bottom so it can go on and off the arm.  Alternatively, you may want to cut a tube open in a straight line from one edge to the other and then cut it into slices to make a bracelet.

Cover the tube with bits of cut or torn paper (glued on) just as you would decoupage any other surface.  Allow it to cure and coat entire surface with another layer of glue or varnish.  Your bracelet can be further embellished by adding trims such as nylon cord along the edge or dimensional paint or whatever you choose.

There are so many great options for making jewelry from old magazines.  All it takes is a little time, a few supplies and your own imagination.

The article was originally published in 2010.  I'm surprised I didn't reference The Paper Jewelry Book, by Jessica Wrobel. Maybe it's because I ordered it Pre-Katrina and the majority of my books were in storage at the time. At any rate, it's definitely worth checking out.

All Wired Up

When I was a kid, (about 6 1/2) we used to make jewelry from telephone wire. One of my favorite things to do was to make bracelets from coiling a piece of wire around itself. It was quick and easy and a lot of fun to do. I still have one or two of them tucked away in a box somewhere. The only problem was that it was not that easy to score telephone wire.

The only way to get some, was to beg it off one of the guys you saw on the street working if you happened to catch them on their way up or down a telephone pole. I can only hope no one ever got into trouble for giving away wire to little kids.

Recently, I discovered Twisteez wire. I was going to have a booth soon at a small neighborhood celebration so I decided to make some bracelets and see how people would receive them. I wrapped a piece of wire around my wrist to get he size, bent it and started coiling. Unfortunately I ran out of wire before the coil was complete. So much for that idea. I tried using multiple pieces but that was a disaster.

Today I got the bright idea to finally visit the Twisteez web site. There are a few lessons for cool projects, including a coiled basket. Theirs is thicker and combines wire; maybe I'll give it another shot with their version and see what I come up with. I saw some beautiful African bracelets online recently from telephone wire, but they were a little out of my league.

I'd made a coiled wire disk a while back trying to figure out how to make a basket like the ones from South Africa, but I couldn't figure out how to build the curve and now I can't even remember how I got the coil started in the first place.

A little while after my failure to launch with the bracelet inspiration struck and I decided to close my initial coil into a teardrop shape and create an earring. This time my effort met with success and I set about coiling more wire and creating more earrings in different colors.

The little celebration where I had my booth got rained on and sales were pretty poor for the day. I did get good response to the earrings though, and I even sold two pair. (There are more available online at my new Etsy store!)
The same day I made the coiled wire earrings I began digging through my container of leftover polymer clay beads. I had a bunch of pretty ones that I had never used so I dug out the head pins and started to play. Polymer clay is such an interesting material to work with and creating unique beads is so easy to do. Making earrings only requires a couple beads, unlike a necklace. When I have time to make more filler beads I'll so some more bracelets and necklaces, hopefully before Christmas.

I have been itching to start crocheting even though it's still a little early and I couldn't resist experimenting with yarn anymore so I played around with combining two variegated yarns in a scarf and hat set. I can't decide how I feel about them, but it always seems that when you make something you think has turned out strange, someone else falls head over heels in love with it.

Next I started on a shawl that I like during the day but not at night. The reason of course it that it looks better in natural light. During the day the purples and greens look like a garden of violets but at night it's a whole other murky, mossy story. At any rate, it's all about the journey. I had hoped to post more photos with this post, but the camera died (after only one year!) and my phone is not cooperating. Until next time...