Jewelry making...

Away from the shadows of hobby crafts, designing and making beaded jewelry is steadily emerging as a profession. Today, there are a number of schools teaching Jewelry making and Designing as one of the special subject options. There are also a number of e-learning courses available. These courses offer information and instructions related to the field and can be easily accessed by those interested in making beaded jewelry.

Supply for Jewelry Making: The supplies for jewelry making include the different components used to make the jewelry and the tools you require. The large-scale production of jewelry requires a wholesale supply of beads and wire. However, there are craft stores that cater to the needs of amateur jewelry designers. Along with the local suppliers, there are online stores that supply the material needed for jewelry making. They offer a variety of beads, crystals, tools and wire for jewelry making, all at very reasonable prices.

Beads for Jewelry Making: There are a number of different beads available in the market for jewelry making. The beads come in all shapes and sizes and are priced differently. Though a number of inexpensive materials are readily available, precious gemstones like pearls or rubies and costly metals like gold and silver are preferred for beaded dress accessories. Among the different types of beads used for jewelry making, are glass beads, crystal beads, coral beads, clay beads, ethnic beads, designer beads, metal beads and wooden beads. For bead stringing, nylon threads, cords, plastic string, twine and metal beading wires are generally used.

Jewelry Making Kit: It is important to consider and carefully choose the preferred tools and the various components required to make and design jewelry. The equipment includes round-nosed pliers, flat-nosed pliers, wire cutters, scissors, glue bottle, glue gun, magnetic clasps to keep the beads in place, glass saws to cut intricate designs and jump rings. There are even gadgets like the bead stopper and special shears used by jewelry makers.

A number of jewelry making kits are easily available in the market for amateurs. For instance, if you want to design a necklace, the kit is available for . The supplies included in the kit are shell beads, a gold-plated chain, Vermeil ‘S’ Clasp, logo tag and jump ring and gold-plated wire of good quality. The kit does not include the required tools. However, the jewelry making kit includes step-by-step instructions that illustrate and explain the wire wrapping technique.

Wire for Jewelry Making: Wire is a very useful material for jewelry making. The wire can be used by itself to create earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. It can be used with beads or stones to create beautiful jewelry designs. Wire is used to create components like the jump rings and clasps. The wire pieces can be soldered together to make cuff bracelets and pendants. There are many earrings and bracelets made by simply bending wires. The choice of wire depends on personal preference for most jewelry makers and also the type of jewelry they make.

There are various kinds of wires available for jewelry making, like copper wire, galvanized wire, sterling silver wire, fine silver wire, gold-plated wire, gold wire and colored wire. The wire hardness- dead soft, half-hard, full hard, the wire shape and wire size determines whether a particular type can be used to make specific jewelry.