I recently participated in a steampunk charm swap on Craftster.org. I received six great charms, but there was one problem: I don’t wear bracelets. I sat down yesterday to make the charms into necklaces so I could wear them, and a funny thing happened. Instead of just hooking the charms to a chain and calling it good, I started to play. An hour later, and a new necklace emerged. Then another, then another. I spent the whole evening playing and making necklaces, and let me tell you: it was so much fun to craft just for fun (and not for deadlines, as much as I love you guys!)
The good news is, I used dollar store stuff to make some of these, so I can share them with you! Sometimes you can find jewelry-making supplies at your dollar store. I found all these green and purple beads and the silvery chain and jump rings at the dollar store. I had the brown wire and other assorted beads in my stash, and the centerpiece on this necklace (the part with the gears and the mini scrabble tile) was one of the swapped charms.
Project Materials:
- Old jewelry, on hand
- Wire, light or medium gauge, on hand or $1 and up
- Craft glue or E6000, on hand
- Assorted beads, chain, etc., on hand or $1 and up
- Wire cutters, on hand or $1
- Needle-nosed pliers, on hand or $1
- Optional: other jewelry-making tools like round-nose pliers, soft-nose pliers, etc., on hand or $1 and up
Total: FREE and up
You might already have these tools and supplies on hand. If you are a jewelry-making newbie, you will want to buy a few things: wire cutters and needle-nosed pliers (both can be found at the dollar store in the floral, craft, or hardware departments), jump rings, clasps, chain, and floral wire should get you started. You should be able to get this stuff for around $10-20 (depends on what your dollar store has).
So, you don’t have to participate in a swap to remake old jewelry. Do you have any old jewelry lying around that you haven’t worn in awhile? Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, whatever. You can even use buttons or other bits that aren’t strictly jewelry. I often use broken jewelry parts in my projects. Use your trusty craft glue (or my favorite, E6000) to glue pieces together to make a charm (like the steampunk one here), or wire everything together (like the necklace at the top).
See Page 2 for how-to and tips –>
8 Comments
Laura @ PARING DOWN
Steampunk – I had to look that up. My hip factor runs up and down like hills.
Cute necklace!
:) Laura
Mich L.
Ooh how cool! Those look ridiculously rich and layered. I esp. love the ones with wire-wrapped wings, how it adds a romantic twist to the steampunk. If I could bear to alter my li’l pocket watch that you sent me, I’d do that to it…but I love it too much as-is. Thanks again – and thanks for the look at these pretties, with so many good tips!
Lydia
Wow, that necklace at the top has such stunning colors. I’m about ready to dig through my shop listings and revamp some of my “yawn” pieces. Great tips here!
jenjen
I love that! Such a cool idea and so unique!
XOXO
Jen
BrendaLea
Live the necklace and the way it turned out. It’s fabulous!!!!
Claire
What a pretty necklace! I like the charm, too, but what a good idea to put it into the necklace.
Jollie
Great ideas, I love them all! Thanks for sharing, I will share it on my facebook too! :-)
Madison
I have to say.. for an oddity that it is.. I WANT IT! It’s so cute!