Fine Craft Guild .com » Jewelry

PS I Made This

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0000

great title, great book.

Part designer DIY
Part fashion
Part lifestyle inspiration guide.

I counted 27 projects in this book. All are practical and with easy (obvious) to follow instructions.

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 1

How to Make a Fancy Ruffle Shirt

(Upcycling a plain boring white t-shirt)

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 2

Get real: How about a feather skirt? I love this one. Fancy the fun of making this, let alone wearing this. My entire village here would talk about it. Ha ha… Love it.

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 3

A glamorous top with glued-on glitter… Mmm..: this is more for me…

Get Inspired

Not only does the writer Erica Domesek give us great projects to do ourselves, with step-by-step instructions; she also shares where she gets her inspiration from, encouraging us to cross-pollinate ideas and be creative ourselves.

As styles are diverse, surely not all 27 will be according to your taste. However, they don’t need to be. If you are an avid reader of my blog, this book will be a teaser for you to apply your own creativity.

You’ll pick up some techniques, which you can take further and you restyle, refashion or reuse things to represent you, using the book as your initial starting point and how-to guide.

E.g. If you don’t like those bouncy balls in that tied pantyhose necklace, well, use something else instead. You could use some left over foam balls, or even some IKEA packaging materials, chopped up. The pack I opened last night had a great foam cube in it that just screamed ‘craft me’ into something good !! Or, use a could of standard black/white dices instead. All these would make great statement jewelry, riding along the lines of black/white and recycling trends.

See it, like it, buy it:

PAPERBACK VERSION: P.S.– I Made This: I See It. I Like It. I Make It
KINDLE VERSION: P.S.– I Made This

Click Here For Other: Craft, DIY & Interior Design Book Reviews

Enjoy free shipping on orders over $25 (conditions apply).

(ps i made this – images source: pinterest)

How to: Ying-Yang Friendship Bracelets

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:45:00 +0000

This friendship bracelet video tutorial with Chinese Ying-yang symbols celebrates several holidays together, from Chinese New Year (January 23), to our North American Valentines Day (February 14), to Carnival (March) in Latin America, where friendship bracelets were originally invented.

This is a very happy friendship bracelet with lots of Chinese red for good luck. Makes a fun little gift for your spiritual, yoga, Buddhist friends who wish to live in balance and harmony. And a lover also.

Incidentally, did you know that friendship bracelets were originally given to a friend at which time this friend could make a wish.

The bracelet was/is to be worn all day & night till it would fall of, at which time the wish is supposably being granted by the universe.

Mmm.. reminds me of Tibetan prayer flags, and how they are used.

In terms of difficulty level, I would not make this my first bracelet ever. However, if you’ve made other friendship bracelets before you could give this a try also.

Have fun!

Step-by-step Video Instructions

Make this Bracelet

How to Make a Friendship Bracelet featuring Ying-Yang symbols

Find the Video Tutorial Here Note: the source of the original design is below, however this video explains things a tat faster than the video tutorial featured on the website below.

For knot instructions and more details see Friendship-bracelets.net (image source).

AAA t-Shirt Bracelet: Leopard, Knotted, w Gold Chain

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0000

: HANDMADE JEWELRY EXTRA-ORDINAIRE. Old t-shirt + leopard design print + knot + gold chain = fabo bracelet. Absolutely wonderful. Let’s make some.

This fun tutorial video is long and chatty, so I’ve summarized the steps here for you.

Cutting up a tee is just step 1…. Designer Connie Yu goes a mile further… :

She paints leopard print on the shirt
She knots it into a sailors knot
She weaves in some gold chain,
To finish it off, she glues on some fabric to close the bracelet.

Involved, but easy. You can do it to. Here is the how-to.

Step-by-step Tutorial on How to Make this Bracelet

2- strand knotted bracelet

Step 1: cut a big rectangle from the fabric between the two sleeves at the front or the back of your tshirt. Paint a leopard design on with some black paint. Blow-dry it, or wait a day till dry.

Step 2: Cut 2 long strips of 1 to 1.5” width out of rectangle. Tuck along the whole length of both strips so that the sides curl in and they become tubes.

Step 3: Knot your two strands together into the Josephine knot. (this demo = approx at. 7 min. point in the video)

source knot image: http://www.satincord.com/knots/doublecoinknot.htm (also called the Josephine Knot)

Step 4: Fiddle around with it till it looks like the knot in the picture/video (picture #4). Check if the loop at the top fits around your wrist. If not, adjust the knot so that it fits. Also ensure that the dangling ends together also fit around your wrist (i.e. have the length of 1/2 the loop).

Step 5: Cut the loop exactly in the middle. You should now have 8 pieces dangling from your knot, that are almost even in length; 4 on each side of the knot. Trim ends perfectly even.

Step 6: Weave in the metal chains along the same lines of the knot. Hand-stitch the chain edges onto the fabric.

Step 7: Making the closure: Cut a 1 x 2 “ rectangle from the t-shirt, and cover it lightly in fabric glue. Let the glue dry 1/2 a minute. When the glue gets tacky, take your bracelet and flip it upside down, and lay the 4 ends of one side of your bracelet onto the middle of the glued rectangle. Fold over the other end of the bracelet and glue the other 4 ends onto the other side of that rectangle, next to each other to make the bracelet loop. Press the ends into the glue. As your glued rectangle is bigger than the knot ends, fold the rectangle over them so it covers up all ends nicely. Let it dry for 24 hrs.

Video Tutorial – How to Make a Leopard Print Knotted Gold Chain Bracelet

If you don’t see the video here, click: http://youtu.be/rXw394FAKwo

Source: http://thisolddress.blogspot.com

Felted Ring

Fine Craft Guild — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:47:00 +0000

I did discovered something new, that’s just so cool that I wanted to share it with you: Did you know that if you take a bit of (your favorite) mohair wool yarn and you wrap it loosely around your finger 2-3 times, and you go about your business of cooking and cleaning, along with usual hand washings in between, your felted bitty bit will become a groovy felted ring?

Look! The felt ring is just a perfect ‘spacer’ between two precious metal rings you don’t want to rub against each other, like your wedding and engagement ring.

Ring Sizing & Felting

The ring you see in the picture is yarn about 6 or 7 times wrapped around the finger, and after about 2 days worth of felting. I recommend to make it a bit thinner if you want to wear other rings with it. However, I’d do about 11 rounds of yarn for a stand-alone felted ring.

Note that each time the wool felts, it shrinks. Therefore, you should begin with a very, very loose ring wrapped around your thickest finger. Consider that thicker rings will have less stretch and for a thick ring I’d wrap it around a candle stick that’s slightly larger than my thickest finger for the first felting. Experiment and consider that your felted ring could shrink up to 40%, dependent on actual yarn and thickness of the ring. I recommend to take your ring off when you take a shower, do the dishes etc. Several times a day hand washing is already lots and lots of felting! Eventually you want to take your ring off during all wet activities.

This ring-making technique so easy, I am not naming this article a tutorial. How about calling it my ‘whimsical craft tip of the week’ ?!

Tribal Jewelry: Get Creative with Bungy Cord

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:33:00 +0000

Oh, we all crave creativity. But sometimes copycat-designs are ‘just the thing’ to shave off time of making something ‘unique’. Here’s a novel idea that looks so ‘belonging’, that could be made with recycled items.

I’d long to make it one day:

a tribal necklace

a la designer Proenza Schouler’s

Resort Collection 2011.

So, cool.

How-to Make the Chunky, Tribal Necklace:

In a nutshell:

get some rope and an old bungy cord from the garage. Cut them to pieces and lay your necklace pieces out as is shown in the picture below, before wrapping them together.

tip 1: try that rope on in your neck. Is it comfortable?? If not, you might like to use the kind of soft, silk rope that you’ll find in haberdashery shops for curtain drawbacks of pillow edging instead.

get some nice, thick cotton yarn from your knitting yarn stash (yes, some remnants will suffice).

tip 2: at this stage in the game, it PAYS to actually look into your wardrobe and see which outfits could use a tribal necklace like this, and then pick yarn colors accordingly. Ditto with the semi-precious stone pendants.

Use some strong glue to glue the ropes together, before wrapping them with the yarn.

tip 3: see ‘which glue for the job’ article for ideas as to what to use when.

Let the glue dry before adding beads.

tip 4: i know from experience that if my necklace is too heavy, I won’t wear it (for more than 2 minutes). So, consider limiting the heavy stones and to add significant crochet (or paper mache) elements instead. Hip, and light-weight.

In the making….

Done.

Looks so much more ‘difficult’ than it actually is.

Alternative Necklace Design Ideas:

The above is a hip, bright color combination. Consider a beach scheme instead, with sand-color, sage green, aqua blue and off-white; or an all neutrals with a bright contrast color. Both would be great!

In fact, when I went back over the Proenza Schouler Resort 2011 collection, I found that she has another version of the bright necklace in her collection, looking exactly like what I had in mind.

source howto photo / copycat necklace: Honestly … wtf

source top & bottom photos: proenzaschouler.com

Jewelry Ideas, Designs & Tutorials

Glam Necklace for Cheap: Recycle yr Credit Card

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:34:00 +0000

I had a golden name necklace when I was about four years old. Did you too??!! (Am I giving my age away now??? Yes, it was long time ago.) ;Well, these old fashioned name necklaces are back. Big time!!

How so? New York Celebrities are wearing these instead of the LA glam girls’ beaded leather friendship bracelets I showed you last week. First it was Sarah Parker who wore it in the ‘Sex and the City’ show, then Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, and then there were many others.

You? Nahh…

NAME TAG NECKLACE – REDEFINED.

Here’s something better. A name tag necklace with a twist. Super creative girl, Yuka Yoneda, who writes at Clossette, came up with a much more original idea, which I think is more sophisticated than that predictable little girl’s name tag.

How about recycling your old credit gold card into THIS FASHION STATEMENT?

Love it, make it. 5 minutes flat.

So cool.

Necklace Making Step by Step Instructions:

It is pretty self explanatory: take an old credit card and cut out your name (leave a bit extra on either side of your name, so that you can add 2 tiny holes (one on each side of your name). You can use a small hole puncher for that. Add a charm ring to each hole, and string the rings onto a simple aluminum pearl bead necklace.

Voila.

Source: clossette.com

Other Credit Card Recycling Ideas

If you have MANY credit and store cards that you’d like to recycle, try making this popular mosaic mirror.

More Mosaic Ideas & Tutorials

Or if you prefer to use mosaic smalt tiles, well, this is a darling beginners project: a butterfly mosaic mirror.

Mosaic Supplies

Or, start browsing for materials first… Here are some beautiful Mosaic Mercantile Metallic Glass Tiles that are just waiting for you to make something with.

Vitreous glass tile lasts nearly forever, and never fades. This Italian metallic tile is easy to cut, nip, chip, and apply. Smooth on the front to reflect light, textured on the back to provide extra grip for adhesive.

This is just one of the many mosaic & other craft supplies you can find at our site sponsor, Blick Art Materials. Here’s the Blick Art Materials’ Current Promo Code.

How-to Make a Luu Chan Wrap Bracelet

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:44:00 +0000

Even if you’re not clicked-into the Los Angeles celebrity-scene, you might have seen these little wrap bracelets. They are THE RAGE in Hollywood. If you’d buy Luu Chan’s, you’ll realize that what once was a tribal friendship bracelet, has transformed into a pricey heirloom. That’s what happens when you add diamonds and precious stones.

Of course these kind of wrap bracelets were invented before Luu Chan was even born, and any good craft shop has all that you need to make your own.

They are actually simple to make. Why not make a couple for yourself?!

BRACELET MAKING MATERIALS NEEDED

The traditional ones tend to use wooden beads because they are nice and light. If you want yours to look more like Luu Chan designs, then choose diamonds, silver beads, semi-precious stones and crystal beads.

Leather cord is ideal for stringing beads with large holes or natural beads such as shell, wood, bone, clay, or metal. Use leather cord to showcase a favorite pendant. It braids well and mixes well with other stringing materials to create bold and stylish designs.

All spools are 5 m (16.4 ft) long. Comes in Black, Brown & Natural.

This strong, five cord waxed thread is ideal for hand-stitching leather. Smooth and consistent, it won’t stretch or break. It can also be used for beaded jewelry.

Made in the USA.

Durable, and easy to string. This natural 5-ply linen thread is lightly waxed for ease of use. It’s ideal for bookbinding, crafts, and art projects of all kinds. Each pack contains three 20-yard spools, one each of black, tan, and purple.

If this is too thick for your bead size, consider using Nylon Jewelry Cord instead. (see below).

Nylon Jewelry Cord
This cord is the perfect size for threading many of the smaller to medium-size beads.

It comes in 25 yard spools and has a braided, 1/16" diameter color-fast nylon that is heat fusible.

Each bag contains a variety of beads in assorted colors and shapes, in sizes ranging from ½" to 1½". Bead sizes may vary slightly from assortment to assortment. The 4 oz bag contains approx. 25–30 beads, and the 8 oz bag contains up to 60 beads.

I found some superb beads for you, to make one-of-kind bead wrap bracelet that would make Luu Chan jealous:

These high-end glass beads are modern replicas of the classic trade beads from the late 1800s and early 1900s that were designed and made in Europe and Africa.

Ideal as centerpieces for handmade jewelry pieces, they’re also great for creating other types of art.

Be sure to hit the clearance section of this website before you leave. They have high quality (usually expensive) art & craft materials for sale at huge discounts.

And last but not least, check out this link, as they offer further discounts. At the time of this writing it’s a promo code for shipping discounts, but it varies from time to time.
Blick Art Materials’ Current Promo Code

In any regards, all these bracelet making supplies mentioned here are fairly inexpensive and when you buy them together here at our site sponsor, shipping cost won’t be that much.

HOW TO MAKE A LUU CHAN WRAP BRACELET

Chan Luu crystal wrap bracelet is made the same way as is demonstrated here:

For those of you who can’t see the above video screen, follow this link here:
Luu chan bracelet.

Back-to-School with Easy-to-Make Friendship Gifts

Fine Craft Guild — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:37:00 +0000

Time to celebrate going Back-to-School with flirty gifts that create smiles on the first day of school and help continue friendships.

Fun Fashion Friendship Gifts that are Easy to Make

Sure, there is the good-old classic friendship bracelet (click link to learn how to make it).

But let’s go beyond the simple ‘threaded thingy’, and help your (kids) friends be in style and fashion this Fall. Make them something good! How about these ?

	Back-to-school Fashion Tips for Teens This necklace is kind of like having bangles around your neck. Only they don’t clink (that would be annoying) and are superlight to wear. Sure to get admirers for this one.
	Handmade Fashion Jewelry: Decoupage Bangles Everyone will need bangles this Fall. Everyone. Big bangles and thin bangles, should be all the rage this year. Here are quite a few ideas for upcycled bangles.
	http://www.finecraftguild.com/handmade-fashion-jewelry/ I’m showing just one of about 20 different handmade fashion jewelry ideas that you’ll find when following this link.
	For Glamorous Back-to-school Hairdo ups: Jewel Studded Hairpin Keeps your head cool, your hair tidy and makes fabulous gifts.
	http://www.finecraftguild.com/handmade-crystal-angel-earrings/
	Fashion Glitter Hair scrunchies, to create new back to school hairstyles. For understated glamour.
	Flower & Fruit Shaped Earrings Fun and with peace symbols added a great way to ‘make up’ with that friend you had a bit of a fall-out with last year… This article links to a range of handmade earring projects, so check it out.
	This Celeb Flowered Headband with black rose makes a 2011 fashion statement. Easy to do, and looks great on!
	Handmade Glitter Hair bands Ideal for covering up bad hair days and still look dazzling.
	Bold & Tribal Fashion Trend 2011. If you want to make something bold & tribal, consider making this fun polymer clay bracelet. You can pair it with any tribal t-shirt color scheme you have. Bold colors are fun, whereas a color combination like black/brown/white/ grey/mauve would make a more elegant version.
	For Smaller Kids: Friendship Cuff Cuff or bracelet? What’s the difference?! These are so fast to make, you can make them for all the little girls in her class, and she can help making them. Cute.

Back to school fashion is fun. There’s no doubt about that. Actually, there are a lot more ideas on this website that would make suitable Back-to-School gift ideas. Just browse around.

More BACK-TO-SCHOOL IDEAS

Our creative back-to-school project plans, patterns & ideas are organized neatly over the week, like this:

Monday : Fun Fashion Friendship Gifts that are Easy to Make

Tuesday : Backpacks, School Bags & Lunch Bags

Wednesday : Pencil Cases, Make-up Bags & ‘Thingy’ Bags

Thursday : College Room or Teenage Room Ideas

Friday : Schedulers, Organizers, Notice Boards, Locker Ideas & Desk Accessories.

Here’s the Back-to-School ideas – overview page. Come back for more ideas!

BACK TO SCHOOL, ART & CRAFT SUPPLIES

Back to School Sales & Deals for New Supplies

Our sponsor’s site, Blick, has great weekly deals and a superb selection of back-to-school stationary, art and other school supplies, etc.

Well worth a visit! Use the Blick Art Materials’ Current Promo Code and

SAVE when you shop Back-to-School at BLICK!

FREE SHIPPING on orders totaling $150 or more,

(low shipping cost overall.)

Fabulous Glamorous Fabric Beads

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:25:00 +0000

Here’s the tutorial for this easy to make beads, these fabulous, glamorous beads are made with fabric strips wrapped around simple cotton balls. Stitch the fabric down and embellish with contrast-colored shiny glass seed beads in a free –form pattern.

As simple as that.

Don’t they look glorious?

source photo & original design: Alma Stoller

My Idea: Go beyond jewelry when using these beaded balls, and make them into table cloth weights.

Put a little stone in the center of your cotton ball before you wrap them. Hang four or six on clips and use them to hold your tablecloth down when the there’s a tat of wind during your summer al fresco lunch on the porch. Yes, life is meant to be easy.

These beads are an easy project to get into bead embroidery. So simple, I’d classify this as ‘summer crafts for kids’.

Learn More

For a more advanced bead embroidery jewelry tutorial.

Find other Jewelry ideas and tutorials here.

DIY Bejeweled Bookmark

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:41:44 +0000

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Collect materials: string, or strip of leather, or yarn or jewerly wire coverd in fabric,….. ~ or equivalent.. + pretty beads + tools to attach beads.
2. String them together, creating a long beaded jewel for the book bottom end, and a tiny beaded end-jewel to be topping out of the closed book.
Done.

idea source: http://etcetorize.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-jewellery.html