Jewelry Making Supplies
What jewelry making supplies
will you need for your first project?
Well, that will depend on what kind of project you are doing. If you are making earrings, you will not need as many jewelry making supplies as you will if you are making a necklace or a bracelet. Some of the tools and supplies are basic, and needed for any project at all. Others are a little more specialized.
For any successful jewelry making experience, I think the most important thing is a good set of hand tools. They must be comfortable for your hands to hold, and easy for you to work with.
Good, does not necessarily mean expensive. My hand tools are not top of the line or very expensive. With my small hands, most of the more expensive, ergonomically correct, tools are uncomfortable for me to hold. I use cheap-o tools you can buy at any craft store, and they work great for me.
My Jewelry Making Tools
Let’s look at some of the basic tools and jewelry making supplies you will be needing for your first project.
Very Basic
Jewelry Making Supplies
Flat and Needle Nose Pliers
Needle Nose PliersA good set of needle nose pliers is essential to your jewelry making supplies. All of the little findings and piecey parts (yes, my favorite technical term) are really small. A good set of needle nose pliers makes it easier to pick them up, or hold them and still see what you are doing. It’s best to have 2 sets of these. I have one set with teeth (not shown), and two without. I use the ones without the teeth most often. Pliers with teeth will mar the wire, but they work great if I need to really hold onto something. I use these pliers as an extension of my hands.Wire Cutters
Wire CuttersA good set of wire cutters is also essential. You can’t cut wire with scissors! Wire cutters can also be used to cut leather cording and laces. (I can hear another sigh of relief coming from those scissors...)
Round Nose Pliers
Round Nose PliersThis set of pliers is essential if you are going to do any wire wrapping. They make creating wire wrap loops a cinch!Jewelry FindingsThese are a very essential part of your jewelry making supplies. Without them, you just couldn’t make anything. These will vary with which project you are doing. Findings include everything from your jump rings to your ear wires to head pins and clasps.Jewelry ComponentsYou can’t make anything without your components, either. This includes things like your wire, beads, pendants, findings and charms.BeadsI put this in a separate category, even though, they really are a component. There are just so many different kinds of beads out there. Everything from crystals, to gemstones and glass, to wood and paper.Other (Extra)
Jewelry Making Supplies
These are the other jewelry makings supplies that are either more specialized, or make just your job easier, but aren’t necessarily essential.
Bead Boards or MatsBead boards make your life much easier. They have a track that your beads sit in. You can easily see what your finished design will look like, and your beads will stay put. There are also measurements all over the bead board to help you with centering and length. These are great to create your design on, then pick up the beads from one side to another to string them on your wire or thread.
Bead mats are nice too, and they are a lot cheaper than bead boards. They are flat, thick piece of fabric, a little like a piece of felt. It’s a lot easier to pick things up off a bead mat, rather than off a counter or a table. They are made of soft fibers that won’t catch on your beads or findings. They help keep your beads from running away, without getting them lost or stuck to the fibers in the fabric. It’s pretty annoying when you go to pick up a jump ring, and end up picking up the fabric your entire project was sitting on. The next 20 minutes of your life will be spent on your hands and knees searching for all those lost piecey parts!
Crimping Pliers
Crimping PliersCrimping pliers make working with crimp beads a breeze. They have two separate holes to put the bead in. One hole is completely round on both sides. The other hole is round on one side, and has a bump on the other. This bump will press into the center of the crimp bead as the pliers are closed. This will flatten the center of the crimp bead, while leaving both sides untouched. Then you put your crimp bead sideways into the completely round hole, and gently close your pliers again. This will force the edges to curl into the center, forming folded circle out of your crimp bead.Hammers/AnvilHammers, mallets and an anvil are not necessarily essential jewelry making supplies, unless you are going to be making a lot of wire wrapped jewelry. Hammers are necessary for “setting” or “hardening” your wire designs. There are different types of hammers for creating different effects on your wire. The head of a hammer created for decorative purposes will have a design on it so that when you strike your wire, the marring will create different effects. The head of a hammer made just for strengthening wire will be smooth, so that marring of your wire is kept at a minimum. Rubber and wooden mallets are also used for this purpose.JigsJigs can actually be essential if you are going to do a lot of wire forming or wrapping. I put them here, because you can easily make your own with some finishing nails and a block of wood. A jig is just a flat piece of metal, wood or plastic with a bunch of pegs at regular intervals. You use this to wrap your wire around to create all sorts of fun wire wrap components. If you are really good, and patient, you can use your round nose pliers to get the same effect. Therefore, a jig isn’t exactly essential. Misc. AccessoriesThere are so many different “tools” you can buy for all the different jewelry making techniques. For wire wrapping, there are all sorts of fun devices that will give you different effects when you wrap wire around them. Things like shaped posts, different sized round posts for making your own french wire and jump rings, different kinds of jigs, etc... This is also the category for all of the specialized tools, like seed bead scoops and containers, files and rasps, bead reamers, looms.... The list really does go on and on!OrganizersThere are TONS of jewelry making supplies organizers. You can organize everything from your beads and findings to your tools. There is a container, or organizer, in just about every shape and size you can imagine.Jewelry FindingsThese go in this category, too. Once you get started collecting different findings, it’s hard to stop. Before long, you’ll find you have WAY more of them than you really need!Jewelry ComponentsSame thing goes with these. Once the collecting starts, watch out!BeadsI think the collecting capacity on beads far surpasses findings and components. That’s why these are in this category, too.
Jewelry making really doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking. Although, once you start collecting all the jewelry making supplies you want, it can definitely start effecting your pocketbook!!
(Notice I said want, not need .... the essentials don’t really cost that much!)
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