Jewelry Lovers

Art Nouveau jewelry had its origins in the work of French goldsmiths, whose creations were the inspiration for other European craftsmen and women. Most influential among the French artist-jewelers was the glass-maker Rene Lalique. He had a profound impact throughout Europe and America, starting when he opened a shop in Paris in 1885. He showed [...]

Read the rest of Lalique and the beginning of Art Nouveau Jewelry

The design sources of many of the jewellers whose work is illustrated are as diverse as can be, but their inspirations derive from four broad categories: the materials they use; historical influences; looking at what is around them with an open mind; or a strong commitment to a concept that they want to encapsulate in [...]

Read the rest of Jewellery Designing Sources

Flowers make ideal subjects for clay jewelry. Their delicate and fragile structure can, with a little practice, be fashioned into delicate pieces to be fitted onto brooch mounts or on a smaller scale onto ear-ring or ring mounts. Make them to match fashion’s romantic mood of the moment and to complement your prettiest clothes.
The rose [...]

Read the rest of Modelling flowers

Jewelry from polished or even unpolished rocks and pebbles is probably the oldest and most fascinating of all the crafts — and your involvement can be as simple or as extensive as you like, and almost as cheap or as costly as you decide.
You can go out and collect stones yourself or buy them at [...]

Read the rest of Pebble polishing techniques

Other jewelry findings
Ear-rings findings These are made for pierced and unpierced ears. Check that ear wires are made of sterling silver or gold to avoid inflammation of delicate ear lobes. Drop ear-ring findings usually incorporate a loop onto which bell cap and stone can be threaded direct, but you can add jump rings if you [...]

Read the rest of Findings for tumbled stones part 3

To fix a jump ring
When your stone is firmly secured to its bell cap and the glue has thoroughly dried, open wide a suitable jump ring by twisting both ends of the ring sideways with two pairs of jewelry pliers. Now hook one end of the ring through the eyelet of the bell cap and, [...]

Read the rest of Findings for tumbled stones part 2

This illustrates a representative cross-section of the findings to be found in lapidary and craft shops, and gives advice on deciding which findings are best suited to various sorts of stones.
Most shops sell findings for ear-rings, brooches, bracelets, necklaces, pendants, rings, tie clips and pins — almost any jewelry you may want to make — [...]

Read the rest of Findings for tumbled stones part 1

Plastic is a lightweight material that comes in an exciting variety of forms and colours and is very easily worked. It is often considered solely as a substitute for materials such as glass, wood or metal but, in fact, it has properties that make it totally unique as a crafts material.
It is made up from [...]

Read the rest of Plastic Jewellery

Having chosen your stones, polished them and found a suitable mount to match, you can now start to assemble your jewelry pieces. If a lot of care has already gone into preparation and design, this should be the simplest part of the process but care should still be taken to ensure the best possible results.
Making [...]

Read the rest of Polished pebble jewelry

From ancient times, gemstones have been synonymous with folklore and legend since every stone is believed to have its own magical property. Even today, stones are still worn as amulets in India to fend off disease. Stones were traditionally divided into two categories — precious and semi-precious — but today both groups come under the [...]

Read the rest of The Art and Craft of Gemstones