Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

How to Use Chain Differently in Jewelry Designs

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:13 AM PDT

While a perennial favorite, chain in jewelry designs took a huge leap in popularity this year. This collection is all about how to use chain differently in jewelry designs for a refreshingly new look. Perhaps you will be inspired to repurpose or dress up an unloved necklace chain hiding in your jewelry box.

Image by Rebecca S

A quick way to scrunch up the chain into a bracelet length is to use ribbon as shown by Rebecca S's how to on Cut Out and Keep. It's easy and looks good! If crowd sourcing was any indication, it was marked a favorite by nearly 300 people the last time I looked.

A much more elaborate approach using jewelry elastic to scrunch up the chain is the Stroppy Cow's Beaded Charm Bracelet how-to. Her tutorial adds color and all sorts of visual interest to the design.

Image by the Stroppy Cow

Divya's Gold Spiral Pendant tutorial on Jewels of Sayuri turns a chain into a pendant. It's a totally different approach to recycling!

Image by Jewels of Sayuri

Grace who calls herself a human magpie, has a designer inspired tangled and wrapped chain necklace tutorial on her blog, Stripes and Sequins. It uses oodles of chain in two different colors.

Image by Stripes and Sequins

Swarovski crystal embellished chains are awesome to use. Ornamentea's clever video tutorial uses these to cover bezels, setting them with resin. As you can see, you can either fill the entire bezel with the bling or surround a silhouette picture. Check out my past post on resin options.