Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Tutorials on How To Make Wire Crochet Jewelry

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 04:00 AM PDT

Image by the CraftyPod

People who try out wire crochet usually end up liking it. The beginner beaders at our workshops including those who have never done crochet before, love the final result. The pieces have the look of hand crafted jewelry which looks difficult to do. Far from it, it's actually easy.

Just check out Diane Gilleland of the CraftyPod blog's excellent tutorial on how to get started. Her clear pictures and instructions are a breeze to follow.

Do you like your projects fast and furious? Then check the Chunky Wire Crochet Bracelet by Michael Sellick of The Crochet Crowd. Thanks Willi for this tip!

Image by Michael Sellick

Michael also presented this accompanying video tutorial for making a wire and bead crochet bracelet. He made a few beaded chains which are braided together or just left separate before attaching to the clasp. This technique is forgiving - you can see him adjusting the final positions of the beads as well as the bracelet length itself.

Thread Bear's Picnic has a really pretty Daisy Drop Earrings tutorial which is easy and quick to do even for novices.

Image by Thread Bear's Picnic

More Crochet Jewelry Tutorials :

For more tutorials check out my Jewelry Making Tips

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Saharan Refugees Recycle Plastic Bottles for Faux Gold Jewelry

Posted: 21 Jun 2011 10:04 AM PDT

Plastic Gold : Ziurla Necklace

Recycled plastic bottles can be used to make jewelry. How good they are as design pieces depends on the artistic creativity of the artisans who use them.

French born Florie Salnot is one of the most creative. This former student and current design research associate of the Royal College of Art is working with a non-profit organization called Sandblast.

The charity helps displaced Saharawis or Sahrawis living in refugee camps in Algeria to "tell their own story, promote their own culture and earn a living through the arts. "

She developed a unique technique to convert recycled plastic bottles into astonishingly good faux gold jewelry. The method has to be simple because there aren't a whole lot of resources available to make jewelry at the camps. The plastic bottles are easily collected from the litter around the camps. The jewelry makers need only hot sand, pigment, nails and wooden boards.

Back of Ziurla necklace

Plastic Gold : Mutemesel Necklace

Plastic Gold : Deroline Necklace

The bottles are painted, cut into strips which are then wound around nails placed in wooden boards. Hot sand is then poured over the design. The heat treatment shrinks the plastic which conforms to the pattern formed by the nails. Florie says, "It is a very simple technique which, however, has the power to make the non-precious become precious. " This trade-not-aid project is indeed worthy of the name Plastic Gold.

Plastic Gold : Hot Sand Technique

Working with hot sand

Saharawi women at work making jewelry

Florie (shown below) is still training the women in this highly creative process. These newly minted artisans are passionate about their work and recognize the earning potential of their recycled jewelry. Check out her video which shows how the women were taught the technique and some of the resulting designs at the end.

The pieces you see here are Florie's designs. She is currently looking for retailers to sell and thus launch the production with the Saharawis. If you are an interested shop owner or know of one, please contact Florie through her website.