Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects

18 Nov 2011

I love being able to share my passion for jewelry making with new makers, especially ones who are learning new jewelry techniques such as wirework and even metalsmithing, including fun techniques like texturing, doming, and soldering metal, bezel making, and other metal fabrication techniques. Whatever the technique is, it's usually easier than you think, and with good instruction, even the least experienced jewelry makers can succeed.

 
Speaking of good instruction (and sharing!), I'm happy to offer you another free eBook, the Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects. The five free jewelry-making projects in the eBook cover a range of techniques (chain maille, metal fabrication, soldering, fold forming and microfolding, die forming, stone setting, texturing, and wirework), materials (metal sheet, wire, metal clay, and gemstones), and types (bracelets, earrings, and pendants). There are also a variety of tips and technique tutorials to help you succeed at making jewelry scattered throughout the five free jewelry-making projects.

Each jewelry-making project--the chain maille bracelet, the metal clay leaves (which you can incorporate into a variety of your own jewelry-making projects), the wire earrings, and the two metalwork pendants--is accompanied by step-by-step illustrated instructions from the expert jewelry artists who created the original jewelry designs. After you've mastered the jewelry-making techniques associated with each project, you can use those techniques to bring your original ideas to life in your own one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.

Here are the jewelry projects you'll learn to make through the tutorials in the free Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques:

 
Whimsical Wire Whisk Earrings
by Denise Peck
Whimsical Wire Whisk Earrings by Denise Peck

These simple wire earrings are definitely whimsical--but they're also super stylish and super easy. After you've made the first pair, you'll be hooked on how great it feels to make eye-catching earrings in a matter of minutes; then you can experiment with different metals, adding beads, or wherever your imagination takes you.

 
Turkish Chain Maille Bracelet by
Joyce Tromp. Photo by Jim Lawson.
Two-Toned Turkish Chain Maille Bracelet by Joyce Tromp

Joyce's stunning bracelet can be made two-toned as shown, with multiple colors of metal jump rings, using colored-wire jump rings, or all in one metal. Either way, the result will be a bold flexible chain maille bracelet you'll be proud to wear or give.

 
Textured Silver Pendant by Jack Berry.
Photo by Robert Brodie.
Textured Silver Pendant by Jack Berry

Experienced metalsmiths will be challenged by the intricate fold and microfold techniques in Jack's unique pendant; new jewelry makers will be inspired to work their way up to this advanced design. Jack outlines how to microfold and confirm the metal pleats, how to die form the shape of the pendant and create the backplate, and finally how to solder the whole amazing piece together.

 
Angled Red Jasper Pendant by
Lexi Erickson. Photo by Jim Lawson.
Angled Red Jasper Pendant by Lexi Erickson

Through her pendant tutorial, you can learn metalsmithing techniques like I did, from my beloved friend and metalsmithing teacher Lexi Erickson. Lexi's decades of experience have made her a pro at all kinds of metal jewelry making--and she shares that experience with you in her free pendant tutorial, in which you'll learn to saw out a metal pendant, build a unique bezel, form a wire bail, solder it all together, and set a stone in it.

 
Metal Clay Leaves by Hadar Jacobson.
Photo by Jim Lawson.
Metal Clay Leaves by Hadar Jacobson

Metal clay master Hadar Jacobson shares how to create realistic-looking metal leaves with metal clay. Once you've made the leaves, you can use them any way you like--as a pendant, on earrings, or grouped into a stunning necklace. This versatile metal clay jewelry-making lesson is a great one for metal clay enthusiasts of all levels.

Whether you're a jewelry-making newbie or pro--looking to perfect a known jewelry skill, learn a new jewelry-making technique, or be inspired to create your own jewelry designs--there's something fun and interesting for you in the Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects.

As Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine Editor-in-chief Merle White says in her intro to the Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects, "So pull out your pliers, warm up your kiln, find your files, set up your torch, and start making your own jewelry today." Download your free eBook now and you can be making jewelry by this evening!


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