Learn to Make Amazing Resin & Epoxy Clay Jewelry. Gay Isber

      Gay Isber

Jewelry-Making Basics

      This book focuses on resin and epoxy clay, but it incorporates some standard basic jewelry-making terms and techniques that you’ll need to know in order to turn your resin and clay creations into actual wearable jewelry. Review this section if you’ve never made jewelry before!

Tools

      To make jewelry, you’ll need a pair of flush cutters, which are essentially small jewelry wire cutters, for cutting wire. You’ll also need, at a minimum, one pair of jewelry pliers (either round-nose pliers or straight pliers), but it’s best to have two pairs (see Jump Rings, right). Pliers allow you to manipulate the wire, jump rings, findings, earring hooks, and clasps you’ll use to assemble wearable jewelry. You should always have a standard, good pair of round-nose pliers in your jewelry-making kit. If you want to, you can buy a special kind of pliers called rosary chain pliers, which are round-nose pliers with a flush cutter included, making creating bead links (see page 10) an even faster process. Straight pliers (or chain-nose pliers) are also useful depending on how you are assembling your jewelry or what specific wires/beads/findings (i.e., clasps, chains, etc.) you are using. In general, for the projects in this book, you can use round-nose pliers.

Jump Rings

      Jump rings are the building blocks of a lot of jewelry. They are simple metal rings with a break in them that can be opened and closed, allowing you to easily connect different items. It’s important that you know the basic rule for opening and closing a jump ring. Shown below are both the correct method (marked with ) and the incorrect method (marked with ). Use two pairs of pliers, one gripped on each side of the jump ring’s opening, to direct each side away from the other in a vertical orientation. Do not simply pull the opening straight apart horizontally, as this will weaken the metal and potentially break it. The rule to remember is simple: twist open, don’t pull apart.

      Round-nose pliers

      Lora S. Irish

      Flush cutters

      Lora S. Irish

      Straight (chain-nose) pliers

      Lora S. Irish

      Jump rings

      Lora S. Irish

      Findings, including chain, a lobster claw clasp (top right in silver), and earring hooks (bottom center).

      Helen Driggs

Findings

      Findings are any of the various jewelry-making building blocks you can buy at the store and use to make jewelry. Jump rings are an example of findings. Clasps, such as lobster claw clasps (which you attach via jump rings), are another example you’ll use a lot in this book to create closures for bracelets and necklaces. Earring studs and hooks allow you to attach items to create earrings. Blank pendants and metal hoops can be used as bases for creating with resin and clay. Lengths of chain that you can cut to size make creating necklaces and bracelets super easy. All of the various miscellaneous findings mentioned in this book (and more!) can be found at your local craft store.

Wire

      Wire, typically sold in spools, is useful for attaching things together and for creating bead links (see page 10). One of the most important decisions you’ll need to make when creating with wire is what gauge to use. Wire gauge is measured from thickest (lower numbers) to thinnest (higher numbers). Use the thickest wire (the lowest gauge) that the beads you want to use can accommodate. Fine wire is often quite delicate. 20-gauge wire is a good choice for necklaces, and sometimes 18-gauge wire is good if you need a piece to be really strong. Men’s and children’s jewelry are good projects in which to use 18-gauge wire. For smaller, daintier projects, 22-gauge wire is a good choice.

      Lora S. Irish

      Gay Isber

Beads

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