Jewelry Projects to Make - It's Christmas in July!

Don't forget about the Jolly Holiday Fabric Giveaway. You can enter here all week long.

I'm also having a huge sale on patterns. Now is the time to stock up on projects you think you might like to sew this month, next month, or next year. All of my PDF patterns are marked 30% off during Christmas in July. You can find all of them in my Jennifer Jangles Shop as well as my Etsy Shop.

Here's a list of jewelry tutorials to get you inspired.

Stamping Charms

Carnival Necklace

Dangly Jangly Earrings

Beaded Pendant

Knotted Flower Bracelet

Button Bracelet

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How to make Ceramic Beads and Buttons

Good morning! I just updated the Jennifer Jangles Shop as well as the Jangles Etsy Shop with all sorts of ceramic goodies. When I was mentioning it on Facebook the other day, someone asked me about the process. I realized these days I talk so much about sewing that there are probably lots of you folks who would like to know about my process of making my ceramic items goes. Here we go, I will walk you through step by step.

I start by rolling out clay to cut out buttons and pendants. The edges are rounded and smoothed by hand so they don't chip once they are out of the kiln. I hand form all of the three dimensional beads as well.

If the beads and buttons are flat, they are sandwiched in-between two plaster boards to prevent warping as they dry.

After a couple days of drying, the beads go into the kiln and are fire to almost 2000 degrees F. This is called the bisque firing.

They come out bright white and no longer brittle. They are ready for glazing.

I used underglazes to paint my beads. They are like paints where they can be layered and they don't move in the firing.

The beads and buttons are out on skewers while I paint them. This way I can get all sides with glaze.

After they are all underglazes. I put a clear coat of glaze on top of the pieces. This is what makes them shiny. But when they go in to the kiln, they are all pink, the glaze isn't clear yet.

This time when the beads and buttons go in to the kiln they can't touch anything. The clear glaze runs and will stick to anything it touches. So everything is suspended on a wire in the firing.

The kiln fires for about seven hours and then it has to cool completely before you can open it. I crack the lid once it's getting to cooler to speed the process up a little.

Now they are all shiny and bright and ready to be unloaded.

I put them on a tray and then they are ready to be sorted, put on cards, and photographed for the shop.

This is my book, Ceramic Bead Jewelry, that teaches you the process in detail if it's something you want to learn. You can find it on Amazon.

Have a great day!

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Fall Beads and Jewelry

Hey, Hey,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I don't know about you but it felt like fall here this weekend. I planted some mums, bought a pumpkin and we went on a hike. Those are all good things I like to do in the fall.

I have seen more different colored caterpillars and mushrooms in my yard this year than ever before. I didn't want to make caterpillar beads but I did really want to make mushroom beads. I did and they are in the Etsy shop right now. I also made a few jewelry pieces with my fall beads.

Have a great day,

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Serro Scotty Redo and Ceramic Jewelry

Hey Hey!

Check out the picture! Yes, that's my jewelry but what I'm really talking about is my camper, Lucy. This is her debut as a backdrop for my photos. What do you think? I'm thinking you'll see a lot of her in the future. Tomorrow we take her to the camper store to get their opinion on wiring, water, etc. Super excited to pull her again. We've gutted the inside the best that we can. There's more moldy, wet wood to take out, but if we took it out now, we wouldn't be able to pull it. So after tomorrow mornings jaunt, we'll be back to working on her. I'm itching to do more. 

kitchen cabinets are gone

loads of trash

a moment of brotherly love

gutted

We plan on documenting the progress here on the blog so I'll be posting more soon. 

Oh and, the jewelry in the picture at the top. It's in the web store now. I have been updating the store and making it all fancy pants. You can see it here....make sure you hang out on the front page for a bit, the images change.

bracelet stack

Have a great day!

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Fruit Salad Necklace Tutorial

Hey, Hey, I realize there are a lot of new jewelry makers reading my blog these days and this is a super easy project for you. This is a chain necklace that I bought ready to embellish. The charms are all my ceramic creations and they are attached using jump rings.

Here is one of my pin-able or print-able tutorials to help you with jump rings. You can see the others here.

Have fun,

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Making Metal Stamping Charms and Pendants

Hey, Hey! I was doing some metal stamping the other day and thought might as well snap some photos and make a tutorial out of it.

It's super easy and fun. Stamping is great for personalizing jewelry for gifts. How about that apple necklace as a teacher gift, what teacher wouldn't love it?

Here's the how-to.

Supplies: Metal stamping blanks, metal letter stamps, an anvil or metal plate( for placing blank on), masking tape, permanent marker, flat surfaced hammer, ball pein hammer (optional)

First, you'll need to place your stamping blank onto your metal anvil or plate.

Place the tape over the top of the blank. This will hold it in place while your stamping. It also makes the  stamps stay in one place while hammering. 

With your marker, write out what you would like to stamp. This will be a guide for your stamping.

Start by placing the letter standing upright on the blank. With your flat surfaced hammer, hit the top of the stamp 2-3 times without moving the stamp out of place.

Continue across your blank, stamping all of your letters.

When your finished with stamping, remove the tape from your blank.

If you would like your stamp to have more texture, you can use the rounded side of your ball pein hammer to add some. I just randomly bang around on the blank.

To make the letters stand out more on the blank, scribble over them with the permanent marker. Take a cloth and rub the blank. This will push the marker into the crevices.

You're finished with your stamping. 

Update: So many have asked for the supplies, here are some Amazon links to get you started stamping. Mini Anvil, ball pein hammer, letter stamps, tape, and stamping blanks.


Enjoy!

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