First Attempts at Jewellery Making

Recently I was lucky enough to bag myself a free bracelet kit from jewellerymaker.com because I had a code in my quilting magazine. After some initial trouble with getting the website to order [probably because of the influx of visitors] But after some persistence I managed to get it to work and within about two to three days I had this little belter waiting on my doorstep.

My kit came with a "Get Started" Dvd , Gemstones and Elastic in a little organza bag. I thought the little bag was a nice touch and makes it feel like a little gift for yourself [The DVD suggests that you can use the bag as a gift bag should you want to pass on your finished item to someone else]

Now I'll be honest , with JewelleryMaker being a shopping channel I thought it was all going to be a naff. I immediate assumption was that the "gemstones" would be cheap or even plastic! BUT much to my delight they are gemstones, they feel weighty and cold just like stones should!  

They come threaded on a plastic string which I'm guessing is so they don't all roll around and get lost. I was a bit gutted that the gems were yellow, as the picture in the magazine had been pink and purple. But it did say that colours may vary so its not too bad. Actually I received yellow and I have blonde hair and my sister got orange and her hair is red so now I'm pretty sure jewellerymaker are stalking us.

The DVD is pretty short and isn't just specific to this bracelet instead it covers making basic, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. As well as talking through some of the tools you need to make jewellery [luckily you don't need any of them for this bracelet]

And here's my first attempt, the kit came with enough beads and elastic for two bracelets. Its pretty simple really thread the beads on and tie a knot! Although saying that I had some real trouble with the knot! Seriously that little swine kept pinging open and their wasn't really much detail on the video other than "tie a knot". Luckily before I lost my mind I remembered that the DVD had already said that their were more free tutorials on their website and I found this which helped greatly. Turns out a bit of glue solved the problem in seconds!

For my second bracelet I wanted to do something different [and delve into my own little stash of beads, yes I don't make jewellery but I still have a bead stash] These beads came from Rome? possibly on another bracelet and kind of look like glass. whilst I'm not sure it quite works it was nice to try something different, and I guess knowing what looks good is something that comes with time,

Here they are together looking all cute and stuff.

This is me modelling them, which is harder than it looks.

They are both pretty tight but that's my fault not theirs and I guess measuring elastic is another skill that comes with time.

They look pretty cute layered together!

So what do I think? Have I caught the jewellery making bug?

Well lets put it this way, I spent the morning googling jewellery making kits. I think I liked that's its almost instant gratification with jewellery making rather than the long time it takes to sew something or the even longer time it takes to knit something.

So yes I think that time willing it might be something I carry on with! I'm already lusting after this , this and this. And I think they might be producing their own magazine soon which I'm sure will have me making doe eyes at Rikki!

Anyway I'm calling this a grand success! And possibly another craft found! And If you want to order from http://www.jewellerymaker.com/en-gb/ You can use this code-   CDBM86  For a cheeky £10.00 off! [not sure if there's a minimum spend!]

Much Love

Frankie

p.s Whilst I did receive this kit for free because of the code in my magazine it is not a sponsored post! Jewellerymaker.com have not asked me to do this, I just really liked the product and thought I'd share my thoughts! and code!