Magnetic Jewelry Clasp

Making your own beaded jewelry is very easy and there are many different beaded patterns to choose from. You can make different lanyards to suit your mood. You might want to make some jewel beaded lanyards for going out and some sturdy braided ones for work. Beaded lanyards are especially fun to make because you can be so creative with them.

Lanyard making is popular because lanyards can be used for many things and lanyard making also means you can customize your own designs. The following lanyard instructions will help you to create a well made, durable and great looking lanyard.

Lanyard Supplies You Need

You will need beads for making a beaded lanyard. You will also need beading wire or tiger tail, a Velcro, magnetic or link clasp, crimp beads, a lanyard hook, a key ring and a pair of needle nose pliers. You can get all these lanyard making supplies from a craft shop or order them online.

Step by Step Lanyard Instructions

First of all, measure two pieces of beading wire or tiger tail to an equal length. The length should be about twenty four inches. Tie one side of each wire to the key ring by stringing a crimp bead on to each wire and pulling it down to the knot of the wire on the key ring. Crimp the bead over the knot with the pliers and put a crimp bead cover over to secure it.

Thread the beads on to the wire, using no more than one or two at a time, matching the pattern on one side with the lanyard beading pattern on the other side. When you have finished threading on the beads, string a crimp bead on each wire and tie the ends off. Attach the ends of the wire to your clasp and move the crimp beads over the knots. Crimp them with the pliers. Crimp a bead cover on top to secure your knots.

Cut off any excess wire. Now your lanyard should be secure and tight. Attach the hook to the key ring and your lanyard is completed.

Lanyard Making Tips

You might like to use seed beads or bugle beads, alternating smaller beads with bigger ones. You can match your bead colors to the season or to your favorite soccer team, for example. A green and red beaded lanyard is great for the festive period over Christmas. You can add alphabet beads spelling out your name or cute charms for a completely unique and special homemade beaded lanyard.

Customize the length of your homemade lanyard if you want it to be longer or shorter. If you are making lanyards as gifts for kids, you can make them shorter. This saves wire and beads and means the lanyard will be the right length.

Lanyard instructions are simple to follow and lanyard making is a wonderful way to create cute and special gifts for your friends. Lanyards are inexpensive to make but they are very useful for carrying important objects like a USB drive, key or ID badge. You can make a variety of beaded lanyards in different colors and styles and you can have one to match every outfit.

The most unique Christmas gift ever?

When I and my boyfriend began dating 2 years ago, he usually sent some great jewellery gifts to me. One St Valentine's Day, he even spoiled me by gifting me a platinum bracelet and a sapphire ring. His gifts made me expect something equally wonderful the next St Valentine's Day.

Finally, the exciting day arrived. I eagerly opened the special box! You can imagine how I felt disappointed when I discovered that there were just stones, gold-plated wire, a lot of tools and a set of DVDS in the box.

"What are they?" I asked.

"It is an interesting wire sculpting kit. Because I know that you love jewellery, I think you must want to make jewellery by yourself."

In fact, I am not into handicraft. So I didn't say anything and just closed the box. I felt very disappointed. My eyes were filled with tears. I didn't say anything to my boyfriend that night. My boyfriend felt terrible because I didn't love his gift. I also felt terrible because I was behaving badly without gratitude. I put the box under my bed and ignored it.

However, I was bitten by the bug.

I never know what urged me to do it. I eagerly took out the box and looked at again after six months. There were cameos and pictures of wire wrapped and looped into various types and shapes of jewellery. I found these things were very interesting. And I wondered what I could do with these things. I watched the DVDS for several times to learn about the wire gauge.

What is gauge? It refers to the thickness of a wire. The lower the number gauge, the bigger the wire. That is to say, 25 gauge wire is thicker than 30 gauge. And wires with lower gauge are more appropriate for intense manipulation. Wires with higher gauge are easier to break if twisted or bent a lot. This is what I learnt from the DVDs. So far as the practical wire-wrapping techniques were concerned, I didn't get much from the DVDs.

My first few attempts were horrible. But I got more skilful through practice. However, I found that I didn't love the exquisitely-styled wire wrapping. I prefer the simple designs. And there came a point when I used up all the stones, wires and beads. So I went to the local stores to buy some. I found a lot of crystal beads with different sizes, colours and shapes. I decided not to follow the wire sculpture and begin to create my own simple beaded jewellery.

In fact, it is not difficult.

When you start beading, I recommend thin wires of 22 gauge or 20. That's because some beads have very small holes. Wires thicker than that would not be suitable. Now let me show you how to make a bracelet by yourself.

The things you need:

1. A pair of needle-nosed or flat pliers - it will be used to wrap the wire around the end of its clasp. And I find that the needle-nosed pliers allow more precision.

2. Clasps - I prefer magnet ones. But there is one thing you must remember - keeping the magnet side away from the wire.

3. Wires - I recommend 22 gauge or 20. You will need not less than 9 inches.

4. Beads - there are many kinds of beads such as crystal, plastic and stones. You can choose whatever you like. You can design by yourself.

What you need to do:

1. Think out a bead pattern for you bracelet.

2. Use wire cutters to cut off a length of wire.

3. Use your pliers to make a clasp.

4. String the beads according to your design.

5. After you have strung the last bead, use the pliers again to loop the end of the wire around the unattached end of the clasp. Don't forget to use your pliers to flatten the loop.

6. Put your bracelet on your arm.

Now, you have made a simple bracelet by yourself. Is it very easy? If you have never made beaded jewellery by yourself, take your time to have a try. You will find that it is really very interesting.

Well, to get us started off here, a brief overview of findings in general seems to be in order. Findings are any metal pieces that you use to create jewelry. Clasps, earwires, eye pins, etc. are all findings. Pieces of metal that are combined with wire, chain, and beads to create wonderful and creative pieces. So without further ado, here is a list of findings with a short description of each:

1. Clasps. Clasps are probably the most basic and necessary of all the findings. Every quality piece of jewelry that you assemble simply must have a clasp attached. This is the piece that allows you to put a piece of jewelry on and take it off. There are many different kinds; barrel clasps screw out, clamshell clasps are your average kind, magnetic clasps are also available; they are quite easy to use, because the two separate pieces of the clasp stick together. Many other kinds are on the market including, but not limited to, hook and eye clasps and toggle clasps.

2. Jump Rings. Jump rings are often used to attach other findings to the piece of jewelry - a lot of times a clasp is attached with a jump ring and sometimes charms are as well. A jump ring is basically just a piece of thin wire bent into a ring. One tip I do have though, for jump rings, is that when you open one, don't pull it straight open - grab each end of the jump ring with a separate pair of pliers and pull open at an angle.

3. Split Rings. If you have ever used a key chain before, you've used a split ring. Split rings are used when a stronger version of a jump ring is required. Not much is required of this explanation except that the most common place to use a split ring is when attaching a charm to a piece of chain. Also that they are much smaller than keychain rings, yet they look just like them.

4. Charms. These little pieces of metal are possibly the most fun of all the supplies in jewelry making. They are often very detailed and carved silver pieces and come in endless possibilities. I've seen frogs, butterflies, bees, cameos, and many other shapes and even kinds of metal.

5. Eye Pins. To put it simply, eye pins are a piece of metal with a loop at the top. They also come in wrapped loops, which are also very fun to work with, and both of these varieties of eye pins are very simple to make from home. I will write a separate article sometime in the very near future about making your own findings, since a lot of the findings used in jewelry making are very, very simple to make by yourself.

6. Head Pins. Now we come to head pins - these are very similar to eye pins, but, instead of a loop at the end, there is a flat head, very similar in looks to a nail head. The most common use for head pins is to attach a pendant bead to a piece of chain; we will explore this, and other techniques, in a later article.

7. Earwires. The last finding that I'd like to share with you today are earwires. Earwires are the pieces that you use to make your own earrings. They sell three different varieties of earwires; a stud earring, a hook earring, and a hoop earring.

The most unique Christmas gift ever?

When I and my boyfriend began dating 2 years ago, he usually sent some great jewellery gifts to me. One St Valentine's Day, he even spoiled me by gifting me a platinum bracelet and a sapphire ring. His gifts made me expect something equally wonderful the next St Valentine's Day.

Finally, the exciting day arrived. I eagerly opened the special box! You can imagine how I felt disappointed when I discovered that there were just stones, gold-plated wire, a lot of tools and a set of DVDS in the box.

"What are they?" I asked.

"It is an interesting wire sculpting kit. Because I know that you love jewellery, I think you must want to make jewellery by yourself."

In fact, I am not into handicraft. So I didn't say anything and just closed the box. I felt very disappointed. My eyes were filled with tears. I didn't say anything to my boyfriend that night. My boyfriend felt terrible because I didn't love his gift. I also felt terrible because I was behaving badly without gratitude. I put the box under my bed and ignored it.

However, I was bitten by the bug.

I never know what urged me to do it. I eagerly took out the box and looked at again after six months. There were cameos and pictures of wire wrapped and looped into various types and shapes of jewellery. I found these things were very interesting. And I wondered what I could do with these things. I watched the DVDS for several times to learn about the wire gauge.

What is gauge? It refers to the thickness of a wire. The lower the number gauge, the bigger the wire. That is to say, 25 gauge wire is thicker than 30 gauge. And wires with lower gauge are more appropriate for intense manipulation. Wires with higher gauge are easier to break if twisted or bent a lot. This is what I learnt from the DVDs. So far as the practical wire-wrapping techniques were concerned, I didn't get much from the DVDs.

My first few attempts were horrible. But I got more skilful through practice. However, I found that I didn't love the exquisitely-styled wire wrapping. I prefer the simple designs. And there came a point when I used up all the stones, wires and beads. So I went to the local stores to buy some. I found a lot of crystal beads with different sizes, colours and shapes. I decided not to follow the wire sculpture and begin to create my own simple beaded jewellery.

In fact, it is not difficult.

When you start beading, I recommend thin wires of 22 gauge or 20. That's because some beads have very small holes. Wires thicker than that would not be suitable. Now let me show you how to make a bracelet by yourself.

The things you need:

1. A pair of needle-nosed or flat pliers - it will be used to wrap the wire around the end of its clasp. And I find that the needle-nosed pliers allow more precision.

2. Clasps - I prefer magnet ones. But there is one thing you must remember - keeping the magnet side away from the wire.

3. Wires - I recommend 22 gauge or 20. You will need not less than 9 inches.

4. Beads - there are many kinds of beads such as crystal, plastic and stones. You can choose whatever you like. You can design by yourself.

What you need to do:

1. Think out a bead pattern for you bracelet.

2. Use wire cutters to cut off a length of wire.

3. Use your pliers to make a clasp.

4. String the beads according to your design.

5. After you have strung the last bead, use the pliers again to loop the end of the wire around the unattached end of the clasp. Don't forget to use your pliers to flatten the loop.

6. Put your bracelet on your arm.

Now, you have made a simple bracelet by yourself. Is it very easy? If you have never made beaded jewellery by yourself, take your time to have a try. You will find that it is really very interesting.

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