Regardless of whether you want to make earrings, bracelets, necklaces, broaches, hair accessories or even embellishments for a navel piercing you can easily find simple jewelry making patterns online. There are literally hundreds to choose from if you have an hour to look around, and as they start from very basic even first-time jewelry makers can create works of art.
Finding interesting jewelry making patterns
Finding a pattern for making jewelry isn’t hard…the hard part is finding one that interests you. Nearly all jewelry making websites carry a few basic patterns that are free to use and by checking these out you can quickly get an idea of what else may be contained on the website.
The majority of the interesting patterns can only be accessed by subscribers to a website though, which means you will probably have to pay a small fee to get the ones you want. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as once you have access you can make as many of the jewelry pieces as you want, whenever you want.
Choosing a pattern to follow
It helps when looking for a jewelry making pattern to have an idea of what you want to achieve. There are numerous different kinds of jewelry that can be made with very inexpensive tools and so you need to decide on a style first off. So for example, if you want to make a beaded piece of jewelry do you want to use memory wire or would you rather use cotton or another material? Are you confident enough to try wire sculpting or wire wrapping, or do you fancy making a chain mail piece with hundreds of interweaving jump rings?
The jewelry making pattern you choose should give you a good idea of what is involved in making the piece, however the better patterns also have a detailed list of instructions to help further.
Understanding jewelry making patterns
When jewelry making patterns are mentioned most people think first of seed bead patterns. These patterns are often in the form of a colored grid that shows what color seed bead to thread on which strand of cotton and in what order to create the desired picture (or pattern). Of course the instructions for any piece of jewelry that is explained using pictures can be termed a pattern, and thankfully most are very easy to understand.
As mentioned above, the best jewelry making patterns are accompanied by a detailed series of instructions so that there is no way you can go wrong. Others may have a short video and commentary, and this is especially true when the pattern to follow becomes complex. If you find a jewelry making pattern that you want to try but you can’t understand then it may be worth looking around the website you found it on to see if there are any additional instructions or even a glossary of terms that might help.
Jewelry making patterns are very helpful when starting out in the world of do-it-yourself jewelry however you’ll soon be competent enough to use your own ideas to create unique patterns. Once you do you can make one-of-a-kind pieces for special people or you can sell your creations and earn a few dollars – either way, you’re sure to have fun doing it.
