Suggested tools for jewelry-making beginner?

Question

It's time for me to pick up a new crafting hobby. I would like to begin designing and making beaded/jeweled necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. What tools are must haves and what brands would you reccomend for best quality? I prefer to buy things once and don't mind spending a little extra if it is the only time I will need to purchase the item.

Answer 1

You will need the following:

Beading Board - you can get these at any craft store, and they're fairly cheap, but you absolutely need one.

good set of pliers (round nose, needle nose or chain nose and cutters). Make sure you get smooth pliers so the pressure doesn't crimp the pattern into your metal pieces. Also, look for round nose pliers with as small of a radius on the end as you can find - it makes making loops much easier.

Tweezers - good for grasping small beads

Nail Clippers - convenient for cutting head pins

Silver Polishing Cloth

Container to store your supplies in - I like one with a snap tight lid

Wal-Mart sells beading boxes that are essentially a small plastic box with 20 Tic Tac pack sized boxes inside. It's great for storing beads and findings. I'll stack these and all my other tools inside a larger container and everything stays together and neat.

For beading supplies, the best thing to do is go to your local bead store so you can get an idea of sizes, shapes and colors. It's hard to order off the internet at first, but once you know what you're looking for, it's much easier (and cheaper).

I HIGHLY recommend the following sites for beading supplies as I've purchased from all of them numerous times:

http://www.artbeads.com/
http://www.brightlingsbeads.com/
http://www.fusionbeads.com/ (their Inspiration pages are AMAZING)

Beading magazines are a good source for projects and most will cover techniques and basics in every issue. You should find a complete list of tools, what they're used for and how to use them in almost any magazine. Also, your local library can be a great source of books on beading techniques and projects.

One final tip - I recommend buying your findings from an online store or a bead store rather than a local craft place like Michael's or AC Moore. I find that the findings in craft stores tend to be silver plated and of a lower quality than what you can buy from a specialty shop

Answer 2

Currently, most crafts stores have a 5-piece set of 5" pliers for jewelry making. I think it's Westrim brand. These are great, except for the wire cutter. The set will run you about $10.- unless there's a sale. Buying a different set wouldn't get you a better wire cutter; all the ones designed for use on jewelry wire are pretty wimpy. Even the wire cutters sold individually for $6.-to $7.- are pretty weak. They don't handle memory wire, for one thing, and I do use it. I got mine (also called a diagonal pliers, or something like that) on the automotive aisle at Target. The wire cutter (a 7" one) cost me about $3.- but is much sturdier than the ones they charge $6.00 for at the crafts store. So, for $13.00 you'll have an excellent set of tools and really won't need any others. Of course, if you're going to make your own earwires, you'll need a file. I have a metal nail file that I only use for wire. I file the end of the wire that goes through the ear, after I've cut it to size. If you're planning to buy the earwires preformed, you won't need the file.

If you want to look at individual tools, I'd say get your wire cutter somewhere other than the crafts store. Other than that, get a good round-nose pliers, a chain-nosed pliers, a bent chain-nose pliers if you can find them, and a flat-nose pliers. I started with a good wire cutter and a pair of round-nose pliers. I soon discovered that I really wanted something else. I now have everything I listed except for the chain-nose ones. I gave those away because I have the bent chain-nose ones. They seem more convenient to me.

I'd also keep a small pair of sharp scissors handy, if you're going to be stringing beads on cord of any kind. The bead board is a good idea IF you think you'll use it. You know yourself pretty well by now, and probably know if you'll use the bead board. I don't, but I have a friend that loves hers.

Answer 3

I found that a 5 or 10 pound fishing string is the strongest and most efficiant to use when making beaded jewelry. I also bought a set of scrapbooking tools that included a pair of tweezers, small hammer, hole punches and a needle. The needle is good to poke out the holes in defective beands and the hammer and hole punches are good for creating holes in other objects to make them into pendants (Pop Caps are a big one with me.) The tweezers are for your little pieces that could be hard to pick up. You'll need beads and pendants of your preference, perhaps a roll of elastic (for slip on bracelets) and a pack of closures. You may also want to pick up a beading magazine, they're usually full of tips on how to create more intricate pieces. Enjoy your work, take your time and don't get frusterated. It's exteremely rewarding in the end.

Answer 4

for your first pieces - don't worry about brands - there are so many types of jewelry -making you will probably settle on one - so don't spend big bucks until you are ready...go to your local library or bead store and either check out a book or take a class. You will need a pair of flat nose pliers and round nose pliers, beads, stringing media (Beadalon, Accuflex, fishing line) crimps, clasps, earring findings and headpins. With this stash you can do almost anything!

Check the referenced site for info online...and buying resources.

Answer 5

I am an instructor of jewelry at the Kalamazoo Institue of Art, I recomend that all my students obtain copies of Rio Grande's catalogs. Find their web site, but call their 800 number to ask for catalogs. They charge $10 to order catalogs online, but the phone order is free.
You will need: round nose pliers, square nose pliers, chain nose plers, a pair of flush cutters, needle files and general bead stringing supples. The pliers and beading supples can be found at any good craft store, but the flush cutters can only be found at a jewelers supply.
I suggest that you find copies of "Art Jewelry" and "Bead and Button" magazines to give you basic instructions and get you started. You may also check for classes at bead stores or local schools.
good luck,
Nan

Answer 6

I do mostly wire with beadwork and I use a lot of different types and sizes of pliers. I really like BeadSmith brand. They are great quality at really reasonable prices. I get them online at Make Something (http://www.makesomething.net) and have always had a positive experience ordering from them.

Answer 7

You will be requires jewelry making tweezers, jewellery making tools, aluminium display tins, dapping tools, watchmaker tools, diamond tools, polishing blocks.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

There's some info on various types of pliers, wire, etc., on this page of my site, as well as instructions on how to make various kinds of clasps, etc.:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/wire.htm


If you're also interested in designing and making your own beads for the jewelry, or just as the focal beads, polymer clay can be used to make them look almost any way you want as well as any size, shape, etc.... they can even be made as faux metal, glass, wood, gemstones (turquoise, jade, ivory, amber, pearl, etc.). Some of the links on the pages I put in above will show you some of the possibilities, but mostly check on this Table of Contents page at my site for all the ways polymer clay can be treated to produce many varied effects:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(scroll all the way down, then to go to a particular page click on its name in the alphabetical navigation bar on the left)

Here are some of the pages for making jewelry, making attachers for beads, etc... mostly polymer clay, but also translatable to other jewelry-making:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads.htm
..... http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads-holes.htm
http://glassattic.com/polymer/jewelry.htm (necklaces,bracelets,earrings,hair,etc)
http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_cording.htm



HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 10

Go to http://www.bhg.com click on bead crafting. It will show you the tools you will need and give you other information of interest.