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Essential Jewelry-Making Supplies

MarigoldTortelli by MarigoldTortelli

Making Jewelry

Making your own jewelry is a great craft and can be a source of income if you decide to sell your creations. If you're thinking about making your own jewelry or you've just started making your own jewelry you might not have thought of all the supplies that can make jewelry-making easier and help you branch out to make complex pieces. Here are some jewelry-making supplies that will be useful for anyone who spends a lot of time crafting beautiful pieces of jewelry.

If you would like to know where to go online to buy jewelry-making raw materials such as unique beads, visit my lens about where to find jewelry-making materials.

Pliers

Pliers can be used to make a quick adjustment to a piece of jewelry or they can help you craft the item from start to finish. Pliers are especially useful for wire-wrapping. Having a set of jeweler's pliers is a necessity for making jewelry.
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Helping Hands

When you work with jewelry you often wish you had another pair of hands. So, buy some helping hands. This tool will hold an object in place and then you can have both hands free to work on the item. It is an extremely useful tool and, for such a low price, is well worth the investment.
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Magnifying Lamp

A magnifying lamp is great for working with small pieces. Being able to easily see small parts will not only help you make your creations perfect, but it will also eliminate headaches from straining to see small pieces.
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Needle Files

Needle files can be used to file down the last piece of wire after you've completed your wire-wrapping project. They can also be used to smooth away any imperfections in the components of your jewelry creation. This is important as it will keep the jewelry from getting snagged on clothing. It will also help you to make your creations perfect.
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Beading Mat

A beading mat will help keep your beads in place. They are specially created to keep beads from rolling. Additionally, if you are working at a darker wood desk, a light-colored bead mat will make it easier to see all the components of your jewelry creations so you won't lose track of small pieces.
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Wire Guards

Wire guards (also called wire protectors or thimble guards) go around the wire where it hooks around the clasp or connector. They keep the wire from wearing out so your jewelry will last a long time.
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Jewelry Design Ideas

Perhaps the most important tool you will need is an idea for a design. When you're first starting out it can be difficult to think of a specific jewelry design that you'd like to make. It's useful to pick up a book that has jewelry design ideas so you can try several different designs and learn different techniques.
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Talk About Your Favorite Jewelry-Making Tool

Which jewelry-making tool do you find most useful? Even if it's not listed here, let us know.

  • flinnie Mar 9, 2012 @ 6:18 am | delete
    Hi I have used kits to make jewelry,they are a bit more in cost but what I liked about them is you get every thing needed in one place plus you start collecting the tool that come with the kits.I have always loved making things.
  • ScrollSawChuck Feb 6, 2012 @ 2:46 pm | delete
    Great lens. Between my wife's jewelry making and my woodworking we have most of the tools you mention. Right On!
  • charlesgrimes Dec 25, 2011 @ 10:09 am | delete
    Thanks for the interesting info on beads.
  • mumsgather Dec 12, 2011 @ 4:55 am | delete
    These are great. Makes me feel like taking up diy jewelry too.
  • veryirie Nov 3, 2011 @ 1:34 pm | delete
    Love my needle nose pliers, but I also think a beading mat would be helpful too.
  • CruiseReady Oct 19, 2011 @ 8:26 am | delete
    There sure are a lot of different tools for jewelry making, aren't there? But the ones you've shown here are reasonably priced, and it looks from this like someone could set themselves up to do a few jewelry pieces fairly inexpensively. It's something to think about, anyway!
  • RenaissanceWoman2010 Sep 19, 2011 @ 11:22 am | delete
    I have always wanted to learn to make jewelry. Thanks for these great resources!
  • NightMagic Aug 26, 2011 @ 10:59 am | delete
    I love jewelry, always have. Recently, I started making some for myself. Thanks for the info in your lens. I had never heard of helping hands with magnifier. That would be perfect for me. Never heard of the beading mat either but it sure would have helped with the last thing I made.
  • Tipi Aug 24, 2011 @ 2:43 pm | delete
    You seem to have all that's necessary for successful jewelry making, I enjoy working with polymer clay for making jewelry so those would be my favorite tools. A beading mat sure does make life easier.
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MarigoldTortelli

I am a freelance writer. I love to read and listen to music. I often write about the best places on the web.

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