How To Make Your Own Funky Jewellery

Have you ever thought about creating your own personalised jewellery. Maybe playing with beads when you were younger but have never touched them since. The easiest jewelry to create is probably a necklace and with just a litle thought can look either funky or elegant and appropriate in both cases to the rest of the outfit you are wearing.

The first thing you need to decide is what to make the necklace from. Semiprecious stones are a good choice such as jade, amber or other semiprecious jewels already polished and with holes in them ready to string. Or you can start from scratch. If you live near the sea, or go on holiday there, you can wander along the shore and look for stones, you will be surprised at the attractiveness and variety, although you are unlikely to find anything truly valuable. However, don’t think about value, it’s about looks that complement your outfit.

The next step is to polish your stones. This will take some time. Start with a rough abrasive  to get the basic shape and take the roughness off and gradually polish with softer abrasives and cloths until you finally get the finish you want. It does not pay to hurry this process, the more care you take, the better the final jewel will be.

Now you need to drill your stones in order to string them together.  Many tools are available for this - the miniature drills used by model makers are the most obvious. Line your beads up before drilling them so that you know exactly where to drill and again take care. Having invested all the time and effort into polishing your stones, you do not want to break or scratch them at this stage.

Stringing your beads is the next step. The best thing to use for this is jewellers thread, although other threads may be used. Be careful, though, sewing cotton and the like will be too soft and will break and fishing line is to hard and may cut its way through your beads - and your neck if you are not careful. Ensure that you have the beads ordered as you want them before tying the thread. You can thread the beads a number of times before tying the knot, but once that knot is finished it will be difficult to change without starting over with a new piece of thread.

With some creativity and time it is possible to make some truly unusual articles of jewellery. I know somebody who pierced orange pips to make a necklace - it looks great. Try carving and polishing small pieces of coal, it looks just like jet, with little or no cost. It may not last long, but jewellery like this is not meant to last forever.