Prudence Rogers - Unofficial Lego Jewelry Book: 18 Awesome Designs for Fashion Accessories From Lego® Bricks

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For Alfie, my in-house LEGO expert.

WELCOME TO THE COLOURFUL WORLD OF JEWELLERY MADE FROm LEGO BRICKS!

Whether you are discovering LEGO bricks for the first time, or reliving fond memories from your childhood, the charm of the ultimate construction toy inspires both children and grown-ups and is still going strong after over 50 years. The infinite combinations of bricks mean creations are limited only by your imagination, and this makes them an ideal material for super-creative jewellery pieces.

Celebrities, catwalks and street fashion have all been seen to utilize LEGO components as statement jewellery, but anyone can raid their toy box, or grab a few bricks online and get making.

There are more than 915 million combinations possible with just six 24 bricks, with so many possibilities it has been hard to narrow down a selection to fit into just one book included here are 18 awesome designs covering a range of themes to get you going. Follow the designs to the letter, or use them as a starting point to create infinite variations.

Jewellery made from LEGO bricks is fun and playful layer up multiple pieces in different colour ways, load up your fingers with lots of rings and mix with other bright, fun jewellery.

You may be rediscovering a childhood fascination with the miniature building blocks, but if youve never built anything with LEGO bricks before, fear not, everything in this book is super-easy to make and none of the jewellery techniques require any previous experience. The easy step-by-step instructions will show you how to create the pieces brick-by-brick, including a full list of which parts youll need. Go, create, and most importantly have fun!

If youve used LEGO toys before you will probably have come across step-by-step pictorial instructions. Each project will tell you exactly how many bricks of each type and colour you will need. There are no lengthy instructions, simply follow the pictures and youll have a finished creation in no time childs play! All the techniques you need (there arent many) for turning your models into jewellery are covered at the front of the book.

Some projects are quick, with just a few bricks, so if youre new to building with LEGO bricks, start with these, and build-up to the more complex designs.

Remember, the beauty of LEGO components is the range of possibilities, so dont be limited by the instructions in this book change colours, personalize and adapt to your hearts content!

OK, so first things first, youre going to need to get hold of some LEGO components. Jewellery projects are a little different to the house or the jet plane you built as a child, as you need more small bricks than usually found in a store-bought box of LEGO toys. If youre lucky, you can race off to your old toy box and dust off your treasured LEGO stash from your school days, you may have a good load of pretty standard everyday bricks in an array of rainbow colours. This is a good starting point for getting together what you need for a jewellery project. You will find for the projects in this book that the majority of bricks are pretty common, but there may also be a couple of slightly more unusual pieces here and there, this will help to keep the scale small and avoid creating dinner plate-sized earrings. This shouldnt pose too much of a problem though, as there are many ways to get your hands on individual bricks, or a whole stash if you arent lucky enough to have a childhood collection.

Track down your local LEGO shop where you can buy individual bricks in a pick and mix style, filling a cup with whatever pieces you need. If you havent got a store near you, the LEGO website has a section that works in a similar way called Pick a Brick, you will find the vast majority of the bricks used in this book on that store.

Another option to start up a good collection of general bricks would be to look at auction sites like eBay (see ). Here you will find individual bricks from sellers, but even better, whole boxes of pre-loved, mixed LEGO bricks looking for a new home. This is a quick, cheap way to get together a lot of bricks, but it will be pot-luck which shapes, sizes and colours you get.

Finally, to get hold of some of the slightly more unusual bricks, or if you simply must have a particular colour, check out one of the many brick marketplaces online, such as Brick Owl or BrickLink (see ). These bring together sellers from all over the world specializing in LEGO components and you can search for specific items to buy individually, either new or second-hand.

If all this seems like too much hard work, remember the beauty of LEGO bricks is that you can swap individual bricks you might be missing for something else two 12 bricks may work fine if you dont have a 22 brick, or swap a green one for a blue one, and so on.

New bricks will look just that new and shiny with perfectly straight, sharp edges and corners. Used items can be in varying conditions (sellers will usually state the level of damage) from good to average and so on. Used bricks are likely to have a lot more play (i.e. come apart more easily) than new ones, and may have nicks and or dents along the edges or corners. Older bricks may also have faded and there will be more variation in colour. Either new or used bricks will work for the designs in this book, you just need to decide if you want a really clean, sharp look to your pieces, or if you dont mind things looking a little more rough and less pristine.

So youve got all your bricks ready to go, now you just need a few more items to turn them into some fantastic jewellery creations. Thankfully you dont need loads of equipment to make the pieces in this book, and none of it is hard to come by or expensive.

Use strong glue suitable for plastic to keep your pieces together and secure. An industrial strength glue, such as E6000 works well, as does super glue, two-part epoxy (although these tend to be a bit messy), or plastic pipe cement. Make sure you read the instructions carefully and use in a well-ventilated area, as most of these glues give off strong fumes. It is also possible to use a hot-melt glue gun, but the bond wont be as strong. If youre unsure on the suitability or strength of your glue, test by applying to a few bricks and see how strong the bond is once dry.

These will make it easy to finish your jewellery with a professional look. The most useful pliers for the projects in this book are chain-nose (2) or round-nose (3) pliers that can be used for opening and closing jump rings, creating loops and manipulating findings. Pliers with a serrated surface are handy for inserting screw eyes.

A pair of side flush cutters will give nice clean cuts to ready-made chains and findings.