Gay Isber - Making Wow Jewelry: Techniques and Projects for Making a Statement (Fox Chapel Publishing) 25 Unique Attention-Grabbing DIY Fashion Pieces with Step-by-Step Photos, Beauty Shots, & Creative Variations

TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS

FOR MAKING A STATEMENT

GAY ISBER

WITH FASHION PHOTOS BY

CANDICE GHAI

Dedicated to my kind and patient husband, Kevin McMillan, who never seems to mind that our home is filled with sparkles.

Gay Isber

2020 by Gay Isber, Candice Ghai, and Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Making Wow Jewelry is an original work, first published in 2020 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders.

All photography by Gay Isber unless noted below.

Photography by Candice Ghai:

bottom by Picsfive

) by Freepik

by venkatesh venky

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Print ISBN 978-1-4971-0002-2
eISBN 978-1-6076-5639-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019003290

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Whether you are already an experienced jewelry maker or are just familiar with the basics, this book will help you develop the skills you need to make some truly eye-catching pieces. Other crafters will beg to know what techniques you used to create glimmering gem window charms, beetle wingembedded bracelets, and crystal-encrusted necklaces.

Some projects in this book will teach you how to use new products you may have never heard of to achieve effects you didnt think were possible, and some projects will just use tried-and-true materials and techniques in creative and intriguing ways. You can customize many of these projects to be more or less attention-grabbing, but even a small ring or a single bangle can have the wow factor that this book is all about.

With projects ranging from earrings, necklaces, and rings to crowns, bracelets, and tassels, youll learn how to colorize crystals, incorporate feathers, create reusable molds, cast with resin, embed in clay, sew with wire, and more. Plus, throughout the jewelry glamor shots in this book, youll see a lot of extra pieces of jewelry that arent covered as step-by-step projects. But heres the secret: by the time you learn all the techniques covered and make all the projects, youll be fully equipped to make these other pieces, too, or simply be inspired by them to make your own custom creations. Youll be able to apply your new skills to create oodles of striking jewelry items and accessories.

So read on to learn how you can make stunning, wearable works of art that will really make people say, Wow!

Before you start any of the projects in this book, youll want to review the variety of topics covered in this section. Some sections cover those basic essentials you may need a refresher on, like creating bead links; others focus on specific materials like epoxy clay or techniques like mold making; and still others give you things to think about while creating your designs, like the role color plays. Return to this part of the book as needed for more inspiration and guidance!

Fashion fades, only style remains the same.

Coco Chanel

I have been teaching jewelry design, jewelry making, and entrepreneurial skills at Austin Community College since 2012; I love teaching others how to create beautiful things. It is a passion for me, and this book is a continuation of those classes and that passion. But I didnt start out in jewelry.

I remember the first time I added artist to my tax return. I was twenty-eight years old, and it was a eureka moment for me, because I was finally putting a stamp on what I was and had been my entire life. Ever since I was a little girl, I had been a maker of things. By the time I was twenty-eight, I had gone through my glass period, my ceramic period, my collage period, and my copper period, and was smack dab in the middle of my painting period.

The fateful design from Project Dingle Dangle!

Due to a twist in life and a new marriage, I moved from Texas to Waterloo, Ontario, with my sons. For the first year, I couldnt legally work, but that allowed me the free time to rehab our house, work on paintings, and begin dabbling in jewelry making, despite no training in the craft. At one point, I gave an early bracelet I made to a friend, who showed another friend, and pretty soon I was designing a necklace for a major company! I designed a velvet ribbon with a barrel clasp that had three lobster claws with color-coordinated beads dangling from them. I needed to make 9,000 of these necklaces, so I quickly put an ad in the local newspaper for workers. I bought wire, beads, ribbon, and commercial-sized cookie sheets to keep the beads organized on my dining room table. I called it Project Dingle Dangle. At this point, I still did not know about head pins, eye pins, or how to make an earring. Some of my workers knew more about making jewelry than I did. We all worked hard on those necklaces for three intense weeks and had a lot of fun.

After that, I kept on making jewelry independently, and not much later, I happened upon a sturdy 1920s electrical switching building for sale. It was so dirty, wrecked, and ugly that my friends thought I was crazy to buy it, but I saw the potential. I sold my house and bought the building. I had great ideas for revamping it but a tight budget, so I hired talented but down-on-their-luck men from a local soup kitchen line to help me. In just six months, we created my vision of a happy and creative store/studio/home, a space full of light, beads, happiness, color, and joy.