How hard is it to make jewellery?

[BraveLilBear]

Apologies if this has been 'done' before but... How hard is it to make your own jewellery?

I'm very taken with the idea of polymer clay-based necklaces, chain maille and combining the two. I have zero experience but have an eye for design and usually pretty good hand-eye co-ordination.

I also (and this could be a kicker) have very little experience of jewellery, how people wear it etc - which is partly my motivation to make my own, so I can make something that suits me without needing to track it down and pay loads for it.

Anyone have any experience?

I make fairly basic beaded jewellery, its a bit fiddly but enjoyable. A friend uses polymer clay and says its really easy to work with. I have no idea about chain maille sorry, I got hooked on the jewellery maker channel as they do demonstrations on there.

Lol desperate - that's exactly what's happened to me! Was flicking through the other Saturday and fell in love with it

It's mindblowing the amount of different techniques you can try. And I love how smiley they all are.

I fear that as soon as I get to grips with some of the techniques I'll be totally addicted in no time! Will give it a go

I've made chain maille stuff and it's a bit tricky working out the pattern, but once you've got that sorted then it's fairly easy. You'd need jump rings (you can buy them ready made, I had to make my own as part of a silver smithing course at a local college), round nose pliers, plus a way of anchoring the end of your chain to a work bench or similar. I didn't bother soldering any of my rings, but be aware that not bothering does mean you'll be fixing it every now and then!

There are plenty of videos on youtube that show how to do it.

Making Jewellery Magazine is good for ideas (but check as there's another with a similar name which is super frumpy) And see if there's a local course somewhere as it's a nice way to meet like minded people too...

I am just a little addicted to Jewellerymaker - what is mindblowing is how much money I can spend very quickly.

making your own jewellery can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. polymer clay is great fun, as is chain maille. i am glad you all like jm, i have been on there a few times, have applied to be a guest designer and am friends with several of them, including the newest ones. I did a course there in feb, and am currently trying to decide whether to book myself onto the intermediate chainmaille, the intermediate macrame or the fashion leather courses. i cant quite decide, i want to do them all

Jewellery making in general is easy especially beading and wireworks. Chainmail on the other hand is quite fiddly and requires the right tools and a lot of patience!

I have only done one thing in polymer clay. Not my thing but fun nonetheless.

The other advantages of jewellery making are that you can do something really quickly and have something unique and just how you want it. The major downside is that it is addictive (and potentially expensive)