DIY Pearls with Edge

The pearl has gone super sassy! We are seeing bold, punky pearl jewelry designs on fashion runways and in designer collections these days. So, I thought I would highlight some DIY pearl jewelry ideas with a bit of edge in honor of MiShel's Pearls, Pearls, Pearls blog hop going on today.

 
Pearls and Leather Earrings

I love the look of pearls and leather together. These earrings are quick and easy to make for gifts or for yourself. I also love how this earring project uses crimp cord ends in a unique way, adding an urban chic look to these.

Pearls and Leather Earrings 

Erin Siegel 

Materials:  

12 silver 6mm potato fresh-water pearls 

2 copper 7x6mm rice fresh-water pearls 

2 antique silver-plated 12x6.5mm pewter crimp cord ends 

14 sterling silver 2” headpins 

6” of Black 2mm leather cord 

1 pair of sterling silver ear wires 

Tools:  

Wire cutters 

Chain nose pliers 

Round nose pliers 

Scissors

Instructions:  

1: Use 1 headpin to string 1 silver pearl; make a wrapped loop, making sure to make a loop large enough to string onto the leather. Repeat 5 more times. Use 1 headpin to string 1 copper pearl; make a wrapped loop, again, making sure that your loop in large enough to fit on the leather.  

2: Cut the leather piece in half. Using one 3” piece of leather, string 3 silver pearl dangles, the copper pearl dangle and 3 silver pearl dangles. 

3: Bring the leather ends together and insert them into the crimp end finding. Crimp the crimp end with chain nose pliers. Attach an ear wire to the loop of the crimp end finding. Repeat steps to make the second earring. 

Resources: 

Ear wires: Miss Fickle Media. Leather and crimp ends: Artbeads.com.

 Tattered Silk Necklace 

 Tompkins Tassel Bracelet

from my e-book, Punk Chic Jewelry

For more edgy designs, including how to make the Tattered Silk Necklace and the Tompkins Tassel Bracelet above, check out Punk Chic Jewelry: 16 DIY Jewelry Projects to Add an Urban Edge to Your Wardrobe available through Amazon.com. DIY kits for all the jewelry projects in the book are available now at Ornamentea.com.

Happy creating and thanks for stopping by. I can't wait to see what my co-creatives are making with pearls. If you've created something with pearls, add your link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Punk Chic Jewelry Kits Available Now!

Kits for the projects in Punk Chic Jewelry are available now at Ornamentea.com. There is a kit for each jewelry project. The kits come with all the materials you need, plus full step-by-step instructions are included! You do not need the e-book to buy a kit. Some kits are selling fast. These are limited edition. Once they are gone, they are gone. I would highlight a few favorites for you, but I really love them all!

Shop all the jewelry kits here.

Guitar and Bass Bangle DIY TUTORIAL

 Some things belong together: guitar and bass, ripped jeans and spikes, and silver and gold. This tasseled bangle looks at home on your wrist no matter where you are headed. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create a tassel using leather lacing and metal caps. You'll also work with easy-peasy memory wire.

Purchase a kit to make this project from Ornamentea.com. Kit includes all materials and step-by-step instructions to make the bracelet. Purchase the kit here!

Ingredients:

1 strand of chrome or silver coated size 8 charlotte beads

1 strand of gold coated size 8 charlotte beads

2 antique silver 8mm bell cap w/ loop

1 pack of bracelet memory wire

36” of black 1/8” deerskin leather lace

12” of black waxed linen cord

E6000 adhesive

Tools:

Round nose pliers

Chain nose pliers

Memory wire shears (note: memory wire must be cut with special shears, it will damage regular wire cutters.)

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions:

1: Cut the leather lace into eight 2” pieces. Using a 6” piece of black waxed linen cord (shown in orange for demonstrative purposes only), bind the leather strands together by tightly wrapping around the ends. Tie the binding cord off with a square knot, pull tight and trim close to the knot as shown.

2: Fill 1 end cap half-full of glue and insert the bound leather end. Let dry. Trim the leather lace about 1” from the end cap as shown. Set aside.

3: Repeat steps 1-2 to complete the second leather tassel.

4: Cut about 6 loops of memory wire with memory wire shears. Form a simple loop at one end of the memory wire as shown.

5: Use the memory wire to string all of the chrome and gold charlotte beads as shown and form a simple loop. Attach the tassels to the simple loops and you're done.

Own this idea:

String pearls or larger glass beads on the memory wire and use chain to create tassels instead of leather.

Make a choker using necklace-sized memory wire.

Wanna see more projects like this one? Check out my new e-book, Punk Chic Jewelry: 16 DIY Jewelry Projects to Add an Urban Edge to Your Wardrobe available on Amazon.com now.

 

And to make it super easy and convenient for you to make the projects in this book, Ornamentea.com has created limited edition kits for ALL the jewelry appearing in Punk Chic Jewelry! The kits contain all the materials you need, including the step-by-step instructions. How awesome is that? Each jewelry project is available for purchase separately. You can buy a kit for just one or two of the projects you are interested in or you can get all 17 kits! 

 Click here to shop all the jewelry kits! Hurry, these are limited edition kits. Once these are gone, they may not be available again.
 
Need some inspiration for Punk Chic Style? Follow our board on Pinterest!



 Happy Creating!

Introducing Punk Chic Jewelry

With lots of help from Ornamentea, I've authored my first e-book! I'm extremely excited to present to you, Punk Chic Jewelry: 16 DIY Jewelry Projects to Add an Urban Edge to Your Wardrobe. The book is available on Amazon.com as a kindle edition e-book. Anybody can read kindle books, even without a kindle device. Simply download the FREE kindle reading app for your PC, Mac, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Just look for the Kindle Reading App on the right sidebar of the Amazon book page. I don't have a kindle and I downloaded the app, myself. It was quick and easy! 

These are 3 projects from the book. I'm just giddy to tell you that Ornamentea has created Limited Edition Punk Chic Kits for ALL the jewelry projects in the book! Whooo Hooo! How cool is that? Click here to see all the projects and all the kits!

I had an absolute blast coming up with jewelry projects for this book. It was such a thrill to explore the design style of “Punk Chic” and how I wanted to interpenetrate it. Punk is an exciting, hard-edged genre of fashion that I felt drawn to create around. That’s interesting because I would consider punk to be a little outside my comfort zone. I think that’s exactly why I find it so intriguing! The projects you’ll find here are the result of a personal journey. I pushed myself just a little. I challenged myself to design something against the norm and outside my usual aesthetic, while still being relevant and fashion-forward.

Modern punk fashion or “Punk Couture” is a mix of anarchy and glamour, a more grown-up version of old-school punk. I created jewelry that is street cool yet sophisticated , edgy yet elegant, tough yet pretty and sassy yet playful. I adore every piece. In fact, I can’t wait to order more supplies from Ornamentea.com, recreate each piece for myself and add them to my own collection of jewelry to wear all the time. With a palette of shimmering gold and silver tones, mixed metals, black, white and neutrals, the jewelry pieces in this book are versatile. They’ll go with anything in my wardrobe and they mix and match well with each other. Most importantly though, these projects are easy and fun to create and the finished jewelry makes me feel hip, happening and oh-so-chic when I wear it!

I’d like to thank Cynthia Deis, Queen Bee of Ornamentea for believing in me and my ideas. Because of her, I’m able to design whatever I want from Ornamentea’s vast inventory of supplies and materials. Cynthia makes it easy for me to create fun, fashionable DIY jewelry projects. I love designing for her. I’m proud to consider myself a member of the big O family. I look forward to our journey ahead and continuing this wonderful partnership. Click here to read Cynthia's blog post about our journey to creating this book! I’d also like to thank Caitlin Palmieri. My tutorials for Ornamentea and this book would not be possible without her. She works graphic magic! Her eye for style and design are right on point.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank you, the reader of this book. Without you, none of us would be here doing this. Thank you for your interest in this work and for your support. I appreciate you more than you know. I hope you enjoy the projects in this book as much as I did creating them for you (and me).

 Need some inspiration for Punk Chic Style? Follow our board on Pinterest!