One of my all time favorite wholesalers of findings, which includes chains by the foot and wire, is CGM. They have a web site, and you can see some of their products on it now; however, it is worth calling them at 1-800-246-5246 to get a catalog. Warning though – it may take awhile for the catalog to get to you, but you will get it. Also, this is a real wholesale company, so they do check to see if you have a tax ID certificate.

Of course, whatever I just make is always my favorite piece of jewelry, but I really like the necklace and earring set I recently made. Hopefully a bracelet is soon to come….
First, here’s my Coin Pearl and Stick Chain Necklace.

Then I had to make these Wire Wrapped Coin Pearl Earrings to match.

One of the great things about using wire when making jewelry is that you can fabricate so many components, and that includes chain. I actually buy a good amount of prefabricated chain and use it in my jewelry making, but it is also cool (though a little time consuming, yes) to make my own. My last chain design I call the Wire Wrapped Stick Chain. Actually, once I got going, this started to work up pretty quickly. Now I just need to figure out what kind of interesting pendant I might dangle from the center.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I love working with chain as a component for making jewelry. While I have made a few chains on my own, I very often use prefabricated chain, which I buy by the roll and then snip off on an as-need basis. Recently, I heard about an article in Blueprint magazine touting the trend in chain jewelry making, so I got myself a copy to check it out.
You can see a little of this same article (which is only 3 pages long in the actual issue) on the Blueprint web site. According to the article there …read more

Men are notoriously difficult to buy or make something for as far as gifts. Most wouldn’t mind a number of electronic doo-dads, but you basically have to be a rocket scientist to figure out all the RAMS, ROMS, etc that go with whatever their dream machine is. Plus, of course, that stuff isn’t cheap either. So, what’s a busy jewelry maker to do? Charm him.
Charms are a great way to personalize just about any piece of jewelry, and this goes for both men and women of course. Obviously, a charm bracelet may be a little over the top for your …read more

Actually, I can’t say these guys are new or even new to me because I’ve seen ads before for Ornametea.com in various beading and jewelry magazines for years, but I just really started looking at their site after being contacted by the company to check out some samples, including someof their very cool fiber beads.
They have kinds of interesting fiber beads, such as felt and crocheted beads, very “in” now with all the rave going on concerning mixed media jewelry.
In fact, their site is really a mixed media jewelry haven, including all kinds of interesting stampings, metal findings in brass, …read more

Sometimes you just have to go for those super long, super fabulous earrings, and these pretty much fit the bill. I also like how they incorporate style elements of chains and circles, both are very hot right now in the fashion jewelry world.
Get the whole project how to at Beadalon.

I know a number of young folks who are graduating right about now. Here’s a necklace I made last year for one young lady who was graduating from high school and heading off to college. It is made with scalloped sterling chain, and then I dangled the following beads from each link: light pink crysal beads, hematite stars and hearts, and tanzanite crystals with Bali-style daisy beads. Actually, I don’t think this picture does the necklace justic. It’s really one of those pieces that needs to be worn so that it hangs right.

Geometric shapes are really “in” right now, especially anything that resembles a chain link. And gold, of course, never goes out of style – even if you can only afford gold-filled for your wire needs.
So, these earrings from WigJig, which they call Runway Earrings, caught my eye. You can see the instructions for these on the WigJig website.

I recenlty got a chance to make this Washed Ashore Necklace from a Luxe Jewels. In come in a kit ($49), so except for the tools, everything else (including instructions of course) are included. The chain and wire are gold-filled. The beads are shell – look like Mother of Pearl to moi – and the clasp is vermeil. I set a few beads aside and had enough wire left to make a pair of matching earrings.
For beginners, kits really can’t be beat. This is one of Luxe Jewel’s advanced kits, but they have them available in 3 skill levels: beginner, intermediate …read more