Author of Making Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery, Linda Jones, with some tips on making beautiful and original jewellery from everyday objects.
Your new book Making Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery has 30 completely new projects. Where do you find the inspiration for your designs?
This book was born out of the financial global recession – in fact, I wanted to call it ‘Bling on a Budget’– because the conception behind it all, was to create a project book that would provide inspiration on how to create fashionable, stylish jewellery using everyday objects: such as buttons, bolts, washers, pebbles, feathers, etc… creating jewellery for next to nothing. However, if you don’t want to recycle household objects into your pieces you can supplement semi-precious stones, crystals or lamp-worked beads … so, it’s up to you and your budget!
A gorgeous necklace made from sparkly vintage buttons
and assorted pearls beads
Bead and wire jewellery making is one of the fastest growing crafts. What is it about wire that makes it such a great material for jewellery making?
Wire is such a flexible, malleable material and once you know a few basic techniques, you can attach and link it together, create structures and shapes, coil, twist, spiral, hammer and wrap it … there are endless permutations and variations … that’s why I shall never stop learning and developing with it – and after 6 published books with CICO, I still haven’t run out of ideas! I also think its popularity stems from the fact that it’s extremely affordable to purchase and you only need to invest in a few simple tools to get started. Basically, if you can tie your own shoelaces, you can be taught to make wire jewellery!
Yin-yang earring made from jade beads and silver wire
The idea of make do and mend is very popular at the moment and the projects in Making Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery use lots of creative and inexpensive materials. What advice can you give for creating beautiful jewellery on a budget.
There is a current trend for mixed media jewellery at the moment – so, my advice to anyone wishing to create their own unique pieces, is before they source expensive handmade beads, designer clasps, etc… and purchase from suppliers, they should first look at their own jewellery at home and find pieces that they no longer wear, or are sitting, broken at the back of a drawer gathering dust … or possibly, check out second pieces in Charity shops, garage sales and markets and use these as a starting point to designing a new piece. An old brooch can be recyled into a necklace pendant or wired onto the front of a ring shank. Broken chains can be re-connected to form charm bracelets … You can take the old and mix and match it with the new, to refashion something totally unique that blends with your style and personality.
You founded The WireWorkers Guild. Can you tell us more about it?
This came about due to a recent surge in popularity in jewellery craft magazines in the U.K. When I started teaching and writing books for CICO, my market was mainly based in the U.S. but now, there are half a dozen jewellery magazines in the U.K. and a wealth of bead suppliers. These magazines have created clear catagories: such as ‘beading’, ‘wirework’, ‘precious metal clay’ and ‘lampworking’ and I have been aware that ‘wirework’ has drifted into a craft that incorporates clipping and connecting ready-made components together, straight from the suppliers shelves. You can purchase kits with ready-made jump rings, ear wires, clasps, chains, etc… which means that the real craftsmanship of making wire jewellery is slowly being lost. Therefore, the idea of the Guild is a forum to share and pass on ideas. Anyone can join, it is a totally free forum for promoting, exchanging knowledge and ideas and ultimately, helping to inspire and encourage personal artistic development, elevating wirework as an art form. Please see: www.wireworkersguild.blogspot.com for more information.
Crossed wires bracelet
How did you get started in jewellery making and design? Is it something you were always interested in?
As a small child, I was always creating and making things, as well as drawing and painting and following school, I went to art college, but veered off into catering and then secretarial and clerical work as a means of paying the rent! However, at the age of 30, married but without kids, I decided to do an Enamelling Jewellery course to get some creativity back into my life … and I was hooked! Following this, I studied traditional jewellery and silversmithing for 2 years and when I found myself pregnant with my first child, I continued experimenting with metalwork from home, designing and creating pieces for my friends and family. However, my career into wirework and beading came totally by accident and purely as a means of financial survival. Sadly, my marriage fell apart and I had to think of how to get regular income as a single mum of two small children. I realised I couldn’t make enough profit from selling my metal jewellery – the competition from mass production was too great – so I set my mind to teaching, as this was the only way I could charge for my time, plus materials. So I set my sights on running portable workshops teaching Wirework and Beading – my metal being transposed to wire and the beads became my colour palette. I applied for a grant from my local Arts Council to set my first classes, which later led to running workshops at the local Adult Education Centre … and the rest has just evolved from there!
Making Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery (£12.99) by Linda Jones, photography by Geoff Dann, David Munns and Stuart West, published by CICO Books
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