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Enchanting Jewelry-Making Inspirations: An Easy 5-Step Bracelet Watch

Jul 23, 2010 by Kristal Wick
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Inspiration has millions of sources. Where to find inspiration? Nature seems to be the #1 answer, although I've found it in other quite odd sorts of places: a car wash, ice cream shop, the airport, even a mall (the tables in the food court had the most beautiful graphic inlaid design). Sure, nature is great for inspiring; the waterfalls in Hawaii, the wildflowers in Colorado, the fall leaves in New England. But sometimes you just can't make it to one of those "inspiring" places in a weekend. That's the time I pore over my huge collection of books. Other artists' books, beautiful places books, DIY books. Books are perhaps my most favorite thing in life (next to chocolate and a great massage). They transport you to other realms, experiences, secret places, and most certainly invoke inspiration.

I found Cynthia Thornton's Enchanted Adornments incredibly enchanting. The way she weaves a fairy tale throughout her DIY book to show how to add the magic of "story" to your jewelry making is brilliant and more than inspirational. I was so affected, I made a project called "Fairy Time."
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Personalize Your Jewelry with Treasure-Filled Bezels

Making my own fairy-tale jewelry was easy once I had a centerpiece and an idea for bezel links that would connect to it. A little sketch can help you figure out how you want your design to look. Here are my 5 steps:


Step 1: I found this very blingy ornate watch face at a bead show a few years back but couldn't decide what type of watchband to make for it. Cynthia's fanciful tales helped me see its potential as the heart of a bracelet.
 
Spacer 10x10 pixels Step 2: I chose several of my hand-dyed silks for the bezels. I wanted them to have the look and feel of nature: river stones, mossy greens, rich flowery fields of purples, and shimmery blue lakes. 
 
Spacer 10x10 pixels Step 3: Bezels, bezels, bezels! There are tons of wonderful bezels on the market. Deciding your fave might be tough. Just envision the shape, size, and depth (depending on what you want to fill the bezel with).
 
Spacer 10x10 pixels Step 4: Fill bezel chamber halfway with resin and cure according to manufacturer's directions. Cut fabric square to fit inside frame and lay it on top of cured resin. Add a second layer of resin on top of the fabric and cure. Repeat this step for each bezel.
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Step 5: Link bezels and watch face with jump rings and voilà.

Infuse your jewelry with meaning and magic inspired by Cynthia's delightful stories, jewelry techniques, and charming projects in Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed-Media Jewelry with Metal Clay, Wire, Resin & More.

Come bead with me.

Creatively,

 

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Discover your own enchanted adornments with this week's FREE project: Wooded Wonderland by Jess Italia Lincoln.

You get this fabulous project plus 4 others in our new free eBook, How to Make a Bracelet: Making Beaded Bracelets with Beading Daily.
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Enchanted Adornments

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Enter the fantasy fairytale world of Green Girl Studios, where every charm has a story and each piece of jewelry is filled with magic.

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Comments

 
ArdentTie wrote
on Jul 23, 2010 10:51 PM

What a gorgeous piece, Kristal!  It really is magical.  I'm glad that my sister's book was an inspirational point!  I adore the book.  It really is ENCHANTING!

ArdentTie wrote
on Jul 23, 2010 10:53 PM

OH!  And the free project by Jess is fabulous!  One might say that it's "charmed"!

altariel wrote
on Jul 23, 2010 11:42 PM

Such beautiful projects!  I absolutely adore Enchanted Adornments, the projects are very inspirational, Cynthia's knowledge on jewelry making is priceless, and to top it all off her artwork and storyline makes this book really stand out among others.  I can't get enough from this book

KathyV wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 12:13 AM

Enchanted Adornments is one of the most beautiful and inspiring books that I purchased this past year.

Kathy V in NM

SoftFlexGirl wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 12:18 AM

One of my top 5 favorite beading books of all time.  

estoune wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 4:38 AM

Enchanted Adornments is one of the most unique books I've ever come across. I love reading the stories and looking at the jewelry. Anytime I get stuck, I just flip through a few pages and my creativity takes off. Thanks Cynthia!

tammypowley wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 8:00 AM

It is a wonderful book. I especially like how she tied narrative and design into the "how-to" process.

JeanY3 wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 10:45 AM

LOVE your creative bracelet with the focal watch--your silks are mesmerizing! How appropriate to link that to one of the most mesmerizing books of the year by the fabulous Cynthia Thornton, Enchanted Adornments! Such a special book!

xox jean

MargotP@5 wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 11:03 AM

I loved Enchanted Adornments, Cynthia is such an inspiring artist.  So are you, Ms. Wick!  This is fabulous!  Congrats too on the fab new job!

Etips wrote
on Jul 24, 2010 9:46 PM

A great beading book

MelissaJLee wrote
on Jul 25, 2010 8:18 PM

What a beautiful project!  I love that book - one of my all-time favorites.  The projects are attractive, the story is compelling, and, most importantly from my perspective, it's full of really practical information for making jewelry.  

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