The Little Box of Basics

If you're new to jewellery making, it can be quite daunting trying to find which findings to use. There seems to be an infinite supply of chains, rings, pins and tools to choose from and it can be quite costly with trial and error to find the right size and type to suit your style of jewellery making.  You might have an idea to turn some really nice beads and charms into a special pair of earrings or some tassels and bells to add to a bohemian style bracelet, but how exactly does it all connect?

We've decided to put together The Little Box of Basics which contains a starter amount of everything you need to make several pieces of costume jewellery. The first box has bronze findings with gold, silver and copper to follow.

This box contains 117 individual items. This allows you to figure out what you will use most of, and you can buy those items in larger quantities if you need to.

You'll find an 18" bronze necklace, 8" bronze bracelet, 5 pairs of kidney ear wires and 5 pairs of fish hook ear wires, and 10 each of 5 different sizes of jump rings, split rings, 25 head pins and 25 eye pins. With the basics included you'll be able to make 12 pieces of jewellery when you add your own charms, beads and embellishments, and you might have some leftover pieces to work with too.

It's only £5 (with £1.50 p&p in the UK) and is slim enough to fit through your letterbox.

See more information about The Little Box of Basics in bronze here.

Easy DIY Make A Geometric Wooden Bead Necklace

These geometric wooden bead necklaces are everywhere and are the perfect summer accessory - easy to wear, pretty colours and fairly minimalist so it's good to know they can be made in a few minutes; in fact, these necklaces are so easy to make, you won't stop at one and will keep on until you have them in several colourways!

Choose a selection of geometric wooden beads - we have polygon beads and various shapes, colours and sizes of wooden beads in stock.

You'll also need some cord to string them onto. We used 1mm thick white waxed cotton cord as it's cheap, strong and goes with all the colours. You can cut the cord to your required length, but around 70cm should be long enough.

You'll think you're back in kindergarten when you start stringing your beads together. 

  Cut the string to length and tie behind the neck.

We chose beads to match a Thank You card to give as a gift - much nicer to receive than a box of chocolates, the happy recipient wears hers all the time...