DIY Tutorial: Chandelier Crystal Earrings

Love them but don't want to make them? Click here to buy them at my Etsy shop.

I have A LOT of jewelry supplies lying around. Since I am trying to save money, I'm going to go ahead and use the things I already have to do tutorials with. Jewelry tutorials are the easiest for me to make since I have been making jewelry for almost 10 years now. Plus, it's pretty AND you get to wear it while having the satisfaction of knowing you made it yourself (which is especially awesome when you get compliments on it!).

I wanted to do a pair of chandeliers for this post for a few reasons. The first is that it is not much more difficult than some of the other earrings I have done tutorials for on this site. (Check out: Christmas Tree Earrings to see what I mean). It's essentially the same thing really. It just takes longer and you have to repeat steps multiple times.

I chose to do my earrings with Swarovski crystal. Swarovski beads are pretty expensive though, so if you don't already have some on hand, you can use pretty much any bead as long as they will fit nicely in the frames you choose. You can also pick any frames you like. There are usually a few different types at craft stores.

Materials:

- A pair of chain nose pliers

- A pair of round nose pliers

- A pair of cutters

- 2 Chandelier frames

- Headpins (one for each loop on your chandelier frames)

- Beads (I used 4mm, 5mm, and 6mm Swarovski crystal but you can choose whatever you want as long as they are small enough to fit in the frames).

- 2 Earring wires

Directions:

Step 1: Place beads you want for the center of your chandelier on an headpin. Grab the end of the head pin (the end with no head) and bend it at the top of the beads. Be careful not to do it too aggressively, or the top crystal may crack. You will want to make sure that there is room for the headpin and the beads in the middle of your chandelier. If the headpin is too long, or the beads are too large, the piece will not dangle correctly.

Step 2: Next, take the round nose pliers and grab the head pin at the top of the beads. Make sure it is as close to the beads as possible without actually touching the top bead. Grab the end of the head pin and bend it around the looping pliers, pulling to make a round shape with the wire.

Step 3: Next, cut off the excess wire leaving some room to complete the rest of the loop.

Step 4: Finally, use the chain nose pliers to bend the wire into a complete loop. I find it easiest to push up at the same time as bending to make a nice even loop. This step can be difficult if you've never made jewelry before, so you may want to practice on some empty head pins before trying it. Okay, so now push the loop closed. This piece is finished.

Step 5: Repeat this process with all other dangling pieces. How many beads you put on which loop in the chandelier frames is entirely up to you. I decided to keep it simple and put two larger beads for the middle piece and one small bead on each bottom loop (see photos). You can be creative and put as many as you'd like for each loop. Just make sure they will dangle correctly and not get stuck when they hang. Attach pieces as you make them by opening the loop you made on the headpins and closing them around the loops on the chandelier frames using a pair of chain nose pliers.

Step 6: Once all your pieces are on the frames, open the earring wires and slip the frames onto them. Close them with the chain nose pliers.

You're done!

Love them but don't want to make them? Click here to buy them at my Etsy shop.

Sushi Rice and Rolls

I absolutely LOVE sushi! But, as we all know, it can be really expensive. I wanted to learn how to make it on my own so I started with cucumber rolls. Sushi rice is really good and not as incredibly complicated as it might seem. I found a good recipe on Allrecipes.com and have used it many times. I find that I have to adjust the vinegar to taste and usually only put in 3/4 of what the recipe calls for at first, and then continue adding it until it's just right. Sometimes that means adding more and sometimes a little less.

Now finding sushi grade fish was a more difficult task. At first, I would go to a sushi restaurant and ask them to charge me for a chunk of fish. It was expensive though- not as expensive as eating in the restaurant but still too expensive for a home cooked meal that I had to spend lots of time and energy to prepare. Then, someone told me about a store called Marukai. It's a Japanese grocery store that offers sushi grade fish at a much lower price. You have to pay a yearly membership fee of about $10, but it's totally worth it! They have tons of really interesting products that you can't find at regular grocery stores. The nearest one is about 25 minutes away from my apartment so I don't go all the time, but when I do, I stock up on Enoki mushrooms, shiso leaves, various sauces, roasted seaweed, and udon soup.

Here is a link to Marukai's website: http://www.marukai.com/index-e.html

If you do't have a Marukai near you, you can always order sushi grade fish off the internet: http://www.catalinaop.com/

Okay. Time to learn how to make some sushi. Please note that I am not Japanese. There are probably things I don't do the traditional way in this tutorial. Think of this more like a born-and-raised American's attempt to make a traditional dish with the limited resources available in America. My intent is not to offend anyone or to sully the rich tradition of making sushi.

To start, I'm going to provide the link to the sushi rice recipe. Rather than retyping it, it makes more sense to give the original link so you can read the reviewers' comments at the bottom of the page:

Sushi Rice Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-sushi-rice (you will need to click on this link. It will not work to cut and paste it into you address bar.

Now. You'll need a few things for the rest of the recipe:

Kitchen Materials:

- A bamboo rolling mat (Makisu)

- Cutting board

- A sharp knife

- A wooden spoon or spatula

Ingredients:

- Filling for rolls, cut into long strips (can be cucumber, avocado, fish, etc.)

- Seaweed sheets big enough for rolls

- Wasabi

- Soy Sauce

Directions to make rolls:

Step 1: Make sushi rice according to directions.

Step 2: Lay bamboo rolling mat out on hard surface. Place seaweed sheet on top. Apply layer of rice to 2/3rds of the seaweed (see photos) about 1/8-1/4 inches thick. I usually combine a little rice vinegar with water in a cup and wet my hands before touching rice. It makes it really easy to spread evenly. Wet seaweed that is not covered in rice with a little of this water as well so that when the roll is completed, the seaweed on the end will stick.

Step 3: Add fillings (see photos). Apply small amount of wasabi to finger and run finger over rice you that you have the faint taste of wasabi in every bit of roll. Roll bamboo mat over so that seaweed starts to roll. You'll want your fillings to be at the beginning of the roll. Curl back bamboo mat and continue to roll so that bamboo mat does not go into seaweed roll (see photos). Continue to roll until all seaweed is incorporated then give one last tug on the bamboo mat, holding bottom of mat and pulling the portion still around the sushi tightly. Please note that this step takes practice. Unless you are just meant to be an amazing sushi chef, your first rolls will likely come out lop sided and sad looking. It took me some time to figure it out and my rolls are still not perfect. No worries, they still taste awesome! Below are photos of how to roll the sushi but be aware that I put too much rice on this one. The photos above are a better guide to how much rice shout be in the roll.

Step 4: Remove from bamboo mat and place on cutting board. Wet a very sharp knife with some vinegar water and cut through rolls to make bite sized pieces.

Directions to make Sushi Bowls:

Step 1: Add sushi rice to bowl. Cut up fish or other toppings into 1 inch pieces. Place on top of rice. Add other ingredients if desired (strips of seaweed, sesame seeds, seasonings, etc.). Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce on the side.

DIY Steampunk Gears Necklace

Like it? Love it? But don't wanna make it? You can buy it HERE. (If sold out, let me know if you'd like another and I will create a special order for you).

I have always been obsessed with watches, clocks, and gears, so when "steampunk" jewelry started to come into style, I was enthralled.

I had found a small package of these thin gear shaped metal pieces at Michael's and just had to have them. They sat in one of my craft supplies boxes for a few months while I thought long and hard about what to do with them. I bought some actual watch gears as well and added them to my box. A long time friend, Jolee, and I, had a craft night a couple months ago and came up with the idea to make necklace pendants using the gears. This necklace was the result:

This necklace is not difficult to make. Expensive? Well, kinda. I suppose that if you want to make a really cool one of a kind necklace, the price of materials might be worth it. If you want to make a bunch of these babies, it's also worth buying the materials.

Materials:

- Thin metal gear pieces (the ones in the photo range from about 1/3 inch to 1 inch. Unfortunately, I could not find a photo of these on Michael's website but I got them in the jewelry making section of Michael's). Here's an auction on EBAY of something that would work but if you want to keep this project cheap, find them at Michael's.

- A few actual small gears from a watch. Click for link to a similar product.

- Chain (between 14 and 24 inches depending on how long you want the necklace to be. See steps below for general guide on necklace lengths).

- 4 8mm jump rings.

- Clasp for necklace

- A pair of Chain nosed pliers

- E6000 glue

- Toothpick or other pointed object to apply and remove excess glue

- A pair of Side Cutters

Directions:

Step 1: Lay out your large gears in a formation that you like on a large piece of paper. Play around with the formation until you are happy with it. The gears need to be overlapping each other in a way that offers enough surface area to apply glue.

Step 2: Apply a small amount of E6000 to the end of a toothpick or other pointy object. Use toothpick to evenly spread glue on back of one gear and overlap on top of another gear. Press down and continue with all other gears until your formation has been completely glued together. Glue small gears on top of main formation. I tried to add these pieces to places that had too much glue bubbling out. Wait for about an hour to dry.

Step 3: While waiting, prepare chain by using side cutters to cut two equal length pieces that will be secured to either side of your pendant. A 14 inch chain (two 7 inch pieces) will yield an extremely short necklace but you have to add in the size of the pendant. If the pendant is 2 inches wide, you'll end up with a 16 inch necklace which is a pretty standard length. It should fall at the collar bone. If you want something longer, do a 16 inch chain (8 inches on each side). With the addition of a 2 inch pendant to the length, you'll end up with a standard 18 inch necklace. Please see the photo below for more lengths.

Step 4: Attach clasp to end of chain by opening jump ring with chain nose pliers, adding clasp and end of chain onto the jump ring. Close using pliers by squeezing it shut. Make sure the jump ring is fully closed. I swear half of the jewelry I fix is due to jump rings being slightly open. Repeat steps with other part of clasp and other half of chain.

If you have two sets of pliers,

click here for an easier way to do this.

Step 5: After gears are completely dry, remove from paper. Pull any excess paper off back carefully so that no paper can be seen from the front.

Step 6: Open 2 jump rings and find holes on either side of the pendant to put them through. Add one side of chain to each jump ring and close using pliers. Wait 24 hours before wearing to ensure glue is completely dry. Enjoy! Oh! And watch out for sharp parts that might protrude out of the small gears. You can clip off any sharp pointy parts with your side clippers. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Like it? Love it? But don't wanna make it? You can buy it HERE. (If sold out, let me know if you'd like another and I will create a special order for you).

Here's another one I made:

Check out my other DIY tutorials:

Pearl and Crystal Bracelet

How to make a Chalkboard Necklace

Tutorial on how to make a magnetic chalkboard Herbs/Spice rack!

Make Ink blots into Framed Art

Swarovski Christmas Tree Earrings

Succulent garden… in a fish bowl!

DIY Beaded Peacock Earrings

DIY Feather Headband

DIY Memory Wire Crystal Bracelet