Did you ever consider making your own personalised jewellery. Maybe playing with beads when you were a child but have never touched them since. Necklaces particularly are very easy to make and with just a litle thought can look either funky or elegant and appropriate in both cases to the rest of the outfit you are wearing.
The first thing you need to decide is what to make the necklace from. Semiprecious stones are a good choice such as jade, amber or other semiprecious jewels already polished and with holes in them ready to string. Or you can obtain raw stones and put more work in yourself. If you live near the sea, or go on holiday there, you can go beachcombing and look for stones, you will be surprised at the attractiveness and variety, although you are unlikely to find anything truly valuable. However, don’t think about value, it’s about looks that complement your outfit.
The next step is to polish your stones. This can be time consuming. You start with an abrasive to get the basic shape and take the roughness off and gradually polish with softer abrasives and cloths until you finally get the finish you want. It does not pay to hurry this process, the longer you spend at this, the better the end result is likely to be.
Now you need to drill your stones in order to string them together. Many tools are available for this - the most obvious one being the miniature drills used by model makers. Line your beads up before drilling them so that you know exactly where to drill and again take care. Having invested all the time and effort into polishing your stones, you do not want to break or scratch them at this stage.
Next to string your beads. The best thing to use for this is jewellers thread, although other threads could also be employed. Be careful, though, sewing cotton and the like will be too soft and will break and fishing line is to hard and may cut its way through your beads - and your neck if you are not careful. Make sure you place the beads exactly as you want them before tying the thread. You can thread the beads a number of times before tying the knot, but once that knot is finished it will be difficult to change without starting over with a new piece of thread.
With some creativity and time it is possible to make some really personalised articles of jewellery. I know somebody who pierced orange pips to make a necklace - it looks great. Try carving and polishing small pieces of coal, it looks just like jet, with little or no cost. It won’t last long, but jewellery like this is not meant to last forever.
