Wood is a material that has found many uses in our homes for indoor and garden furniture. Although wood was still used to make jewelry in ancient times, its use has been growing rapidly nowadays. These DIY wood fashion jewelry ideas will definitely give you some inspiration.
They come in different patterns, style, designs and sizes. Wood jewelry creates a very distinct appeal and value when used to craft gems.
Tons of options
Due to its versatile and luxurious possibilities, wood has gained a greater appreciation of its beauty through the creation of even highly-priced jewelry pieces. If you want to make a stronger fashion statement with jewelry, then you must be ready to use wood to craft these pieces.
The taste of bold jewelry has turned to the lightweight wood varieties eliminating the use of dull and heavier jewelry made from other materials such as metal.
Wood gems, especially on a sunny day, have a warm luster that is attention-seeking. Wood has, however not been used alone in making jewelry but with other complementing materials such as plastic beads and metallic linkers.
To keep up with this fashion trend and to understand the basics of making wooden gems, here is an explanation of 3 wood jewelry ideas that you can practice at home with basic woodworking tools, mostly readily available materials:
Wooden pendant necklace
Wood pendants vary from simple ones where a single type of wood is used and left at its natural state to those that include the use of resins and crafted pieces of burl wood.
Materials needed
A piece of wood preferably hardwood- the wood should have your preferred color, grain structure and patterns.
- Saw: coping or a banding saw preferably.
- Power sander or sandpaper mounted on a sanding block.
- Power driller
- Finish, preferably a wipe-on and an application cloth.
- Chain and link rings
How to make the wooden necklace
Pick your wood and assemble the above materials. You should be very sure of the type of wood you want to use to reduce interruptions of wood change that may occur when the work commences. Use the chosen saw to mill out smaller pieces from the block of wood.
Choose a reasonable thickness for your pieces such as 1/8″ to make sure that you have a workable size. Select the strip with the most appealing surface and grain patterns. Use the sander to remove any irregularities on the chosen piece. Make sure that the thickness of the pieces reduces to half the original size after sanding. Use a coping saw to cut the strips into the required shape and size that you want to use for your necklace and then drill it near the ends.
During drilling, you may use a tape on the back of the piece and secure it on a waste wood to minimize tearing-out.
Coat the final piece with your finish and leave it to dry. Finally, attach the link rings to the holes and the chain clasps.
Wooden bracelet
Materials needed
A piece of easily bendable wood preferably not less than 4″ and around 1″ thickness.
- Piece of disk-shaped wood to create a former.
- Metal cuff or printable template to shape your wood.
- Source of heat and water in a wide pan.
- Power sander and sandpaper.
- Pencil and a measuring tape.
- Masking tape and super glue.
Finish such as wood oil or a colored coat and an application tool such as a brush.
Methodology
Use your metal cuff or template and a pencil to shape the disk-shaped wood to make a former. The design for a bracelet is an oval to a circular shape with at least 2.5″ at its widest. Cut the patterned shape from the wood and sand its edges with sandpaper.
Take the bendable wood, and cut strips with a length slightly longer than the former and a width required for the bracelet.
Boil your wooden pieces until they become pliable. If you choose an easily bendable wood at the start of the project, you can even take only half an hour in this step. Using the masking tape, rap one wood strip on the former and leave it for a whole day.
You should be patient in this step as it is what will make your bracelet get used to the required shape. Remove the curved strips from the former and cut a gap of around 1″ as a wearing space. Smoothen the surface of the bracelet using a sander and finally apply the selected wood finish and leave to dry. The bracelet is ready for wearing after drying.
Wooden Earrings
This is one of the most straightforward DIY wood fashion jewelry ideas if especially you choose to go with simpler designs. There are, however, many different variations you can make in terms of earring size and shape.
Materials needed to make a simple earring
- Wood dowels preferably squared or cylindrical ones.
- Earring hooks.
- A saw, preferably a miter saw.
- Sandpaper.
- Finish, preferably paints and a primer.
- Small pliers.
Procedure
Use a miter saw to cut the wooden dowels into sizes required in your earrings. The size should, however, be around 2″. Smoothen the surfaces of the dowels using sandpaper but make sure that you do not compromise the shape of the dowels.
Apply the preferred wood finish and wait for the piece to dry. If you are going to use paint, you should first apply a primer to reduce cracking on drying.
Using the small pliers, pull open the earring hooks and fix them on one end of the dowel by closing the hooks. Wear your earrings because they are now ready.
What’s next
With these ideas, you can create typically any wooden jewelry since the materials and method often recur in most projects. If you know the required shape, size and design of the wooden jewelry, then nothing should hinder you from starting your own project right away.
A rule of thumb, however, in wood jewelry making is choosing the right type of wood, since this affects how your final product will look like. You should also be very careful when making measurements and cuts to minimize errors that result to waste of materials, time and energy.
Best of luck with your own DIY wood fashion jewelry ideas. Feel free to drop a comment below how your jewelry turned out!
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