Authored by Brandy Burgess in Crafts
Published on 10-31-2009
Creating crafts using your old vintage jewelry can make for a beautiful, unique piece. Using jewelry that used to be yours, your mother or your grandmother can not only make for a fun project, but also helps clean out old hand-me-downs from your home. If old jewelry or hand-me-downs are not available to you, usually you can find great vintage jewelry at low prices at auctions and low tag sales. After finding some unique pieces, try some of these craft ideas with vintage jewelry.
Craft Ideas with Vintage Jewelry: Wine Rings
Wine rings are simple to make and can be used as colorful glass markers or as a wedding gift. Begin by purchasing clear wire ties or taking them off of old packaging. For a set of six wine rings, cut six pieces of wire to about six inches long. Use some colorful beads to threat a section of each wire that covers about two inches. Move the beads so that they are in the center of the wire, leaving about two inches on each end.
Use a wine glass as a guide and place the wire around the glass and twist the ends together. Take the two ends of the twist and make a small loop. A perfect circular loop can be made from looping around a pencil. Add a charm from your collection of vintage jewelry to the loop. Use different colored beads for each wine ring to complete the set.
Craft Ideas with Vintage Jewelry: Charm Bracelet
Charm bracelets can be beautiful and show your different interests through each unique charm. Making a charm bracelet is easy with vintage jewelry as many pieces have a special meaning to the owner. Begin by picking out about six charms that will be placed on your charm bracelet. Each charm should represent something that you love or interests you to make the bracelet more special. Find a plain bracelet chain in silver or gold in your collection of vintage jewelry to use as the band. The band should fit comfortably around your wrist will a little extra room leftover to fit the charms.
Next, find a paper clip and straighten out. Cut the paper clip into pieces that are about one half inch long. There should be six pieces of the paper clip for each charm. Find an area on the bracelet and thread the piece of paper clip through. Thread the charm onto the paper clip piece and loop. Twist the ends closed using a pair of needle nose pliers. Continue with each charm evenly around the bracelet.
Craft Ideas with Vintage Jewelry: Picture Frame
Use your old vintage jewelry to create a jazzed up picture frame. Begin by finding an old plain picture frame around your home or by purchasing a cheap frame from the dollar store. Next, pick out about five to six pieces of jewelry from your collection to place on the frame. These pieces should all be different and colorful for a fun frame.
Next, clean off any dust or dirt from the frame using warm soap and water. Heat up the hot glue gun and begin gluing your vintage pieces onto the frame. A small dot of glue should be enough to keep the pieces of jewelry adhered to the frame securely. Place the vintage jewelry sporadically around the frame to give an elegant old fashioned look.
