#jewelry tutorial

What You'll Need:

Book Pages (music pages or origami paper also work!)

A Business Card or Credit Card (for tracing)

Pencil

Scissors

Glue (Elmer's Glue will work, Mod Podge is more water resistant)

Some jewelry parts (earring hooks, jump rings)

Step 1: Cut Out a Page

Pick a page that has a pretty good block of text and lots of names of Characters you want to feature!

Use scissors or a craft knife to gently cut out the page at the spine.

Step 2: Trace a Rectangle

Use a business card to trace a rectangle onto your page! (You can use anything roughly 3.5 x 2 inches // 9 x 5 cm)

(I put my rectangle at a diagonal to make my text run diagonally on the finished piece)

Step 3: Cut out the Rectangle

Grab some scissors and cut out that rectangle!

Step 4: Accordion Fold

Start folding the rectangle by folding it back and forth in an accordion fold technique.

Make each fold about 1/4 inch (3/4cm)

(this is likely the same way you made fans in school, if fan-making was as popular where you are as it is here!)

Step 5: Fold in Half

Find the half-way point of your accordion. (If you used a business card, it'll be at the 1.75 inch // 4.5 cm mark!)

Then, fold in half to create your fan.

Step 6: Glue Halves Together

Use your glue to paint a thin coat of glue along the inside of where the two halves meet. Then press the sides together. (I used Mod Podge Paper glue!)

Don't put any glue at the top, where there's a hole. You'll need that opening so you can add jewelry accessories later!

Wipe off any extra glue from the outside, so you don't accidentally glue the whole fan shut. (I admit, I did this a few times.)

Step 7: Press and Let Dry

Press the fan closed, and store under a book for about 2 hours, to let the glue dry.

Choose a book where you're okay if it gets damaged. You might get glue on the book during this step!

Step 8: Shape and Seal

(Optional) Once the fan is dry you can use a pair of scissors to cut it to a different shape, if desired.

And (also Optional) you can apply a few thin coats of glue to seal and stiffen the paper. This makes it stronger and more water resistant.

This is still paper jewelry, so you can't wear it in the shower! But a water-resistant coating can help with accidental splashes.

Step 9: Add Your Hoops & Hooks!

Add a circular jump ring (a 9mm or 10mm jump ring will usually do the trick!)

For a necklace, you can immediately put this jump ring on a chain and wear it. For earrings, attach to a French Hook of your choosing!

(If you don't have jewelry supplies on hand: you can take parts from other jewelry that you own! Look for cheaper pieces and see if you can gently pry apart their jump rings. I often re-use parts from old earrings I don't wear anymore!)

DONE!!

Show off your fav book and upcycled jewelry!!

First: you will need the following tools and materials to craft one choker

♡ a ruler and/or measuring tape (probably both would be good) ♡ scissors ♡ a poking tool, I’m not sure what they’re called but they come with jewelry tool kits ♡ 10 jump rings OR 4 jump rings and a pre-made necklace extender. ♡ a lobster claw clasp (not pictured because I’m out) ♡ jewelry pliers 2 pair ♡ hot glue gun and hot glue ♡ decorations, for this tutorial I am showing you a basic choker with a dangle pendant. ♡ ribbon, you can use plain ribbon, but this frilled elastic ribbon works amazing and can be found at any craft store. 

♡Step 1: measure your neck with a measuring tape, then measure your ribbon. You want to give a little space for your chain and clasp but also make extra for your seams. So if your neck is 13″, I cut the ribbon at 12″.

♡Step 2: finish off your ends. I tri-fold my ribbon to make it really small on the ends and feed it through a jump ring about 1/2″. Then apply hot glue to the end and fold it over. Do this to each end.

the one on the left is already completed, the one on the right shows what you should have before you fold it down and glue it. 

♡Step 3: add you findings. take the left side (I’m right handed so its easier for me to put on a necklace this way, maybe left handed people will want to reverse this) and attach 6 jump rings. You can use you 2 sets of jewelry pliers to gently pull open the rings and loop them together (as shown in the step 2 photo) to make a chain. OR you can use a pre-made necklace extender chain, I didn’t have any so I just did this. If your choker is too small you can add more jump rings as needed.  On the right side add 1 jump ring and your lobster clasp. When you’re done, it should look like this. 

So now the base of your choker is done. Make sure to try it on for size, and add more jump rings if necessary. 

♡Step 4: decorate. To add a dangle charm, you are going to need that poking tool. Use your ruler to determine the center of the choker, now towards the bottom of the ribbons width poke your hole, and feed 1 jump ring through it like so. ** if your charm does not already come with a jump ring, you may need to add one to make sure it lays the right way when worn.

once you have that done, you can attach your preferred charm.

♡Step 5: You can leave your choker as is and call it done, but I like to add a little extra embellishment to mine. So for the final step, add a decoration to the ribbon right above your dangle pendant, For this example I chose a rosette. All you have to do is hot glue right down to the ribbon, easy! now you’re done! and you should have something like this:

now you can try your own designs, I’ve made chokers (pictured at the top) with no dangle, with multiple dangles, with multiple decorations and with only one. Try out your ideas, just remember to use a ruler to keep things evenly spaced if you’re planning to work with more than one decoration!