Bead Jewelry Idea: Make New Beaded Jewelry from Old Beaded Jewelry

Now that flea market and yard sale season is here I’m starting to hunt around for deals forgotten pieces of older bead jewelry. Instead of just harvesting the beads from some of these jewelry pieces and creating completely new bead necklaces and bracelets this year I hope to try something a little different.

Don’t break up that old jewelry, simply freshen it up to make new jewelry creations!

The most expensive part of creating bead jewelry is obviously the new materials. Whether you’re working with sterling silver to make a necklace, using crystal beads to create a bracelet or simply putting together some matching earrings, it’s the supplies that end up costing you the most. And as many beaders have found out, you don’t have to be working with diamond studs or gold Pandora beads in your jewelry creations to ring up some hefty price tags for supplies!

You see, most bead jewelry artists focus almost exclusively on taking single new or used beads and creating completely new jewelry pieces from scratch. While this is obviously a lot of fun and takes a fair amount of creativity, there is sometimes a special challenge in taking an older piece of bead jewelry and making it unique and interesting again, often with a few new beads or changes.

The trick is to keep the original design of the old jewelry piece, but to simply “freshen” up the look of it with a few new beads or adornments. The fun part about trying to liven up an old piece of jewelry is that you’re still free to do whatever you want. Here are just some of the ways you can do this:

• You can mix and match pieces and even use parts of one type of jewelry in another. So you could easily use a silver broach to freshen up a silver necklace or a pair of earrings could be made out of some of the beads you may have replaced in an older necklace.
• Add a brilliantly colored crystal pendant to a plain silver or beaded necklace.
• Use basic wirework to attach hanging bead strands from the spaces between existing beads on an older necklace or bracelet.
• If you have a piece with a few broken beads or pieces you could make a new design in the string by interspersing new beads with old beads in a repeating pattern.

From a beading business standpoints this also makes a lot of sense (and cents)! This can also obviously a great way to sell your bead jewelry as well: offer to take old jewelry, restring it, and liven it up with new additions or some changes! Since you already have the skill and the knowledge to work with jewelry and beads all you need are a few fun creative ideas! If you’re not purchasing new beads for all your pieces your profit margins can also jump up!

Of course, if you don’t have the skill or time yourself but you still have some old jewelry that you’d like to make “new” again, you could turn to the amazing artists at Vlouise Designs and contact them about how they can help you. They have some before and after photos of past jewelry they’ve worked worked with and the difference is quite impressive.

Before you go out and buy or make new jewelry, don’t forget to go shopping in your old jewelry box because you never know what you might find!

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