Steampunk Jewelry

My husband has been asking me to write about “steampunk” jewelry because it’s a popular style of homemade jewelry and even though it doesn’t usually involve beads, it does require a lot of different jewelry making skills and talents. Steampunk jewelry is one of the most popular types of handmade jewelry on Etsy (searching for it yields over 29,000 results) and it’s one of the few types of jewelry truly “unisex” jewelry which can almost always be worn by men and women.

Steampunk Style Jewelry: Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Necklaces, Bracelets, and Earrings

Steampunk is a type of science fiction and artistic genre which mixes Victorian styles with a fantasy element of past technological history that never really existed. To get a feel for the steampunk style you might want to look at some of the more popular steampunk movies out there or even just browse through some steampunk images via Google.

Skills Needed to Make Steampunk Jewelry

If you’re going to make steampunk jewelry then you’ll want to have some basic jewelry making skills and know how to use standard jewelry making tools. You might want to pick up a simple jewelry making tool kit to get started if you don’t already have one. Here are some of the real skills you’ll want to learn or have if you really want to make some outstanding jewelry in the steampunk theme:

Traditional Beading Skills: Knowing how to work with wire, string and tie beads (or other hardware pieces) and understanding the basics of making rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings are all useful skills to have. Being able to attach clasps and work with bindings is essential and you may need to be a little creative in exactly how you attach different materials to different connectors. Knowing how to wrap and tie things with wire couldn’t hurt. Remember that steampunk jewelry sometimes uses some pretty non-traditional pieces such as gears and watchparts, so think outside the box a little bit.

Metalsmith and Wire Skills: Most steampunk jewelry has a lot of metal elements, from used hardware to newer jewelry pieces that look as though they are old. You’ll want to be able to mesh all those recycled parts and metal tools together with something more than super glue (though I’ve seen that used!). You may want to practice soldering pieces together neatly before venturing into any complex jewelry pieces and you’ll more than likely need to learn how to safely cut and grind metal properly to avoid having any sharp edges. -metal skills (soldering, grinding, cutting)

Mechanical Skills: Here’s a skill that’s not emphasized quite so much in traditional jewelry making. You’ll want to understand how to take apart old watches, junk, gadgets and other metal things without destroying the mechanical bits inside. It helps if you have some idea of how mechanisms and gears fit together to help make your steampunk jewelry look slightly more realistic and functional. Remember: steampunk jewelry is supposed to convey technology from a past time, so it has to look as though it might do something and not just be a bunch of random metal pieces tied together.

Steampunk Jewelry Elements

When you’re making your steampunk jewelry you’ll want to probably stick with some general themes and patterns. Here are some stylistic elements to think about:

Metals Mechanical Parts and Gears: You’ll want to keep the feel of old technology in your steampunk jewelry and one of the easiest ways to do that is to incorporate old watch parts, gears and and even little pits and pieces of locks or other hardware pieces. Old luggage locks, manual typewriter parts and washers and screws can be used to build unique looking steampunk style rings and necklaces.

Brass, Copper and Silver: A lot of the steampunk jewelry I’ve seen sticks with more “industrial” type of metals which looks as though they’ve been designed for real use rather than their decorative properties. A lot of steampunk jewelry artists mix old costume jewelry metal gears and other pieces to bring in the Victorian elements to your jewelry.

Glass, Not Gems: While some steampunk jewelry will feature small gemstones, you’ll generally want to stick to glass and crystal beads and decorations to accent your metal pieces. Large shiny gems or gemstones would look out of place next to gears and springs and sprockets, but small glass or crystal beads could add some shimmer and accent a mechanical looking piece quite well.

Useful, Not Gaudy: A lot of steampunk art and jewelry takes old pieces of mechanical technology and tries to make them look like they actually do something. So while form is important, people tend to really like the steampunk rings and necklaces and even braceless that look as though they could move or operate or actually serve some sort of purpose!

Aged Well: Part of the fun of steampunk is that it’s meant to look like old jewelry from the 1800′s or early 1900′s, so it’s okay to look a bit old, used and aged. I would stay away from making your jewelry look too shiny or new and even if you put your steampunk jewelry together with new parts you might want to scuff them up, ding them or even given them a little bit of an aged finish if you can.

Leather, Ribbon and Chains: When you’re making steampunk necklaces, steampunk bracelets or even steampunk earrings you’ll want to tie things together with a material that might be appropriate for Victorian jewelry. For more feminine jewelry pieces you could use ribbon, for more masculine jewelry pieces you may want to use brown or black leather and I’ve seen different types of large link chain used for nearly everything else! Stay away from any sort of modern or synthetic material if you can and instead try to use materials from “the period” even though it’s all fantasy

Steampunk Jewelry Supplies

A few years ago you’d be hard-pressed to find any craft store or jewelry supply store selling many beads or other supplies that could be used for steampunk jewelry. Today that’s changed a lot. Many stores will now have a fairly good selection of Victorian type clasps, chains, beads, connectors and everything else under the sun that might even be marketed as “steampunk” in one form or another.

Online Jewlry Supplies Stores: If you’re using an online craft store like Artbeads.com, then you might want to search for possible new steampunk jewelry supplies by searching with words like “antique”, “victorian” or even “brass.” All of those should give you plenty of results and things which will often fit in perfectly with the look and feel of steampunk.

Flea Markets and Yard Sales: One of the best ways to give your steampunk jewelry an authentic feel is to actually use authentic jewelry and pieces from long ago. Don’t limit yourself to buying 100 year old jewelry and watches, though. Look for any sort of old metal object that is small or has small parts. Again, a lot of steampunk jewelry is made out of old springs, gears, sprockets, hooks and all sorts of other non-working “junk” that many people may be looking to sell or just throw away.

Ebay: There are lots and lots of people selling all sorts of steampunk jewelry supplies on eBay. A lot of people actually scour yard sales and flea markets just to find boxes of old mechanical supplies and broken watches which can then be sold on eBay for steampunk art projects and jewelry! The great thing about eBay is that the selection is ever-changing and varied, so you never know what you’ll find.

It’s definitely not as easy as it seems to make steampunk-themed jewelry but it is a lot of fun to try to make fantasy jewelry that actually looks as though it might have a purpose. You’ll still be making jewelry, but you’ll be making jewelry that has a few “rules” tied to it, which can really make it quite challenging and exciting to make! Good luck!