I’ve been making beaded jewelry for well over five years now but about six months ago I started to notice that I was having a hard time seeing some of the smaller details and holes in my beads and clasps. I went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago and now I have a pair of glasses that I wear just for close-up jewelry work or reading or anything else that requires holding something close to my eyes. And while the glasses make a world of difference, I’m also finding that I wish I could sometimes magnify my hands and beads even more when I’m working.

Luckily, I didn’t have to search far! My local craft store had a ton of neat magnification tools, desk lamps and lighted magnifiers to help those of us who are starting to have a hard time seeing our jewelry as we make it. I thought some of the prices were a little high, so I looked online and found some great deals on products to help me see my handcrafted jewelry (and even my “real” jewelry) a little better! Here are some of the types of products I found which could really help my old eyes when I’m making jewelry:

Jeweler’s loupes and magnifiers are surprisingly useful and affordable for any sort of jewelry making!

3 Piece Jeweler’s Loop - I used to think jeweler’s loops were expensive specialized equipment that could only be used by jewelry designers who worked with high-end materials like diamonds and gemstones and gold. Then I took a chance and picked up an affordable set of loops just to see what I could do with them. I’m sure there are better sets out there, but an inexpensive set like these can do the job quite well. I’ll sometimes use them to look at damaged prongs, broken clasps or to just check out the quality of a beads I’m working with. Swarovski crystals look especially nice in them!

Magnifying Desk Lamp - I often don’t get much time to work on my jewelry until it’s later at night, so I rarely have any sort of natural daylight to work in. I have gone through a couple different lamps over the years, but now I’ve settled on a combination magnifying glass with a lamp built in. I like the desk mounted lamps as opposed to the magnifying lamps that just have a heavy base because I inevitably find a way to knock them over. There are several different types of lamps you can get with magnifying glasses such as fluorescent lamps with cool and not very bright light, incandescent lamps with brighter lights and warmer bulbs, halogen lamps that are very bright and very hot and my personal favorite, “daylight” lamps which are very bright and are acclaimed for their ability to help people fight SAD or “Seasonal Affect Disorder” that many people are prone to during winter months when there’s less sunlight available.

Good Old-Fashioned Magnifying Glasses - A magnifying glass is handy in so many different situations that I can’t even count them. It’s sometimes easier to use than a jeweler’s loop and magnifying glasses have a much wider field of view so you can see a lot more jewelry at one time. I usually keep a magnifying glass in my purse, one at my jewelry desk and another one in my “junk” drawer. I’ve learned that you don’t have to go for an extremely expensive magnifying glass, just something that’s durable and has a decent magnification.

Growing older isn’t necessarily fun, but with a few helpful things I can continue to enjoy making jewelry without squinting.

Making Jewelry for Breast Cancer Update: I just wanted to give you all a quick update on how much money we’re raising to help fight breast cancer! So far I sold two sets of my own earrings this month, two people have bought jewelry software and we’ve had about ten jewelry making items ordered from Amazon! The grand total raised so far is: $56.89!