Make Your Own Dazzling Druzy Charms

Making a gorgeous and glittery charm is easier than you’d think! Bead-Making Lab shows you how to make your own beautiful druzy charms in 4 easy steps.

In jewelry making, druzy is the special effect created when tiny crystals grow over colorful minerals. The dazzling crystals are drilled into beads or fashioned into pendants. Glass glitter and resin make these bezel charms sparkle and shine. Bezels can be found wherever jewelry-making supplies are sold. Use different sizes as you create your own druzy-inspired pieces.

Tools and Materials
Glass glitter (I used metallic colors.)
Metal bezels
Shallow plastic container (with lid) filled with a 1?4″ (6 mm) thick layer of uncooked rice
Two-part epoxy resin (I used Ice Resin.)
Measuring cup
Mixing sticks or stirrers

1. Sprinkle a layer of glitter into the bezels. Place the bezels in the shallow container filled with rice. (Fig. 1)
2. Mix equal parts of the two-part resin together in the mixing cup. Mix at least 1?2 cup (118 ml) of resin for each batch that you create. Stir the two parts together slowly with the mixing sticks for about a minute. Be careful not to create air bubbles as your stir.

3. Pour a small amount of resin into each bezel or use the stirrer to drip in the resin. Be careful not to overfill the bezels. Exhale a hot breath over the bezels to release any air bubbles. (Fig. 2)
4. Cover the bezels loosely with the plastic lid but do not seal. Allow the resin to cure for 24 hours. Do not touch until the 24 hours have passed, or you will leave fingerprints on the resin.

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Fill the year ahead with handcrafted beads that you can make yourself by following tutorials from Bead-Making Lab!

Imagine a year in beads. We’re talking 52 handmade varieties all handcrafted by you! Bead-Making Lab makes this bounty of bead making possible with instructions for bead designs that run the gamut from sophisticated to playful.

Bead-Making Lab is organized by material, and single-spread lab tutorials for each bead design make the book simple to use. The tutorials are brief, accomplishable, and rewarding. Choose from traditional materials like paper mache and polymer clay, or opt for new materials such as resins and shrink plastic. Once you’ve selected your medium, follow the lab instructions for the bead-making technique of your choice. Try a new technique each week! With how-tos including molding, carving, painting, gluing, drilling beach glass and pebbles, and creating fiber-art beads with felting and embroidery, you’ll have a year of unique projects ahead of you. Bead-Making Lab also offers ideas on how to turn your beads into jewelry and gives you a sneak peek at some contemporary bead artisans’ best work. Get busy beading, crafters!