In the first article in this series, I suggested some book, magazine, and video gifts for jewelry crafters. Here's a look at a selection of kits, tools, and supplies that also make great gifts.
As I mentioned in the first article, keep in mind that all of these items are intended for teens or adults, and not young children. (For children's gifts, look for items that are made for children and are not likely to pose a choking hazard or contain toxins.)
Jewelry making and beading kits
Kits are great gifts for beginners. Most contain all of the supplies needed to complete at least one piece of jewelry, and some even include durable tools that your gift recipient can reuse for future projects. Many local bead shops carry kits, and most have employees that will help you put together your own. That can be especially fun because you get to hand-select all the components yourself.
If you don't have time to spend in a bead shop, consider picking up one of these pre-made kits instead:
~ Designer Stefanie Girard has created three kits for beginners that are both instructive and affordable. You can find them online by searching for her name, or by kit title: Painted Beads Kit: A whole box full of jewelry making ideas! (by Jewelry Box Crafts); Beaded Jewelry Kit: 101 Tips & Techniques; and Wire Jewelry Kit: 101 Tips and Techniques.
~ For intermediate-to-advanced seed beaders, try one of artist Linda Richmond's beautiful bead-weaving kits, available on her website www.lindarichmond.com. They feature elaborately beaded fringe, flowers, and beaded beads.
~ Art Clay offers a complete kit for crafters who are interested in learning how to work with precious-metal clay. You can find it online at Fire Mountain Gems & Beads and other larger supplier websites.
~ Jewelry Television's first Jewel School DVD, Basic Wire Wrapping, is available as a full kit with all the necessary tools and supplies. It's available for purchase on the Jewelry Television website. (You'll find the link to my full review at the bottom of this article.)
Tools and accessories
Beginning jewelry makers will appreciate gifts of basic tools and supplies to help them get started. As with project kits, the employees of most bead shops should be able to help you put together your own tool or supplies set, or you can order a pre-made set. Some of my favorites are the pliers sets made by Beadsmith. They contain the most versatile pliers used in all types of beginning-level jewelry making, and they are available in several different color schemes and styles. The set shown in the photo at right is the "Super Fine" version, which contains pliers with especially small tips for delicate, small-scale wirework.
I also like many of the tool sets available for polymer clay work. For example, check out the acrylic bead-rolling and tube-rolling sets made by Poly-Tools, Inc. (www.poly-tools.com). Another fun gift would be a collection of multi-shaped cutter tools by Makin's. (They look like tiny cookie cutters and are very fun to work with.) They are available at The Clay Store (www.theclaystore.com).
Don't forget that jewelry crafters are always in need of storage and organization accessories. There are lots of useful storage devices on the market that are designed specifically for jewelry crafters. I recommend them over generic storage boxes, because they tend to be designed in a way that makes it easy to access and retrieve jewelry materials, and many of them are portable. For example, look for the Bead & Craft Tote Organizer by Crop in Style or the Beadsmith Bead Traveler.
Gift certificates
They may not seem like the most exciting gifts, but gift certificates are popular because they allow the recipient to hand-select items she wants or needs. Many bead shops and most online bead stores offer gift certificates in varying amounts. Be sure to include your gift recipient's mailing address with your order so that the certificate can be mailed to her, and ask for confirmation that the certificate has been mailed.
Here are just a few reputable online suppliers who offer gift certificates:
~ Fire Mountain Gems & Beads (www.firemountaingems.com) - Available in varying amounts from $25 to $500.
~ ArtBeads.com - Available for $10, $25, $50, and $100.
~ FusionBeads.com - Available from $10 to $100.
~ Shipwreck Beads (www.shipwreckbeads.com) - Available for $25, $50, or $100. (These are actually "gift cards," but they work like traditional gift certificates.)
~ The Clay Store (www.theclaystore.com) - Certificates are available in the amount of $5.00, so order a few if you'd like your gift to be larger.
Combination gifts
Finally, keep an eye out for fun combinations of gifts that work well together. Some bead shops and suppliers make it easy to find them. For example, Shipwreck Beads has an entire section on its website where you can easily order all of the components and materials needed to complete various projects in some current beading books (see http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/support/docs/bookprojects). For a pretty impressive gift, you could purchase them to create a custom kit to give along with the book that contains the corresponding project.
~ Bead & Craft Tote Organizer on Amazon.com
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