No Two Alike: Make Snowflake Ornaments and Jewelry with Wire, Metal, Gems, Even Scraps!
Few things make me as happy and excited as snow! I love how it looks, coating everything in sparkling white. I love the fact that no two snowflakes are alike! So inspiring. I even love how the air smells when it’s snowing. I swear, I can smell snow. And as you can see, I love driving around in it and taking pictures of it!
My favorite snows are on super cold days when flakes land on my car’s top and stay long enough for me to see them closely. (Put a dark fabric outside to get very cold and let flakes land on it–you’ll be able to see some, too!)
Once I realized I could see individual flakes during certain types of snow, I was inspired to make snowflake ornaments. So for the past few years, I’ve been making sterling silver wire snowflakes with as much detail as my soldering skills and patience will allow! I’ve learned to use a small butane torch to solder these tiny wires, and this year I had a little epiphany about the supplies I use.
Make Snowflake Ornaments
For more than a decade now, I’ve kept a small bag of sterling silver findings I purchased years ago that I didn’t need. You know how it is when you’re starting out making silver jewelry; sometimes you buy things you think you’ll need but then never use. For example, 1″ long 22-gauge hard head pins. They’re too short for ear wires, and I don’t have much use for them . . . but I have a bag of 100. I decided to put them to use as details when I make snowflake ornaments this year.
While I was fishin’ around in that little bag of misfit findings, I also found 2″ long flower head pins in soft 20-gauge sterling that I rarely find use for, as well as odd little three-ring connectors. (I think they are intended to be parts of chandelier earrings.) In any case, they’re sterling and I’ve never used them. Now they’re going to get new life as I make snowflake ornaments. Here are a few I’m still working on this year, using just these three random findings and a few balls made from scraps, so far.
Christmas trees at my house are covered in snowflakes I’ve collected through the years and received as gifts. So to make snowflake ornaments of my own was a natural progression. Before I learned to make snowflake ornaments with wire and metal, I used beads, paper, clay–just about anything sparkly. You can even make snowflake ornaments using just jump rings with our new Chain Maille Snowflake Kit.
Metal and Wire Projects: Make Snowflake Ornaments and Jewelry
Here are a bunch more snowflake projects, or ones that look like snowflakes to me! Use your imagination, swap out some colors, maybe make them a little larger, and voila!) Be inspired to make snowflake ornaments or jewelry. These projects cover a variety of materials and skill levels, and make perfect gifts.
Try your hand at making snowflakes and other ornaments this year, along with dozens of tutorials for making jewelry gifts. You’ll find hundreds of digital projects to inspire you in the Interweave Shop!
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