Crafts Archives • Daylight Moth

DIY Necklace Organizer

Posted on 17th July 2017 by Sophie

This easy peasy to make DIY necklace organizer was made mostly from leftover material and stuff I already owned, so it came quite cheap to me. And I like that the display invites me to wear my jewellery more.

I’m one of those girls who own lots of jewellery in all shapes and colours and sizes – and consequently always having a hard time to store all my treasures. I found a nice way of storing all my earrings, rings, bracelets and pearl necklaces in drawers but my longer and thinner pendant necklaces would constantly get tangled in these. So there had to be another solution for them – cue the DIY idea.

What you need

Polystyrene board (size depending on your longest necklace and how many you want to store)
Fabric to wrap your board in
Drawing pins
Nail polish or other varnish
Glue
About half an hour of time on two days

How to make the DIY necklace organizer

What I did is – simply put – making the ingredients look pretty and then putting them together. At first, I wrapped the polystyrene board with fabric. I was using normal paper glue for the front of the board to not make the glue sip through the fabric. To fasten the fabric around the edges I used a stronger glue. My glue gun worked nicely with this.

To decorate the pins I used some nail polish I already had at home. This works very well because you don’t need much and you have a wide variety of colours. Then you can start putting the pins on your board – no rocket science required, only some basic math skills to define the space between the pins on the board. To create a look that was a bit more interesting I drew a curved line with a chalk pencil and pinned along this line.

If you want to hang this on the wall you can fasten some hangers on the back (or use some can opening handles).

How it worked out for me

I like that the structure of the polystyrene board is visible through the fabric giving it an almost stone like structured look. I do like my necklaces displayed and hanging side by side. But if you’re owning heavy necklaces you might want to go for something sturdier as a base, maybe cork or even soft wood.

I have to say that these displays look best when they are not loaded with jewellery but leave some breathing space in between. So… decluttering might be a good idea before this project.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged jewellery, upcycling | Leave a comment

Pearls and wire earrings – made with two knots

Posted on 24th May 2016 by Sophie

In this post I want to share a way of combining different beads strung on wire and knotting them together to create jewellery. This is a great method if you want to use smaller beads. I especially like it as I can choose and combine colours or shapes as I like and create different effects. Also, it’s not very complicated or time consuming.

Step-by-step jewellery knots

1 Choose your colours

The most time consuming part for me is to select the batch of pearls I want to use in my project. I mostly stay with one colour and try to create depth with different tones. But two matching colours also look great. Sometimes I like to add small silver or golden pearls to add accents.

2 Get the pearls lined up

The next step is to cut a piece of wire (medium thickness) to bead the pearls. The wire should be considerably longer than your beads because you want to bend it, tie it and later have enough room to secure the whole thing with it.

Special tip: When all your pearls are on your wire, secure the ends so no pearls accidentally slip off when you twist and knot it. It’ll save you lots of nerves.

3 Make two knots

Start with the first one by bending the wire exactly in the middle and trying for a narrow knot. Your second knot can be looser. If you want to and still have enough wire and pearls left you can go for further knots. I try to knot my second one rather loosely because I find that this creates the most beautiful shapes and gives me the most control over the look I want to achieve.

Knotting wire with beads on it can be a little tricky and affords some patience and skilled fingers but it’s not that hard after your first try. And don’t forget: This is the most important part as your knots will define how your piece of jewellery will look in the end. You could tie a narrow or loose knot. You could make it a round ball, an oval shape or a flat drop shape.

4 Secure it

When you’re content with your shape secure the two ends by twisting them together. I like to use this twisted wire to form it into a ring for further use. Don’t twist too hard. This could destroy the shape you just made or break the wire.

5 Finish the piece

Now you can use your knot of pearls to finish a pair of earrings or a necklace. The knotted structure makes it quite robust (depending on the type of wire you chose) and up for almost any use.

Mix up the colours and shapes!

As you can see there’s no rocket science or witchcraft involved. It’s quite easy to do but still creates a complex effect. You could try it with your favourite colour. Or you could choose big round light coloured beads and combine them with small dark square ones. You could add in beads with special designs or shapes like flowers and leaves. You could choose a contrasting colour for your wire. Or you could do something completely different. I’m curious about what ideas you are coming up with! Definitely let me know in the comments!

Posted in Crafts | Tagged colour effects, earrings, jewellery, quick project | Leave a comment

DIY decorative endpapers with stamps

Posted on 13th April 2016 by Sophie

When binding books I always place a decorative sheet of paper between my pages and my cover. When I started bookbinding, they were usually just plain sheets of coloured paper. Recently I discovered the beauty (and addictiveness) of stamps and decided to up my endpaper game by creating my own nice looking decorative endpapers. Of course you could also use this as your home-made very individual scrap book paper.

Three steps for prettily stamped papers

For this design I used three stamps of fireflies in different sizes. Mine came in a pack but I’m sure whatever motive you choose, you can find lots of different stamps in all shapes and sizes out there. The paper is very plain matte photo paper. I’ve bought that in a big bulk once. It’s a little sturdier than normal paper with a smooth surface. You can use all kinds of paper – coloured or white – as long as they’re a little sturdier than normal print-out paper, so preferably 100 g/m² or more.

My stamp pads are a happy mix from various shopping trips and miraculously fit quite well together. I recommend three colours of either the same or similar tone in different levels of brightness. Or try using three completely different colours. Just makes sure those are all cool or all warm tones.

How to use colours and effects

1. Creating a base

I started with the biggest firefly in the lightest colour and then continuously went smaller with the design and darker with the colour. I didn’t want to overwhelm the whole pattern with the very big firefly, so that’s why it got the lightest colour and the scarcest use. The big motive is a good guideline for the whole design. It’s where you build your basic construction and what you’ll be working with in the end. All the smaller ones are just the extras on top. So, make sure, you’ve got an even but not too mathematical layout. And don’t overclutter. You still need room to breathe.

2. Play with it

Aligning all the stamps in the same direction makes for a calm and orderly look. But it might seem too severe in some arrangements. Just try to let a few of your stamps fall a little out of place. For my composition the slightly curved body of the middle firefly broke the geometrical pattern and added an interesting eye-catcher.

3. Add some texture

My first two colours were very similar in their lightness. To add depth to the picture I chose a colour that is several shades darker. This makes a rather bland composition interesting and vivid. I would just advise you not to choose black, as it might be too stark a contrast. (Then again, just go ahead and use black, I admit it, I just don’t like black)

Creating other effects wit stamps

If you’re reversing the colours – big dark fireflies and small light toned ones – this will create a dimensional effect. Even more so if your lighter colours have a bluish tinge to them. Warmer colours appear nearer; cold tones appear farther away. But be careful not to drown your arrangement in too many big, dark objects in the front.

Pro-tips for a scattered looking arrangement

Let the motives overlaps. It’ll look instantly more natural and will loosen up your pattern.
Let some half fireflies fly into and out of the paper
The bigger the stamp, the less you should use it, especially if you’re going for a dimensional effect

As you can see, there’s really not that much to take into account. It’s an easy but effectual way to create a nice looking and unique paper. I use mine as an endpaper for my bookbinding projects but you could use it for whatever you like: cards, envelopes, book or notebook covers, covers for boxes, wrapping paper…

I really love my firefly ensemble and I’ve used it many times in different projects. So, just because I’m curious: What are your favourite stamp motives? Anything you could suggest to me? I would love to try something new.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged bookbinding, colour effects, paper projects | Leave a comment