DY Evil Eye Ring on We Heart This

0.diyevileyering_introphotoHello lovely readers! Today I am over on We Heart This with my tutorial for a DIY Evil Eye Ring. It’s actually so easy to make with a little bit of clay and paint, and rivals anything you can find in a store. Plus if you weren’t aware of the deep history behind this symbol, I’ve shared a little about the cultural significance of it too. Check it out and let me know what you think!

DIY Evil Eye Ring

diyevileyering_done2xo

Carly

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DIY Pretty Pearl Ring (with Video Tutorial!)


So finally I’ve finished a DIY video for my latest creation: a Pretty Pearl Beaded Ring. It’s taken a super-long time from the planning to the execution to the editing, and I definitely couldn’t have done it without the help of my co-creator, Emily Dokken. (She’s just awesome – she has a discerning eye for framing artistry and a wonderful energy. Check out one of her other videos: Burning the Behemoth on Vimeo…it’s a fascinating story of an artist’s journey to burn his wooden mammoth creation in Washington.)

I had waited to release this video until after I had re-branded with my new logo and everything…plus finding the music took searching through 600+ tracks on the FreeMusicArchive.

Thank you so much, Emily, for your amazing collaboration!

DIY Pretty Pearl Ring

Camera/Storyboards/First Edit: Emily Dokken
Concept/Tutorial/Second Edit: Carly J. Cais

Music: The Easton Ellises ~Dance It Dance All Motel Costes Mix
http://theeastonellises.com/ under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
from FreeMusicArchive.org

Hope you guys enjoy! Leave us your feedback below 🙂

xo
Carly

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DIY Pamela Love Arrowhead Ring

(Pamela Love ring img source)

I fell in love with this tough but earthy Arrowhead Ring from Pamela Love (link is to the matte pink version) awhile ago.  Sporting a hand-carved arrowhead set in a thick silver bezel, this ring also has a line of silver flattened discs at the base creating a Southwestern-feel setting – which looks great with all the sheer pieces, bleached denim, and leather we’re seeing for Spring.  It’s taken me awhile, but I’ve finally figured out a way to recreate something similar to this lovely piece (less the $528 pricetag!).  Definitely not for the faint of heart, this 3-stage tutorial will take you some time, but the results are amazing.  It uses Apoxie Sculpt**, a new non-toxic, moldable crafting substance I’ve discovered recently, to emulate the black resin setting.  So, for around $40 total, here we go….. (more…)

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DIY in 5: Bling Bling Two-Finger Ring (from Scrapbooking Embellishments)

Since it’s Rings Week here at Chic Steals, I wanted to share with you a quick n easy way to add a bit of pizazz to a store-bought 2-finger ring (with a flat top) and some scrapbooking embellishments.  It’s DIY in 5 – minutes, that is. The easiest, quickest ways to take a piece from blah to fab and update it to current trends.

Lucky Magazine posted a photo of this gorgeous Zoe Chicco knuckle ring waaaaay back in 2008? or so, and I kept the clipping on my inspiration board.  As usual, they were way ahead of the trend, since it’s only been since 2009/2010 that we’ve been seeing 2- and 3-fingered rings adorning the fingers of fashionable girls the world over. At $495, I found this beautiful ring beyond my budget back in 2008, and it’s sadly unavailable now besides.  [BTW if you’re wanting this style but don’t want to DIY, Soixante Neuf sells a veeeery similar bejeweled ring so if you feel like spending $216 then the same style can be yours!] You can also probably find this double-finger ring covered in jewels from some lower-priced trendy retailer like Forever 21 or elsewhere if you look hard enough.  But of course, I wanted to make my own – similar to the original!

It wasn’t until recently (around the holidays last year) that Jolee’s Jewels dimensional scrapbooking stickers came out with a new line of colored stick-on jewels in their settings…something that’s pretty hard to source for jewelry or embellishment projects, sticky-back or no.  (Ever found set acrylic jewels (i.e., jewels in a silver or gold pronged or rim setting) in Jo-Ann’s or Michael’s?  No?  I found a small selection in M&J Trimming last time I was there, but it was very limited, and though yes, the BeDazzler will “set” gemstones onto fabric, the settings are really cheap-looking and the gemstones have to be super-small to fit into the Bedazzler nozzles.  So anyway, large set gemstones as embellishments have been near-impossible to find – until NOW!)

You Need:

*Jolee’s Jewels “All that Bling” Vintage Gems dimensional stickers (I used gems from the Royal and Light Blue and the Baby Blue and Silver packs); or other set jewels

*flat-top 2-finger connector ring (the one in the photo above is the Hearts Two Finger Ring from Payless)

*jewelry glue/glue for metals (my fave is GS Hypo Cement)

How-To:

1. If using the scrapbooking stickers, you may want to pull the sticky back off first and figure out how you want to place your jewels.  I found it was easy to position my jewels on the ring top while they were sticky – but super-difficult to pull them off one by one and add the glue.  Your choice!

2. Once you’ve decided on the placement, just spread some glue onto your ring base, and position the jewels on top.  Allow to dry for 24+ hours before wearing.

And that’s…amazingly…it!

Here are some picks for base rings if you’re looking to buy online…though you could probably find good bases at Claire’s (which is where the ring I actually used is from), Forever 21, or other retail brick-and-mortar stores that cater to the young and trendy crowd.  Here are some more picks from online:

Asos at ShopStyle
Arden B at ShopStyle
Urban Outfitters at ShopStyle
Arden B at ShopStyle

Or alternatively, you could glue the jewels onto a piece of metal (like an old piece of jewelry; a sheet of embossing metal; or a metal jewelry blank from Michael’s newly-added hammering and embossing section)…and then glue TWO separate flat-pad ring shanks onto the back of the embellished metal, right next to each other, to create the two-fingered ring.

Happy DIY’ing!

xoxox
Carly

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It’s Rings Week Here at Chic Steals!

Arbitrarily I have decided to make this week all about rings here on my site. One-fingered, two-fingered, sterling, precious metal, gemstones, faux, real, what-have-you – it’s all about finger-adornment!

If you have any questions about rings: how to organize them, how to clean them, and (best of all, IMHO) how to make them…either leave your questions in the comments or shoot them to me via the Formspring.me Ask me anything box in my right sidebar. —–>  I’ll be getting to them all week long, so send them my way!

So first things first, here are some books to learn from and be inspired by:

1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand

I love this book!  This is the perfect coffee table/inspiration book for anyone who loves rings.

 

30-Minute Rings: 60 Quick & Creative Projects for Jewelers

This is another one of my faves: beautiful photography and inspiring projects featuring a variety of techniques.

Make Your Own Rings: Easy ring projects to do at home

Another technique and tutorial book; this one also includes tutorials for rings made of Precious Metal Clay (PMC; similar to Art Clay Silver), which is a material people familiar with PolyClay can learn to use quite easily.

The Rings Book (Jewellery Handbooks)

Jinks McGrath, a well-known name in metalsmithing, has written this book which details ring-making for bench jewelers. Though this is certainly not for the hobbyist or beginner, the principles and techniques covered in this book are for fine jewelry and will familiarize anyone with how to properly create a durable piece of jewelry and work of art.


The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)

Sorry, but we’re talking long-haired elves in tights.  I figured a list about rings would not be complete without the One Ring, hmmmm?  (Plus, the extended editions add almost an hour of cut footage to the movies -hence, more elves in tights.  All the more reason!;-P)


And to get further in the mood, here are a two DIY Ring Tutorials I’ve shared here on the blog:

Spiked Crystal Ring

DIY Rhinestone Panja

Only…TWO??!!

Well, I’ll just have to remedy that!

xoxox
Carly

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