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DIY and upcycled accessories make great holiday gifts
Fine jewelry is out. Fashion accessories are now a girl’s best friend. They can make any plain Jane shine, or give that little old black dress a new look, at affordable prices.
But if you’re in a creative mood and want to give your holiday gifts that extra personal touch, why not make the accessories yourself? In this DIY special, two accessory designers with distinct styles dish out the secrets to their products.
Wire them up
Beginners can start small and simple with wired rings.
Your sampayan at home might be the ugliest thing, especially with dripping clothes on top of them, but for MariGrace Jorian, owner of Wired Gems, the likes of aluminum and copper wires that stick out so ungracefully from the nooks and crannies of your homes can be transformed into something pretty and
fashionable.
Twenty-seven-year old MariGrace started creating accessories when she was only 15.
“My mom owned a knitted shirts shop and I was helping her out. But when knitted clothes became out of fashion, we started buying accessories from Hong Kong," she says.
But soon, MariGrace got tired of exporting products and wanted to join Philippine trade fairs. That was when she decided to create her own accessories. She has since specialized on wired gems specifically to create a niche and set herself apart from other accessory designers and sellers.
To create a wired gem ring: 
1. Buy a roll of copper or aluminum wire. This, along with the gems and the tools, can be bought at stores like WellManson in Quiapo. 
2. Have both round and flat long-nosed pliers, a cutter, and ring-sizer ready. 
3. Use the ring-sizer to measure a size 7 copper wire (according to MariGrace, 7 is the standard ring size). Use a trusty sharp cutter to cut the wire. 
4. Using the round long-nosed pliers, twist the copper wire into small swirls at both ends. 
5. Choose your semi-precious stones. You can add in as much as three to five stones but to achieve a classic touch, it’s best to start with one. 
6. Using another copper wire, loop the stone to the ring. Use flat long- nosed pliers to hide the excess and polish the wirings.
2. Have both round and flat long-nosed pliers, a cutter, and ring-sizer ready. 3. Use the ring-sizer to measure a size 7 copper wire (according to MariGrace, 7 is the standard ring size). Use a trusty sharp cutter to cut the wire. 4. Using the round long-nosed pliers, twist the copper wire into small swirls at both ends. 5. Choose your semi-precious stones. You can add in as much as three to five stones but to achieve a classic touch, it’s best to start with one. 6. Using another copper wire, loop the stone to the ring. Use flat long- nosed pliers to hide the excess and polish the wirings. Initially, she started with just making rings, bangles and necklaces, but has branched out to other wired works like brooches, bags, tiaras and wedding cords.
For beginners, MariGrace suggests starting small and simple with wired rings. Upcycling accessories
As quickly as our tastes and styles evolve, accessories are easily dumped into a tin can of discarded stuff but which you hold on for posterity’s sake: lonely-looking earrings without their pairs, shiny bracelets you wore when you were twelve but now deem too fancy for your taste, or a tarnished semi-precious necklace your grandma gave you.
But rather than allowing them to rot, accessory designer Victoria “Nancy" Limuaco advises recycling or more appropriately, “upcycling" these accessories and transforming them into something new.
Nancy’s style is reconstructing and deconstructing vintage jewelry and modernizing the elements to create something new.
“My creations are old pieces that I clean up, break apart then modernize and put together."
One of her fondest “transformations" was her mom’s old locket, which she had cleaned. But instead of using a typical gold chain, Nancy created modern chains composed of black beads, red beads and cultured pearls. These chains, combined with the gold pendant, then became a stylish piece of jewelry. Nancy called this
a “changeable"--you can change the chain of the pendant according to your whim or look.
To show us how to create an upcycled accessory, Nancy brought in one of the accessories she dug out of her mom’s baul, a handcrafted tambourine necklace in 14k yellow gold, a colonial piece of jewelry that affluent women wore with their baro’t sayas in the 1800s.
What you would need:
Any old piece can be made into jewelry.
2. After cleaning the piece, step back and see how you can destroy it to make something new. For this tambourine piece, Nancy took out the gold embellishments.
3. She then was able to create two kinds of necklaces by combining the tambourine pieces with pearls and modernizing the look. For those interested to upcycle accessories, Nancy says: “Be sensitive to whatever you have. To get dressed, you don’t really need to spend a lot. It’s just a matter of taking a look [and asking] what do I have stuck here? How do I put things together? Be brave!"
So ladies, before swiping that credit card in the malls, see if you’ve got what it takes to create DIY and “upcycled" accessories for your friends and loved ones. It’s the season to be jolly, thoughtful and creative. --KG, GMA News
