Best jewelry making kits for crafting intricate, one-of-a-kind pieces for yourself or as a special gift

The best jewelry making kits create stunning, one-of-a-kind pieces. Whether you want to try to make your own DIY jewelry for the first time or have taken it up as a hobby, these kits are a great way to experiment with different materials and techniques until you land on a style that suits you.

As one of the most popular hobbies for women, jewelry making is a great way to gift yourself—or someone special—a truly unique ring, bracelet, necklace or pair of earrings at the end of the process. Once you're skilled enough, making your own jewelry can be lucrative, too, as the best jewelry gifts are often handmade and appeal to shoppers who scour sites with unique items, like Etsy and Not On The High Street.

To bring you our round-up of the best jewelry-making kits on the market, our team of testers assessed each kit to see which provided the most user-friendly and enjoyable crafting experiences. And, needless to say, learning how to make jewelry isn’t as fiddly as it sounds.

How we tested the best jewelry kits

When the team at womanandhome.com tested the best jewelry making kits, we looked for great quality products that produce high-end pieces. From the packaging to the end result, we take note of all the details to ensure we find the best kits. The main criteria we look out for is:

• How easy it is to use—some kits are pretty straightforward but for others involving resin, clay and casting materials, we’re looking for instructions and visual aids that go the extra mile to help users create their kit jewelry
• Good value for money—if the kit is more expensive than it would cost to buy the item ready-made, we look out for the reasons why. Are there specialist tools or one-off designs included that make it worth the price tag?
• The end result—all the jewelry kits we recommend create great-looking results, items that we’d all be proud to wear day-to-day. If they don’t look good, they don’t make the cut.

The best jewelry making kits as chosen by our experts

With everything from a beginners’ beading set—such as Macaroon’s Luxe DIY Beading Kit—to a more complex option, such as CAST’s Bespoke Jewelry Making Kit, we’ve got your jewelry making needs covered. 

If you’re a fan of Roxanne Assoulin’s beautiful jewelry collections, why not take the design reins and make your own bracelet in her signature style? We loved this kit, which comes in a cute little tin containing 73 vibrant enamel beads to string on the tan cord, finished with red macrame and gold-toned button closure. 

Create your own bracelet with a playful design, and keep any leftover beads for your crafting stash to make a matching pair of hoop earrings or a necklace with some extra jewelry findings. We found making the bracelet super straightforward, so if you’re looking for a fast project to make something special for yourself or someone you love, this is it. It makes a real style statement too and looks good however you wear it.

Unless you’re secretly skilled in the workings of a soldering iron (and other specialist tools), you’d be forgiven for thinking that making your very own precious metal jewelry was a little out of your reach. But we’ve got good news: CAST is making the seemingly impossible possible thanks to a technique called lost-wax casting.

Use the tools included in this kit to turn the various blue-wax forms (from a ring form to various other shapes) into unique-to-you designs. Once you’ve carved your desired piece of jewelry, send it off to CAST who will return it to you cast in silver or gold - see where the name comes from now? 

We found the carving a little tricky to get the hang of at first—be careful of your fingers—but practice makes perfect, and you can always order replacement wax shapes if you have a mishap. Once we were in the swing of things, the whole process was seamless and thoroughly enjoyable.

Read our full CAST bespoke jewelry making kit review 

Always dreamt of making your own rings? Get a step closer to the pros (with no expensive training) thanks to this clever little box of joy, brought to you by jewelers and friends Kirstie MacLaren and Katie Woodward. 

It all starts with a little ring of blue wax which can be carefully carved and sculpted to suit your style. If you’re not quite sure where to begin, make the most of the process by following online tutorials, snooping on the brand’s Instagram, or sketching your own designs before using the included craft knife and sandpapers to perfect your ring. The real beauty of this kit is that even if you’ve carefully followed a how-to-guide, the resulting rings will always be unique. Think of it as handwriting; no two people’s scribbles look the same. 

Once you’re happy with your carved ring design, pop it in the post and the clever folk over at The Workbench HQ will use a process called lost-wax casting to turn it into a beautifully shiny, bespoke piece that you can treasure forever.

While this kit is on the pricey side, we think it’s one of the best jewelry-making kits out there, and worth every penny for the quality of the materials, as well as the joy of knowing you’re the proud owner of a ring that’s one-of-a-kind. A great option for you to enjoy or as a gift for a loved one.

Read our full The Workbench Box review 

Jewelry brand Macaroon has been toying with the idea of launching its jewelry-making kits for years, but it was the pandemic that provided the final push to get the project off the ground. And the kit ticks some major boxes: it’s screen-free, occupies your hands and relaxes frazzled brains. It also makes a gorgeous-looking gift for a friend or family member in need of a little TLC. 

We really liked that each kit offers plenty of options for personalization and self-expression: they are packed with a mixture of around 200 beads and charms crafted from glass, shell, pearl, opal, crystal, and semi-precious gemstones, as well as some metal ones. All of the metal beads are lead and nickel-free. 

Your options are increased still further by the additional elements included in the box; you can string beads onto the stretchy elastic to make bracelets, or onto the strong cord to create beautiful, bespoke, beaded necklaces. One of the best jewelry-making kits if you like beaded creations.

Read our full Macaroon Jewelry Luxe DIY beading Kit review

Stitching Me Softly specializes in colorful, cotton-yarn friendship bracelets. Its impressive range of 15 sets—which you can find on the brand’s Etsy shop—offers options in an array of vibrant shades.

Each kit comes with an illustrated step-by-step guide to help you along the path of creating the various bracelet styles so we found it really easy to get started. Not only is this helpful for beginners, but it serves as a useful reminder if you decide to work on any similar craft projects in the future. Keep your creations for yourself or gift them to friends and family—the choice is yours. 

Of all the jewelry kits we’ve tried, the TOTL Tom Foolery Full Kit looked the most exciting on first unboxing, which is part of the reason it's made its way onto our list. Three large, shiny pouches contain everything needed to make your necklaces and bracelets. One is brimming with an electric mix of colorful beads, another is dedicated to beads emblazoned with letters and symbols, and the final pouch holds all the practical elements—wire, cutters, and clasps. 

One of the key selling points of this kit is the freedom it offers. There are no set rules or expectations, just the excitement of creating something completely unique. The beads included vary from kit to kit and are generous too, with a single set including enough beads to make a range of pieces.

But don't worry, if you do run out of beads, wire, or clasps there's the option to stock up on refill packs. There are limited edition extensions to the range too, so keep a beady eye on the TOTL Tom Foolery Instagram page for news on those. 

Creatives will love experimenting with this resin necklace kit that comes complete with resin, hardener, pigments, metallic mica powders, fillable bezel charms, extra charms (moons, stars, lightning bolts and mini tassels), six necklace chains, plenty of jump rings, lollipop sticks, cocktail sticks, mixing cups and gloves. For a kit that comes in such a neat little box, we were so impressed with the full-to-the-brim contents that meant we could really experiment with mixing colors and creating something unique. 

This is a great jewelry kit to use on an evening. Once you’ve mixed up the resin, hardener, pigments and mica, pour the mixture into the bezels and leave to cure overnight. It’s so fun to wake up the following morning to see your creations come to life, the metallic mica powders glinting in the light. Our favorite part was putting the necklaces together, playing around with the charms we’d designed and incorporating the moon and star charms too. It’s worth noting that you will need small pliers in your craft kit to be able to attach the jump rings to the charms and necklaces. There were so many charms and necklaces included in the kit that we started making extra ones for friends as gifts, they looked that professional!

This Amazon set doesn’t come with any instructions or guidance, which might put off some novice crafters. That being said, it’s easy to find jewelry-making tutorials on Youtube if you get stuck.

This particular kit offers great value for money—the tools alone (a brass jump-ring opening tool, pliers, and craft tweezers), make it worth the purchase. Many kits don’t come complete with these, so it’s certainly a selling point. 

As for the jewelry-making materials themselves, there’s a nice mix of charms, beads, clasps, and fixings to help you put your necklaces, earrings, and bracelets together, using the beading wire and cord. All in all, we found it to be a solid, affordable, no frills set for making bracelets or necklaces.

We Are Knitters is at the center of the cool crafting scene, specializing in yarn-based kits, stunning embroidery motifs, and bang-on-trend techniques. So when we discovered that their easiest kit to make (and the cheapest) was the Macramé Bracelet kit we jumped at the chance to try it out.

We weren’t disappointed with the results. Macramé is a simple technique to master once you’ve learned the knots, you only need two knotting techniques to make this bracelet. Plus, there are so many color options to choose from on the website. At such an affordable price, you can buy a rainbow of yarns to try out with your new craft skills.

You’ll become addicted to the mindful technique of weaving the yarns and pulling the knots together—in fact, this kit is a great way to switch off after a hard day. The best bit? You get a gorgeous stack of on-trend bracelets at the end of it.

Whether you're a beginner or gem-making expert, this DIY Bead Kit offers a full range of creative expression. It brims with over 200 beads and pendants across colors, shapes, and styles to suit any taste; plus, zinc, steel, acrylic, and rubber bands. The bright-yellow box houses pieces in individual compartments for easy access and organization. 

Why do we love it? This is a fab kit for kids, teens and adults, too. So if you're whole family enjoys crafting, pull out this kit for you all to get creative of an evening. The beads are so vibrant and unusual, you'll be able to make one-of-a-kind pieces.

Meet Akola, the jewelry-making brand with a twofold mission. Each kit comes with Karatasi beads handcrafted in Uganda, along with six ankole horn charms and a freshwater cultured pearl charm. We loved the vibrant colors of the beads and the pearly charms and the kit couldn't be easier to use. Not only that, with every purchase Akola reinvests 100% of profits to empower women and families in poverty. Overall, a great way to learn a trade and give back.

More often than not, luxury jewels boast four-digit-plus price tags. Fortunately, Kendra Scott offers a kit with the essentials to make these kinds of pieces from home at a fraction of the price - making this our favorite luxury kit.

With the Ellie DIY Bracelet Kit, you can mix and match pieces seamlessly. The set spotlights two options in Iridescent and Multi Drusy, and over 20 stone beads in Amethyst, Variegated Turquoise Magnesite, White Howlite, and Pink Cat’s Eye. It also comes with a mix of natural baroque pearls, mini tassels, gold bead accents, and vibrant cording with prefixed closures. 

For something really special, we suggest the Oh Hello Maker polymer clay kit to make a spangly set of gold leaf earrings. The kit comes complete with white polymer clay, gold leaf, custom-designed cutters, pliers, jewelry findings, and embroidery thread, along with printed step-by-step instructions. Should you need more of a helping hand, take a look at the online video tutorial - it really helped to see another pair of hands making the earrings at the same time as us. 

The results are impressive - the earrings we made look like a pair you would buy at a premium price from an indie store. Considering the kit only costs £29.99 and you can make several pairs, it really is great value for money.

The other great thing about this kit is that it comes with all the tools you need to keep making more jewelry. With the pliers and cutters included, you can expand on the knowledge gained from the kit and buy more polymer clay and necklace findings to create a matching set to go with your earrings. The options are endless when you start with this fantastic kit. 

When we came across this kit, we couldn’t quite believe it was DIY - the earrings were so unusual and on-trend. They’re the kind of earrings that, when worn, get lots of compliments. We had to try them out!

The kit itself didn’t disappoint. We loved the hands-on approach to creating the jig myself. A jig is a board, that you hammer with nails in the shape you wish to turn your wire. Once you’ve nailed on the pattern, you simply wrap the wire around the nails to form the shape.

You will need your own hammer to be able to create the jig but, otherwise, everything else is included - brass wire, gold-plated earring wires, wooden board, nails, pliers and access to an online video to help you out whilst crafting.

Having made the three patterns included, we've started looking for more shapes to turn into stylish earrings. The Monstera leaf shape is particularly stunning. We just wish The Edinburgh Craft Club did more kits with different shapes to choose from.  

What to consider when choosing the best jewelry making kit for you

What do you need to consider when browsing through the best jewelry-making kits? Skill level will play a part: how much (or little) experience—and perhaps patience—do you have for the activity? Are you looking for something that offers flexibility for creative flair, or something more of a painting-by-numbers-style creation? How much money do you want to invest, and what kind of materials do you want to work with?

If you have done some crafting before, it can be helpful to choose a kit that chimes with what you’re most comfortable with. If you’ve done a bit of crafting with yarn or thread, have a go at making friendship bracelets, or stretch yourself with the macramé bracelet kit. You’ll get the hang of it quickly and have the confidence to move on to the harder kits that involve carving or hammering. That being said, nothing is stopping you from going straight to the more technical kits—it might just take a little bit of time to get your head around them.

These are just some of the things you’ll want to think about when seeking out the very best jewelry-making kits on the market. Whether making jewelry is something you’re already into, or you want to learn the techniques from scratch with online jewelry-making classes, we’ve saved you precious time scrolling through Instagram, or browsing on Etsy by collating the very best options available right now into one big list. We’ve also sought out personal recommendations from in-the-know friends and colleagues, for those word-of-mouth recommendations that online browsing fails to deliver. Once we had a comprehensive list of options, we added them to our basket and tested them out for ourselves, to share with you what the kits are like. 

How to choose the best jewelry kit for you

If you’re not sure where to start with jewelry making, it’s best to try a beginner kit. We score each kit with a difficulty rating within this article, so it will be easy to find something suitable. Although, if you enjoy crafting in general, we would recommend that you start with a kit that incorporates more materials than beads, gems and jump rings. Get creative with a jewelry making kit using clay, resin, or even macramé embroidery floss. You’re sure to have fun learning a new skill and it will open the door to jewelry making for you.

What other equipment do I need to make jewelry?

If you're just getting started making your jewelry, some extra tools can help make the journey a little easier. Some of the best jewelry-making kits (including many of the kits mentioned above) come with everything you could need to make your project—while others require wires, pliers, or even wire or elastic thread. Make sure to check if your kit has these things, or whether you need to purchase them alongside the kit as well. 

It can also be helpful to purchase some bead stoppers if you struggle to keep yours on the wire. A beadboard can also be incredibly handy when making your jewelry as well, as it will hold everything in place for you. While you can make your jewelry on your lap or sit at a table, a beadboard will make things so much easier. To make sure you have everything you'll need, our ultimate guide to creating your jewelry starter kit might be helpful. 

What can I make next?

Once you’ve mastered the basics with one of the best jewelry making kits, you can make your own range of bracelets, necklaces and earrings from scratch. Use the same tools from your jewelry kits and some extra beads to get started. You can even repair your own jewelry with the same equipment and techniques.