I tend to wear a lot of chunky jewelry.  Most of it isn’t very expensive (at all!), but the styles mean it’s bulky and hard to store.  My nightstand looked like this.  (Sorry for the blur.  The lighting in this room is bad.)

I was getting tired, not only of the mess, but also of knocking things onto the floor every time I tried to dig for a particular bracelet, so I set out to do something about it.  The result is the bracelet stand you see at the top of this post — and it’s pretty simple.

DIY Bracelet Stand Tutorial

Supplies needed:

• wooden plaque (for the base)
• 3-4*, 1/2″ diameter dowels  (You can cut your own, but it’s simplest to just buy the foot-long ones.)
• 2-3* dowel caps, with 1/2″ openings
• wood stain, optional (I made my own.)
• self-adhesive felt, as big around as your plaque
• drill with a 1/2″ drill bit
• wood glue

*See the next section to understand why the numbers vary.

I got all of my wood pieces (shown above) from Hobby Lobby, but of course you can get them wherever you find convenient.

Three Dowels or Four?

The idea is to have three columns on which to stack bracelets.  However, open-style cuff bracelets will not stay put if you slip them over a single dowel.  So…if all of your bracelets are closed (form complete circles), you can use only three dowels, and you can cap them all.  So you’ll need 3 dowels and 3 dowel caps.

If, however, you have any of those open cuff bracelets (C-shaped), you’ll need 4 dowels, and you can’t cap the center pair, so you’ll only need 2 dowel caps.

Step 1: Determine & mark placement

Use a pencil (I didn’t list that, but I assume you have one) to mark where you want your dowels to sit.  I marked the center point of the plaque, and then measured outward from there.  (That was just easier for me than measuring from an edge, because of the shape.)  I set mine along the back half of the plaque, thinking  I will later be able to set a tray on top of the front half, but it’s up to you.

If you’re only doing three dowels, then mark three spots, spaced evenly.

If you’re doing a pair of dowels for cuff bracelets, you’ll need to grab one of those bracelets and do a little fiddling.  You need those two dowels to be spaced just far enough apart that you can slip the cuff over both dowels, and they will provide enough tension to keep it from spinning around.  Mark the placement accordingly.

Step 2: Drill

Using your 1/2-inch drill bit, drill a hole straight through the plaque at each mark.  My drill bit was old, so it struggled a bit getting through the board, and kind of tore up the back side.  If yours is new, you probably won’t have that problem, but it’s still probably best to drill from front-to-back, just in case.

Step 3 (optional): Stain

If you’re going to stain your pieces, this is a good time to do it.  It should go without saying, but make sure they’re dry before moving on!

Step 4: Glue

Using wood glue, glue the dowels into the holes.  Be sure the plaque is sitting on a hard, flat surface.  (And be careful not to glue it to the surface!)  If, like mine, your drill bit wore the holes out a little so they’re slightly loose, you may have to hold the dowels carefully straight for the first few minutes until the glue starts to set.

Let the whole thing sit overnight until the glue is good and dry.

Step 5: Cap

Add the dowel caps.  If you want, you can glue these, too, but I didn’t find it necessary.  They fit pretty snugly, and there isn’t any strain on them.

If you used the double-dowel method for the center, to accommodate open cuffs, you’ll need to leave those uncapped, because the cuffs won’t slide onto them properly with the added width of the dowel caps.

Step 6: Back it

Flip the felt over so the adhesive backing is facing up, and trace the plaque onto it.  Then cut it out, a little inside the line.

Peel the backing and carefully adhere the felt to the back of the plaque.  (I found it easiest to hold the stand upside-down in my lap while I did this.)  This will keep the stand from scratching up any furniture you set it on top of.

All done!

Load it up and you’re ready to go!

As a friend has pointed out, yes, it can be kind of a pain if the bracelet you want is the one on the bottom.  But it’s still more convenient than knocking stuff all over the floor.  And with use, the most frequently-worn pieces will “rise to the top,” while the rarely-worn pieces will naturally move toward the bottom.