Think of this new book as an overview of what is possible.  It’s not nearly detailed enough to be a true how-to book, but it covers so many different materials that it will probably boggle your mind with possibilities and send you racing for your notebook!

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques
by Vannetta Seecharran
This book covers far more than beading techniques, so look elsewhere if you’d like an introduction to beadwork.  This is a guide for an experimental jewelry who wants to create one-of-a-kind jewelry using modern techniques and materials.  There are instructions and photographs outlining how to work with …read more

Visit JewelerMe for unique jewelry kits that make it incredibly easy to create your own jewelry. Instead of figuring out a design and then searching for the best beads and findings to put it together, you can just purchase one of their kits! They’ve put together a variety of different jewelry designs and then organized the materials, so all you need to do is follow the directions.
Selene Bracelet
Nikki and Barb, site owners write:
We’ve been making our own jewelry for years now, but when we first started it was daunting to search for the right findings, the correct beading wire size …read more

Seed Bead Fusion
by Rachel Nelson-Smith
Rachel Nelson-Smith has decided not to be bound by the usual rules about beading. Instead of starting with one stitch and sticking with it, she invites us to mix them up. The results are 18 projects of stunning beauty. Rachel likes to add bumps, waves, ruffles, and other textures to her work, which takes each of these projects from merely nice to amazing. She also likes to showcase several different color schemes, so that you’ll never feel hemmed in by just one choice.
The highlight of this book for me is that I can heartily recommend it …read more

Understanding how color works technically is one thing, being able to choose lovely colorways for your designs can be another!  Beverly Ash Gilbert, who shared a wonderful artist profile with us back in March, is an absolute master at chosing palettes and working with color in her pieces.  Now Beverly has published a new tool called The Eye for Color system which will help you put into practice the principles behind great color selection.

Beverly’s packet has two color wheels and six color harmony templates with a unique snap-together construction.  There is a beautiful inspirational booklet that comes with the system, …read more

Technique Tuesday!

An easy way to create a quick pendant necklace is to find a gorgeous fused glass cabochon or bead (these beads are from Jeanne Kent at New Terra Artifacts) and add some simple bead embroidery around it. But who can stop with just one?

I added seed bead bails done in square stitch to the backs of these beads, and they are all set to hang on a rubber or cord necklace, alone or as a set!
Step by step instructions
Materials & Tools
6 inch square piece of ultrasuede or non-woven synthetic material
Nymo O, black
3 fused glass top-drilled beads, 25×15 mm
Seed …read more

I had the opportunity to try out Consumer Crafts‘ relatively new website.  Their mission is to provide competitive pricing on a wide selection of craft supplies, and I found that for jewelry makers, there is a very nice selection of beads and findings available.

I received a shipment of Jill MacKay findings and am very pleased with the quality.   The website was very easy to navigate and use, and the shipment went out the very next day.   I had my order a mere two days after placing it!  The findings that I ordered are silver and gold plate, and as you’ll …read more

Technique Tuesday!
I mentioned yesterday that all the Swarovski Crystal Beads for this project were donated by ArtBeads.com so that I could create and share this project with you.  Thanks so much, guys!

Materials & Tools:
2 lengths of gold SoftFlex beading wire, 24 inches each
4 – 5 inches of chain
Gold hook
18 bicones, 6mm
6 cubes, 8mm
20 mm square ring
14 mm triangle ring
14 mm square ring
14 mm round ring
Star charm
Moon charm
11/0 Delica seed beads, color-lined mixed green/blue
Nymo beading thread, black
8 jump rings, 9 mm
3 jump rings, 7 mm
11 jump rings, 4 mm
11 head pins
28 crimps, size #1
2 crimps, size #3
Flat nose pliers
Round nose pliers,
Wire …read more

Technique Tuesday!
In the first part of our tutorial, we looked at how to create the CopprClay focal discs. Now we’re going to look at one possible way to use them in a finished necklace.

I decided to mix my metals up a bit: I really like the rustic look of bronze, copper, and antique brass together, but you can stick with all one metal if you prefer. Here’s what I used:
Materials & Tools:
5 focal copper discs
5 vintage rhinestone buttons in bronze setting
10″ of raw brass chain
18 raw brass jump rings, 7.25 mm
9 copper jump rings, 6 mm
10 mm copper drop
5″ copper …read more

Technique Tuesday!
The first stage in creating a CopprClay necklace with disc-shaped focals is to roll out, texture, fire, and finish the focals themselves.

Start with small balls of CopprClay, about 3/8 inch across.  Keep all of them under plastic wrap except for the one you’re working with at the time.  Follow the general instructions found at this tutorial for handling your clay.
Step by step instructions for creating discs focals

A few of the tools used with CopprClay

I’m really pleased with the way this necklace turned out.  Even more, I am pleased overall with the workability and user-friendliness of CopprClay in general.

Tomorrow and next week, I’m going to give you the step-by-steps for making a necklace similar to this one.  We’ll be starting with making the focal discs themselves, and then looking at how to assemble the whole necklace.  In the meantime, you can brush up on the basic details of working with CopprClay:
General instructions for working with CopprClay