Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva:
Cindy learns to make murrini and deals with mud.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Even without a lot of time on her hands, Melanie finishes a clockwork themed bracelet using Swarovski faceted rings from ArtBeads.com

Humblebeads
Bead & Button stash and Heather’s inspired creations

Jean Campbell
Jean gives a sneak peek of her next Beadwork magazine piece

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
Instead of continuing on with the tried and true techniques of jewelry design, Lorelei is finally ready to take the leap and try something new.

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean gets her cool stash from Use the Muse II, and muses about it

Strands of Beads
Melissa wants to know what outrageous materials are in your beading stash?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Stop by and say hello to Andrew in Charlotte, NC this weekend. Check out his new designs and some delicious new metal clay coins!

A Bead A Day
Do you love Swarovski Crystals? Inspired by talented jewelry designer, Lillian Chen, Lisa creates a Swarovski “sculpture” ring.

About.com Jewelry Making
Heard about copper clay or coppr clay? Find out more about this great new metal clay product and check out some new metal clay projects too.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene gets creative with the “Best of ABS.”

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Sometimes you need to have a jewelry makeover

Beading Arts
A report on firing and finishing CopprClay pieces. This stuff rocks!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi tries Ice Resin and upcycles a greeting card into a necklace.

Another wonderful entry in the Dummies series!  This one, Jewelry and Beading Designs for Dummies was co-written by Heather H Dismore and my friend Tammy Powley.  Both have extensive experience with writing directions for beginner projects, making both simple and complicated steps clear.

Jewelry & Beading Designs for Dummies
by Heather H Dismore & Tammy Powley

This book is a follow up to the original Jewelry Making and Beading for Dummies, so if you are a complete beginner, you will probably need this book first.  The current book is focused more on designs and creating finished pieces, although they do cover many basic techniques quite thoroughly.

There are hundreds of illustrations and photographs to help you as you stretch your skills and create all different types of beaded accessories using lots of different materials.  Yes, there are projects as well as techniques, and they will help you master skills while you end up with lots of fun new wearables for yourself or for gifts.

Technique Tuesday!

These three pictures show the process of taking CopprClay from raw to finished. It can take several days for the clay to dry out, or you can hasten the process by warming it in your oven at about 200 F. Even after allowing my pieces to sit out and dry naturally for a few days, I still took this added precaution to ensure they were all completely dry.

Step by step instruction

Firing the clay is a bit more work than silver. Copper and Bronze must both be kept from too much oxidation or you’ll just end up with a black burnt-looking surface. Therefore, these clays must be kiln fired. I used the recommended coconut shell-based granulated activated charcoal and a steel firing pan. (All tools can be found on Rio Grande’s website.)

I fired my first set of pieces all in one run, ramping up my kiln to 1700 F and holding for 3 hours. I didn’t use any special schedule for ramping up, and actually the temperature ended up going a bit too high on the first go, but it didn’t seem to affect the pieces. I was afraid that when I opened the kiln I’d find melted puddles in the firing box!

Here is a link to more process shots from my adventures in firing.

My next step will be to experiment with some different finishing techniques. I’m going to use a brass brush, and then burnish and buff these pieces. Maybe a few of them will go into the experiment pile for patination.

More than 75 different designs, with fool proof instructions and lots of backstory information on the materials, Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads is a book that stone enthusiasts will love!

Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads
by Kim Gover

There are so many features that make this a useful book, starting with the bead directory that teaches you about the characteristics and best companions for each stone covered.  A project selector will help you to quickly eyeball the design that you wanted to try next.  Next you move on to the actual projects, with amazing diagrams and more information.  These are each cross-referenced to the techniques used, which are covered in the last section at the end of the book.

I love the organization of this book, and I also love the way London-based author Kim Gover has included projects by many talented designers.  You won’t feel it’s the same old thing over and over with this book.

Check out The Bookshop for lots more links to books about jewelry-making in addition to this helpful guide!

A Bead A Day:
Lisa shares her selection of summery pink beads and crystals. The “Watermelon Crawl” bead mix is sure to conjure up visions of a family picnic on a warm summer day!

About.com Jewelry Making
Take these quick polls about wearing and making jewelry. Which are your favorite pieces?

Art Bead Scene
The Trendy Bead shows off wood filigree pendants.

Barbe Saint John
Read Barbe’s interview on the Objects and Elements blog

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi hand felts a pretty bead from wool roving.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva
A trip to glass city doesn’t go as well as planned. Yet Cindy finds inspiration and few new tools!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie mixes up gunmetal chains and components with brass to make a necklace with one of her Toolbox Treasure pendants

Humblebeads
Heather sketches out some new designs using this summer’s hottest color.

Jean Campbell Ink: Eureka!
Beading in the fresh air clears the mind, bringing fresh creativity

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
Searching for some new inspiration? Lorelei’s got just the place for you to find it!
Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean reviews Wirework, a new book by the famous Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her new lunar phases and compass rose designs

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
While traveling in Florida, Andrew shares a new variation on a favorite skull bracelet.

Kristi Bowman is the owner of Dream Some Designs, a lovely shop on Etsy.  Amazingly, Kristi has been working with metal clay for less than a year…I know you’ll be surprised when you see her work!  She is enjoying working color into her designs by incorporating different stones and beads.  Nature and rustic artifacts are a big influence on Kristi’s work.

Kristi writes about her pieces:

The Blue Topaz and Metal Clay earrings were a special order for a friend on Mothers day, they turned out so beautifully that I will surely make some similar pieces.

The necklace titled Artifact is a rather free form piece with 3 different textures. I used Amazonite and Metal Clay beads strung on a Sterling chain to finish the piece. This is one of the pieces that is meant to look ancient and somewhat rough like it was found buried in the earth.

The earrings titled Arrow are made out of Bronze Clay. They are 2 parts so they are fun to wear, only the wearer can hear the tiny jingle of the 2 parts moving against each other.

Custom Cool Jewelry
by Melinda Barta

Melinda Barta came up with a brilliant idea for this fun book. Instead of spreading her many talents out too thinly, she concentrated on just three areas: pendants, charms, and clasps.

It’s often hard to find exactly that perfect piece to customize your jewelry, and if you can make your own pendants, charms, and clasps, you can add them to readily available lain beads to create a masterpiece that is distinctively yours. Melinda includes over 275 quick and easy ideas for mixed media components as well as 7 full stringing projects. Once you start making these components, you’ll never run out of ideas about what to do with them!

Custom Cool Jewelry teaches you how to create personalized, affordable, and unique alternatives to store-bought beading components using a wide range of jewelry and basic crafting materials including embossing powder, collage papers, wire, fibers, glass etching cream, patinas, found objects, fabric, memorabilia and more.

Check out The Bookshop for lots more links to books about jewelry-making in addition to this fine guide!

Carmi’s Art/Life World:
A vintage comic book becomes the inspiration for a necklace.

Barbe Saint John
Barbe reviews Ancient Modern Polymer Clay book

About.com Jewelry Making
Summer time is affecting Tammy’s jewelry designs. How about yours? Check out her summer jewelry plans so far.

Art Bead Scene
Kandinsky inspires this month’s challenge. The ABS editors suggest a selection of their handmade art beads for a Kandinsky inspired jewelry piece.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
A new shipment of copper blanks has Melanie plotting for some metal playtime!

Snap out of it,Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Pink, gold,and cream! Jean creates a lovely necklace and earring set featuring a beautiful Russian hand painted focal from Artbeads.com

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her work in progress - an eerie lock and key design

Technique Tuesday!

Yesterday I showed you the necklace that I made using the copper findings and beads that I received from Auntie’s Beads.

You’ll need copper colored wire, some stone rounds and chips (I used turquoise and coral), and lots of cool copper stuff!

Step by step instructions

Materials:
Copper colored wire (20 gauge)
Turquoise and coral rounds, 4mm and 6mm
Turquoise and coral chips
Copper colored or red beading wire
Copper chain, hook, crimps, jump rings, and head pins
Copper round bead, floral patterned, 7mm
Copper 2mm rounds, daisy spacers, bead caps, and hammered round links

Tools:
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters
File
Measuring tape