Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Bead Journal Project for 2008 – 2009 is officially finished!  We’ll be starting up again for our third year in January 2010. I’ll make sure I post about it when I have more news…it would be fabulous to have more folks join in!

Each month, I chose a fragment of scripture from one of the Psalms and used a heart shape to create a little 4 x 4 inch beaded piece that illustrates the feeling of that verse for me.   Here is my piece for August:

Psalm 63:8
My soul follows hard after Thee

Here are all of the completed sets: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer

My previous pieces for the Bead Journal Project
Information about the Bead Journal Project
Bead Journal Project blog

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Earring kit by Laura McCabe available from Beads East

For example, my friend Dulcey Heller creates kits and patterns for a site called simply Buy the Kit.  Despite the name, they also sell “bead-less kits”, a clever way to refer to patterns, as well as kits that contain everything you will need, just add hands and eyes.  This site specializes in seed beadwork.

If you are more interested in learning wire techniques, check out Jewelry Lessons.  There are lessons on polymer clay and beadwork too, but wire is king (or queen) at this site owned by Eni Oken.

Etsy is another place that you can check out for kits and patterns.  I had the most luck by searching on the term “tutorial”.  This lovely shop by WireBliss is just one of the sites I found that had education for sale.

If you’d like to sink your teeth into a really big project, you might want to check out Beads East.  There are free tutorials, both video and printed available here, as well as kits and patterns by artists like Laura McCabe and Sherry Serafini.

JewelerMe is a new site, started by a mother and daughter team.  They specifically package kits that can be done in a group setting like a bridal shower or a girls’ night out.

Finally, here are two more sites that I’m not as familiar with that have patterns and kits.  They look like they’re worth investigating as well:

Beaded Patterns

Simply Beads Kit of the Month

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

The International Society of Glass Beadmakers promotes the growth and recognition of glass beadmaking as as an art form.   This year the ISGB held its annual Gathering (yes, that is a glass pun) in Miami Florida at the end of July.  Classes, presentations, and opportunities to network and shop are the highlights of the show.

A special video was put together from members’ photos that they sent in prior to the event.  If you’ve got any interest in glass beadmaking, this may be the organization for you.  Don’t they look like a fun group?

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Part of this mission is being accomplished by the newly opened online shop, which promotes products made by fair trade community cooperatives and vocational training programs in Africa.  Two of the programs of special interest to the beading and jewelry community are outlined below.

The Atteridgeville Jewelry Project is located outside the city of Pretoria in South Africa. It was the first project established in a black township to offer historically disadvantaged individuals free training in jewelry manufacture and design. Generally, graduates of the training program have an 80% success rate in future employment, while the project has allowed for entrepreneurs to flourish in their own right.

Khuts Exclusive Designs was founded 10 years ago in the Western Cape, South Africa, by Khutala Mayosi, a Xhosa woman. She desired to introduce her communityʼs traditional flare and beadwork to modern couture by using Zulu and Xhosa beading techniques combined with innovative designs. Khuts Exclusive has transformed unemployed South Africans into some of the countryʼs most skilled and creative craftspeople.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Each month, I’m choosing a fragment of scripture from one of the Psalms and using a heart shape to create a little 4 x 4 inch beaded piece that illustrates the feeling of that verse for me. Here is my piece for July, which is the second piece in the Summer group (June, July, August).  By this time next month, the entire project should be finished…Yay!

Psalm 119:32
I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

We’re talking about doing the project again, for a third year, and I believe that we’re going to be waiting until January 2010 to kick it off this time.  I’ll make sure I post about it when I have more news…it would be fabulous to have more folks join in!

Here are the three completed sets: Autumn, Winter, and Spring

My previous pieces for the Bead Journal Project
Information about the Bead Journal Project
Bead Journal Project blog

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Each month, I’m choosing a fragment of scripture from one of the Psalms and using a heart shape to create a little 4 x 4 inch beaded piece that illustrates the feeling of that verse for me. Here is my piece for June:

Psalm 92:4
I sing for joy at the works of Your hands

Here are the three completed sets: Autumn, Winter, and Spring

My previous pieces for the Bead Journal Project
Information about the Bead Journal Project
Bead Journal Project blog

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Each month, I’m choosing a fragment of scripture from one of the Psalms and using a heart shape to create a little 4 x 4 inch beaded piece that illustrates the feeling of that verse for me. Here is my piece for May:

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Here are the three completed sets: Autumn, Winter, and Spring

My previous pieces for the Bead Journal Project
Information about the Bead Journal Project
Bead Journal Project blog

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy has some knotting jewelry tutorials for you, as in making jewelry with fiber. It’s an often inexpensive media that can add a unique twist to your jewelry designs.

Art Bead Scene
Wings are the backdrop for a visual treatise on creativity.

Carmi’s Art
Carmi turns a dried crab apple into something wearable.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares her thoughts on ethics in art and an example on how she used inspiration from another artist’s work in her own work, finding her own expression with the idea without copying.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Psalm 31:15
My times are in Your hands

My previous pieces for the Bead Journal Project

Information about the Bead Journal Project
Bead Journal Project blog

Post from: Jewelry and Beading