Beading Arts

Create Jewelry - Glass by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett Glass, affordable, stylish…and sparkly! What a winning combination that is. Beaders and jewelry makers have had a long term love affair with glass beads, and now Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett have teamed up to bring us a wonderful beginner guide to working with glass beads. Create Jewelry - Glass is divided into three main sections: classics, special occasion, and fashion forward. Techniques are explained and build upon each other so that you can create more advanced designs as you work through the book. None of the techniques are really difficult, so this would be a nice book for beginners who want to challenge themselves to move to the next level. Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Introduction All the Keys to Emerald City started out life as a junky old pot metal necklace interspersed with red plastic beads. I wanted to use it as the base strand for a charm necklace, wiring the treasures on to beads that had been added specifically to serve as anchors, but I had no clear idea at first what the theme or colors would be. I had many collections of items waiting for the right home, but it took some deep green computer circuit boards with their silver-colored designs to bring the correct items together with the pot metal necklace. Sorting through my collections, I was able to pull together a wonderful assortment of non-matching green vintage buttons in graduated sizes, green glass beads in several sizes that looked good with the buttons, a large collection of silver and pewter charms and do-dads, and (of course) some circuit board pieces. I especially liked the softer antiqued silver and the pewter pieces since the pot metal beads have a soft, warm pewter-like g

I’ve been experimenting with some elevated beadwork, a very different style to what I normally do. I learned this particular style of raising the work from Nancy Eha , and it’s opened up some new avenues of exploration for me. It’s not too appropriate for most clothing, since the “petals” are only hooked down in three spots…it would be too easy to snag them on something and rip the whole thing out! But it’s a fun application for quilting. As usual, I am stuck with no name for this piece. I’m not entirely happy with the results either. I thought that I wanted some of the petals to hang over the edge of the quilt (you can see them on the left), but now I don’t really like the way it looks. I’m trying to decide whether or not to add another strip around the quilt edge…what do you think? Here are some process shots: Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire

After making numerous bead-embroidered necklaces, I was looking for a change of technique. Freeform peyote, netting, and brick stitch appeal to me, but I still wanted some sort of support for the work. Heavy gauge sterling silver wire makes an excellent armature to work around. My inspiration for this piece came from Lynda Musante’s lovely book, Exquisite Beaded Jewelry . Lynda shows how to make a bracelet using wire links as a base. My piece uses a single strand of wire instead, but the look is very similar, so I would be remiss in not acknowledging her inspiration! Materials: 40 inches 14 gauge sterling silver wire 24 inches 18 gauge sterling silver wire 5 inches 20 gauge sterling silver wire Sterling silver headpins 8/0, 11/0 seed beads 4mm tube beads Assorted glass, stone, sterling silver, pearl accent beads, 4-10mm Nymo O Tools: Ball peen hammer Beading needles Wire cutters Chain and round nosed pliers Measuring tape 1. Assemble a collection of seed beads and assorted a