Beading Arts

I love messing around with both positive and negative molds: sometimes the exact look you want to achieve can only be had by going through a few extra steps, and that's what I did for this pendant. This week, I'm going to cover how to make the CopprClay pendant, and next week we'll look at one possibility for stringing it into a finished necklace. If you haven’t had a chance to mess around with CopprClay yet, you can look through the general directions that I’ve posted about working with it. If you don’t have any metal clay of any type, you could also do a similar project to this one using all polymer clay! Materials & Tools: CopprClay ( Rio Grande ) Olive oil Waxed paper or parchment paper Objects to make molds Polymer clay Kiln, firing pan, and activated charcoal Exacto knife, file, polish Patina solution 1. Instead of having the lines of my nautilus shell etched into the CopprClay, I wanted them to come forward, like a fossil ammonite. So I started with a lump o

People's Choice Awards : deadline Sept 14, 2009 Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy unveils a new series of Art Nouveau inspired beads. In French it's known as "Stile Floreal" and in English it's the "Floral Style." Crafty Princess Diaries Check out this unusual call for entries the Crafty Princess found for Momiji doll lovers. Earthenwood Studio Chronices Melanie shows off some fun experiments that she has seen coming out of her studio, mixing copper and pewter Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is hosting a Necklace Round Robin, but you have to leave a comment to be entered to win a spot! The writing and art of Andrew Thornton Beadfest Philadelphia was packed with talented artisans and bead-makers. See what Andrew picked out! A Bead A Day Have you ever used sterling silver curly-Q tubes in your jewelry designs?? Lisa is searching for cool ideas for these adorable tubes. About.com Jewelry Making Do you use blogging to promote your jewelry business? Tammy has some thoughts

Make Your Own Chain Jewelry - Linda Augsburg by Kalmbach Publishing

Apple by Amy Clarke Moore Five fabulous artists to awe and inspire you! From the tiniest seed beads to the largest found objects...these women know their stuff :-) Olivia Competente Morwyn Dow Amy Clarke Moore Jama Watts Phaedra A Torres Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

RuthAnn's Garden Choice by choice, moment by moment, I build the necklace of my day, stringing together the choices that form artful living. ~ Julia Cameron

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi has a short demo on how she came up with a contest entry. Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva What do bronze and rawhide have in common? Cindy explains how she uses both in her studio. Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie contemplates taking risks, making changes, and creative experimentation to prevent art burnout Jean Campbell Jean's whipped up a free vintage button brooch project for you to try. Jewelry & Beading Cyndi wants to know, what's the best thing you've made so far this summer? Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Take a peek into Lorelei's studio and see some cool bead storage solutions! Strands of Beads Melissa reveals her Use the Muse II Entry, "Briar Rose" The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Come join the fun in Philadelphia this weekend at Beadfest! Stop by the Green Girl Studios booth to say hello to Andrew and check out all the great new things available!!! A Bead A Day Creating a &

Fire Mountain Gems Niche Awards : deadline Aug 31, 2009 for professionals, Sept 30, 2009 for students Stringing Magazine fall challenge, Around the World: deadline Sept 7, 2009 Altered Couture Magazine : deadline Sept 15, 2009 GreenCraft Magazine : deadline Sept 15, 2009 Saul Bell Design Award : deadline Sept 18, 2009 Fire Mountain Gems , Swarovski Elements: deadline Sept 21, 2009 Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Colors of the Lilac-Breasted Roller A Lilac-Breasted Roller, one of the most beautiful birds in existence, inspired Margie Deeb’s panoply of hues on a cobalt background. The color challenge this bird presented was one of abundance: so many colors, and all so gorgeous. With a calligraphic flourish of lilac, Margie swirls your attention from the main stone up toward the center, the heart of the wearer, crowned in turquoise. The unique shape suggests arms raised in praise of color and beauty. Chrysocolla, turquoise, amethyst, chalcedony, vintage pressed glass, 24kt and glass beads. Photo by Margie Deeb Two more brilliant bead and jewelry artists for your viewing pleasure. If you'd like to be featured, please leave me a comment here with your email address or email me directly at cyndi @ mazeltovjewelry.com (remove the spaces). I'd love to talk with you :-) C A Therien Margie Deeb Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mix

I neglected to take sufficiently detailed process photos while I was working on Autumn Arbor , but for those of you who have some bead weaving experience, it's probably easy enough to figure out. Three basic stitches were used to create the components, and then these pieces were woven together and embellished using the thread tails: tubular herringbone, freeform right angle weave, and spiral square stitch. Autumn Arbor was a finalist in the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads 2009 beading contest, and you can see it featured on their site. 1. Create a long tube for the foundation of the necklace, using tubular herringbone stitch. A wonderful tutorial can be found at Beadwork at About.com , written in 1998 by Emily Hackbarth . 2. Use single-needle freeform right angel weave (RAW) to create the open-worked panels hanging from the tube. Leave long tails on each so that you can later stitch them to the tube and add bead embellishments. Deborah Roberti , at Around the Beading

Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene announces the August monthly challenge theme - a beautiful woodcut print. Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi explains how she made her glue gun leather brooch. Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Looking to create a pendant from one of her antique button treasures, Cindy tries her hand at mold making. Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie shares her new Shino glaze tests, and ponders about new work. Jean Campbell Jean helped deliver two babies this week: a new nephew and a new bracelet design Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio There are a couple of new bead and blog books on the shelves at Barnes & Noble! Lorelei's got the scoop! The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton The BIG REVEAL is here! Check out Andrew's submission to the Use the Muse II contest! A Bead A Day A Crystallized "Square Ring"! If you have never seen a "square ring", stop by A Bead A Day to see how it has been incorporated into a bracelet.

Lampwork glass bead by Lori Greenberg Five more brilliant bead and jewelry artists for your viewing pleasure. If you'd like to be featured, please leave me a comment here with your email address or email me directly at cyndi @ mazeltovjewelry.com (remove the spaces). I'd love to talk with you :-) Lori Greenberg Denise Perreault Melissa Lee Dulcey Heller Bernadine Stoopman Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

This is a really handy little stitch, very easy to do once you get the first couple of rounds started. I like to use two different colors of beads, but you can do it all with one color if you'd prefer. This is a woven stitch that you will create in your hands and then attach to your embroidered or woven bead work later. All you will need are seed beads, a beading needle, and Nymo thread. I usually make tendrils with size 11/0 beads, but my process photos show you the stitch done in size 8/0s so that it's easier to see. 1. Leaving a 5 to 7 inch tail, string on two beads of color A and one bead of color B.     2. Pass the needle and thread back through all 3 beads, and then a second time through only the two color A beads.  Pull the circle snug. 3. Add two color A and one more color B beads.  Pass the needle back through the previous color B bead and pull snug. 4. Pass the needle and thread forward through all four color A beads and pull snug. 5. Continue ad

I've got a rather impressive birthday coming up next month. You know, one of the ones with a ZERO at the end? All my loved ones want to know what I want, and the answer is...not much! I'm a pretty content person overall. But I do have a special fondness and weakness for books. So I'm asking you: what books should I buy? Please don't feel you have to confine yourself to suggesting jewelry or beading books...I'm really open to suggestions in most art fields. Maybe even open to books that have nothing much to do with art. But only maybe :-) So far, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to ask for Ann Baldwin's Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed Media Artists , and Jacqueline Sullivan's dvd called Acrylics: Textures, layers and metallics . Anything I should add to my list? Image: Stock.xchng Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

About.com Jewelry Making: Is the under 20 crowd crafting more or less these days? Take the quick poll & see the results of what other crafters are thinking about this issue. Art Bead Scene Looking for some new earring ideas? The Art Bead Scene reviews 101 Wire Earrings. Barbe Saint John - New Treasures from Forgotten Artifacts Join in the fun of the Objects & Elements Reader Challenge! Carmi's Art/Life World A little Friendly Plastic, a charm and resin makes for an amazing pendant. Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Summer heat getting to you? Cindy has a wrist full of Frost Links in Pear to keep her cool. Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie happens upon a new line of supplies that blend perfectly with her steampunk designs as well as her new resin collage pendants. Jean Campbell Jean whips up a pair of funky Steampunky earrings; you can make them, too! Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei shares some links to another really cool blog beading challe

Glorious beadwork by Mary Tafoya Aren't these bead and jewelry artists amazing? It inspires me all over again each time I look at their work! Mary Tafoya Margaux Lange Heather Powers Tina Koyama Karen Paust Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

I have rewritten and updated this tutorial, because some of the original materials are no longer available.  You will find the new tutorial for Hanging the Moon at the link.