Beading Arts

***FREE STUFF ALERT*** Create Jewelry - Glass by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett As a part of our celebration of all things beads - and definitely all things glass - I'll be giving away a copy of this terrific book published by Interweave Press .  Although I think that the book is best suited for beginners, it has some really fun designs in it that intermediate and advanced beaders will enjoy too.  You can read my review of the book here . To enter my contest to win your own free copy of this book, leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite material is for bead stringing.  If you don't do stringing, tell me what you do instead!  If you tweet or post on facebook, etc about this contest, leave me a second message and you'll be entered twice!  Deadline for entry is next Wednesday evening :-) Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

I have another brilliant jewelry artist to introduce you to today: Casey Sharpe is a metal worker who makes lovely brooches, pins, rings, charms, and many other gorgeous pieces.  She is a brand new sponsor of Beading Arts , so you'll be able to find her banner ad in the sidebar! Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Think twice! But do it if it's really your dream.   Too Precious , an award winner by Kaytee More than two years ago, Kaytee of Simplexities had some very wise advice to share. At the time, she gave me permission to repost her list on another blog, which has since gone defunct. (See, not only jewelry businesses, but also jewelry blogs are a tough business!) The advice is timeless, so here it is for those who are thinking about launching your own jewelry business this year: 1. LOTS of people have “just started making jewelry” and are pretty good at it and after a few weeks, want to start selling. They have dreams of making it into a dream career, spending their days making beautiful jewelry, and the world beating a path to their door to buy it. It ain’t happening. 2. There are LOTS of long established beaders, doing excellent, prize winning work who are not selling enough jewelry to make it a career– many of them suppliment their “day jobs” with teaching, putting togeth...

Lyn Foley is the maker of gorgeous lampwork glass beads and finished jewelry!  She keeps a blog as well where you can see the latest creations that Lyn has put together...how about that stunning piece above for starters? Lyn is my newest sponsor, and I am delighted to introduce you to her work.  You'll see her ad banner over in the sidebar, and that link will take you directly to the glass beads that she has available.  Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Margie Deeb is a busy busy lady, busy writing, teaching, and of course beading!  But recently Margie took time out to tell me about a great honor that she has received: her book The Beader's Color Palette has been chosen by Library-Journal as the BEST Craft How-to Book of 2009 !! About this new accomplishment, Margie writes: The Library-Journal is very prestigious, and recommends books in EVERY subject, fiction and non, for the whole country. So I am thrilled. It huge! And a great honor! And I am glad to see the subject of color being chosen as a top book, and the subject of beads. The Beader’s Color Palette was chosen above thousands of other books in every craft you can imagine. I am proud and beaming. Congratulations, Margie!! I'd like to invite you to read Margie's original artist profile that she did for Beading Arts .  Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Midnight at the Oasis There are quite a few seed bead tutorials in the archives that I'd like to share with you...both off-loom bead weaving and bead embroidery.  Some of these are quick and dirty techniques, and some follow a larger project from beginning to end.  Enjoy! Bead embroidery techniques Free e-book on bead embroidery stitches Treasure Chest: a basic bead embroidered project Peyote stitch a beaded bead The spiral stitch A freeform beaded pendant from a geode Two drop peyote beaded beads Right angle weave bezel and bail Cigar box handbag A simple square stitch bail Twisted peyote spiral necklace Simple cuff bracelet A wrapped paua necklace Freeform seed bead necklace Spiral square stitch Autumn Arbor Beaded cabochon pendants A freeform beaded bauble Beaded flowers Floral bead embroidered necklace Interesting spiral Deco scarab necklace Lady of Shalott Midnight at the Oasis Floral seed bead chain Embroidered cuff ...

Over the next week or so, you will be seeing some brand new sponsor ads appearing in the sidebar of Beading Arts!  The results of my sponsorship ad contest are in, and today I'd like to introduce you to Eileen Bergen , who writes The Artful Crafter blog and also maintains The Artful Crafter website .  I've spoken about Eileen before: there are basically no art forms that Eileen hasn't tried or hasn't at least wanted to try!  Family friendly ideas for all seasons and holidays, wearables, decorative home goods, and lots of business tips...that's what you'll find at Eileen's corner of the web.  Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

I promised a few weeks ago that I would write up instructions for how to make the bead embroidered cuff bracelets that I'm doing each month for the Bead Journal Project 2010 .  You can see all of my bracelets as they appear each month by choosing Bead Journal Project under the heading "Categories" in the sidebar.  Or just click on the last link! Anyway, here's how I am making them.  Not all of the fabrics are as complicated as this one.  Sometimes I have painted the fabric, and sometimes I'm using plain commercial fabric.  Steps 3 through 5 deal with making a more complicated collaged fabric base. 1. Decide on pattern and draw it for future reference - measurement of wrist plus 1 inch for button overlap. 2. Pick and cut background fabric larger than pattern. Iron on a piece of Pellon fusible interfacing (lightweight) to back. 3. Layer on embellishment fabrics, zig zag stitching into place. 4. Cut to just a hair larger than size of pattern...

Paula loves to play with seed beads. Well, actually, it seems that Paula loves to play with beads of all different types! But for today, I want to share some of her beautiful seed bead designs with you. Visit Pacific Jewelry Designs to see more of Paula Huckabay's work. Paula writes: As a jewelry designer of many years I am always learning new things and I find myself drawn more and more to working with seed beads. It is one of the most artistic forms of beading and I love the ability it gives me to be really creative. I feel as if I am just embarking on a new path and I can't wait to see where it leads. The Blushing Ivory Freeform Peyote bracelet (shown above) is not yet on my website but will be later this month, it is away for photography for Bead Trends magazine. I was chosen as the featured designer in the March 2010 issue, a wonderful compliment! Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , b...

Although Dawn Dalto started out her jewelry business like most of us, thinking that she would like to make a living by selling her beadwork, she ended up following a path that led her more into pattern design and sales! Isn't it great to know that bends and twists in the road are not a bad thing? Taking her marketing tasks seriously, Dawn is a very busy girl online, maintaining several websites and also selling through several pattern sales sites: http://www.bluebearbeads.com http://bluebearbeads.etsy.com http://bead-patterns.com http://sova-enterprises.com http://www.dawndalto.net http://www.artistwrangler.com Dawn writes: During the prime of my beady career I owned a brick & mortar bead store, travelled and sold beads at bead shows, designed and sold my own jewelry and beadwork at art/craft shows and designed and sold my patterns and kits. I have travelled and taught (mostly on the east coast) at many a bead shop or show. Around 2006 beads, though still po...

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"Freeform" might very well be Cheri Meyer's middle name! Everything she sees that catches her eye sends her running for her beads, putting them together however it seems right at the time. You can contact Cheri online through these three sites: http://fromoutofthecracks.blogspot.com/ http://www.etsy.com/shop/fromoutofthecracks http://www.flickr.com/photos/47279986@N05/ Cheri writes: My free form peyote stitch bead work has no actual pattern or preconceived idea of how the piece will look when finished. It all starts with some visual inspiration that crosses my path, a mixture of color, a unique bead, a colorful pattern from a piece of material or a painting that speaks to me. Once the inspiration strikes my enthusiasm to gather a colorful pallet of beads becomes a passionate journey to take a needle and thread and one bead at a time to create something so wonderfully complex you can’t stop looking it! Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wea...

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew recaps a recent trip to Detroit for the Great Lakes Bead Guild's Bead Bonanza. About.com Jewelry Making Tammy has been showing off some of her favorite jewelry pieces on her blog this week like this pretty earring and necklace set.   Art Bead Scene It's the Art Bead Scene Monthly Carnival Blog. This month's theme is "passion." Carmi's Art/Life World A vintage TUMs container becomes a necklace centerpiece in Carmi's project this week.   Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Rewind: Is your bronze metal clay warping? Then Cindy's got the tool for you - Rawhide!   Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Whoo- whoo! New porcelain owl pendants inspired by internet sensation Molly the Owl   Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is playing around with the idea of collections and series in her jewelry line.   Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean...

Amy Clarke Moore I love sharing new artists with you, but I don't want to forget about the ones we've already visited with! Especially because new people are joining our happy little band of bead and jewelry crazies every day, and they may not have seen these terrific artists! Please drop me a line if you'd like to share your work! There's always room for more :-) Just email cyndi @ mazeltovjewelry.com (remove the spaces) anytime. Susan Shaw Morwyn Dow Karen Paust Margie Deeb Denise Perreault Dulcey Heller Amy Clarke Moore Tina Koyama Mary Tafoya Beverly Ash Gilbert Nancy Peterson Jean Hutter Kathryn lane Berkowitz Sylvia Windhurst Paula Motsinger Meyncke Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Her passion is the cuff bracelet, but MaryLou Holvenstot does much much more! In fact, MaryLou is another beader who has discovered that selling patterns as well as finished work can improve her business. Bois Peint , an original woodgrain design peyote cuff You can connect with MaryLou online at these sites: http://time2cre8.etsy.com/ http://time2cre8.blogspot.com The Color of Light , a freeform peyote cuff MaryLou writes: I've been creating in one form or another for my entire life, having grown up in a household of creative and artistic family members. My own artistic path has included pen and ink drawing, knitting, crocheting, sewing, photography, and a variety of other crafts. Then, while attending a Bead and Button show in 2005, I discovered seed beads; and life since then has been consumed with creating one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry from these tiny bits of glass. Cybele , a one-of-a-kind necklace featuring a raku cabochon and driftwood   A self-taught bea...

It's spring, and it's time to clean out the old bad habits and sweep in the new. I've been hoarding up these great tips from master jewelry makers, and it's time to share them with you before I lose my list! I know that not everyone names their beadwork or jewelry pieces, but I do. The biggest challenge I face is that I can't seem to come up with GOOD names! Maybe this article by Laura Kay will help me: How to name your handcrafted bead jewelry While we're at it, let's take a look at our jewelry creations and decide if they are going to be pieces that sell. The best name in the world won't help if our designs are lame! Alisa Johnson helps us with that: Crafting jewelry that sells If you make multiples of your pieces, and are interested in selling them through stores, you will learn a lot from Eileen Bergen's explanation of bar codes and how to get them: Bar codes and sku's Here's one that's stumped me ever since I went f...

Eye Candy Quilts: Super-Fast Fun with Beads, Baubles, Buttons and More by Melody Crust Your Seed Bead Style: Accents, Embellishments, and Adornments by the Editors of Bead&Button Magazine Beading in No Time by Linda Peterson Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations: Techniques and Designs from the Artist's Studio by Sherri Haab Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Earlier this week I told you about receiving a Kreativ Blogger award from my friend and blogging buddy Eileen at The Artful Crafter . I just figured out that if I tell you that you really need to go visit Eileen because her blog and website are a never-ending treasure trove of ideas and projects and good advice, then I can probably get away with sharing 7 more bloggers with you and end up telling you about 8 instead ;-) Anyway, here are the rules again for accepting this award and passing it on: 1. Post the image of the award 2. Thank the person who gave it to me 3. Link to the person who gave it to me 4. Tell you seven things about myself that you probably don't know 5. Choose seven great bloggers to give this award to 6. Give a link to their blogs 7. Leave them a message on their blog I did # 1 through 4 in the earlier post, so today I'm going to share my picks with you.  While it's tempting to share the ones that I often refer to here, I think I really n...

Chain stitch by The Bead Wrangler This is slightly different from what we normally think of as "bead embroidery". Embroidery with beads uses small seed beads to create traditional embroidery stitches that you would normally do with embroidery floss. The Bead Wrangler has a good introduction to this art form if you'd like to give it a try. There are several adjustments that you’ll need to make when you decide to start filling your embroidery stitches with beads, and she goes over all the basics! Sharon B also incorporates a lot of beads into her crazy quilt stitched masterpieces. In fact, you can find lots of embroidery artists who add beads to the mix with lovely results. Here are a few more to check out: Nancy Eha Embeadery , by Margaret Ball Pretty Impressive Stuff Beaded versions of many embroidery stitches Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

The coastline in New England is rough and somber-hued in late winter and early spring. In fact, spring doesn't even come until very late.  I grew up in central Pennsylvania, a region where winters are just as harsh as here in New England, but spring comes much much earlier.  Certainly by the end of March at the latest. But we didn't have the ocean bordering us in Pennsylvania.  New Jersey kind of got in the way, and we only visited the shore during the summer, the tourist time of year.  I love the ocean in winter, but I never knew that until we moved to New England :-) This is my Bead Journal Project piece for March, celebrating the ocean at an unusual time of year.  I decorated it with barnacles (which I'll teach you how to make in a few weeks), shell chips, and pearls.    January February Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Wow.  What can I say?  I was really knocked back the other day when my friend Eileen, who I swear knows more about every different craft under the sun than anyone, picked me as one of the 7 Most Kreativ Bloggers she knows.  Eileen writes The Artful Crafter , and there just aren't any art forms I can think of that she's not willing to try! I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to keep my picks to just seven.  I read a LOT of different people each week, probably like you do too.  And there are so many different forms of creativity that I think I might even like to stretch my definition a bit.  Anyway, here are the rules for accepting this award and passing it on: 1. Post the image of the award 2. Thank the person who gave it to me 3. Link to the person who gave it to me 4. Tell you seven things about myself that you probably don't know 5. Choose seven great bloggers to give this award to 6. Give a link to their blogs 7. Leave them a message on...

The beginning of Spring lifts my soul each year, even though here in New England we're just as likely to have April snowstorms as we are to have gentle breezes, soft rains, and flowers poking bravely upwards! When Artbeads.com contacted me and asked me to create a special Spring project using any materials that I wanted, I knew it was going to have to have something to do with flowers.  Even though we do get April and May snowstorms, I have planted tons of bulbs over the years that to manage to brighten my days...as long as they're not totally buried in snow! So the product that I picked to use in my Spring jewelry project was, ironically enough, ICE Resin   :-)  I paired this with a beautiful round frame Patera bracelet and proceded to make fantasy flowers. Materials and tools Antique Copper-Plated Brass Round Frame Patera Bracelet ICE Resin and mixing tools Acrylic paints or inks 50 inches of lace Nymo thread, white 22 gauge colored craft wire P...