Beading Arts

  Barbe Saint John - New Treasures from Forgotten Artifacts Putting out the call for Steampunk art! Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi is photographing the jeweled decolletage on paintings in Paris again!   Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy's personal history finds its way into her work.   Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie mixes shell pearls from Rings and Things with metallic hardware motifs to create a softer industrial look   Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Dig out your button collection, because wonderful Keepsake jewelry can be made from it, and Lorelei shows some examples!   Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to be done! Join the fun and become a fan of the lovely jewelry design magazine, Australian Beading Magazine!   The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew teams up with Cathy Collison of Glass Garden Beads for this week's Thursday Giveaway. You could win a set of three hi...

  Seed Beaded Christmas Tree This is really cool!  Shaaron Chambers comes up with projects to do with seed beads that will take you beyond jewelry making.  If you follow the links, Shaaron has been gracious to share her tutorials with us! Shaaron writes: Why I love Seed Beads I consider seed beads to be the most versatile of all beads. I work with all types of beads in my jewelry designs and craft projects but the seed bead can be used in many more areas of both jewelry and crafting. What is really nice about seed beads is that they come in eleven different sizes and the color palette is almost endless. I often use two different sizes of the same color to do a project. The little Christmas tree was a lot of fun to make and branch by branch see it come together. The use of a Bead Spinner helped a great deal in the stringing process. This will be a family heirloom for sure. Angel With Seed Beaded Dress Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearab...

Following up on our emphasis on getting your business in order, I've decided to share a couple of excellent recent posts with you that will help you to make smart decisions during tough economic times! If you do the craft show circuit, this is the time you're frantically making your plans, cleaning off your tent, and preparing your inventory. Beading Daily has an article on How to Sell at Craft Shows During Tough Times . Just what the (bead) doctor ordered! Modish has an extremely relevant post for tough times: What To Do When Sales Slow Down . Don't sit and cry about it...use your time wisely! Selling in a Slow Economy on the SoftFlex site helps you to keep your cool and not panic. Back to craft shows, Beth Wicker has written a guide to figuring out what it's really going to cost you in The Cost of Showing . Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

The ribbons need to be finished off in some way. What I chose was to make some lampwork glass beads and use them for accents. Cut the ribbon ends on a slant and thread them through a few beads on each side. Tie a loose knot below each bead. You can also add a knot above each bead if desired. Here are all the steps taken to create this necklace: Part one Part two Part three Part four Copyright 2010 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Stitch the flowers into place on the necklace background, using the tails left from flower construction. Stitch the rhinestone jewelry bits into place on each flower. Stitch the rolled rose flower into place. Make an add a few smaller lace rolled roses. Each used 18 inches of lace. Cut a backing piece of ultrasuede the same shape as the top. Lightly glue it into place, adding ribbons at the top of each side (stitch these into place as well as gluing them). Use only enough glue to keep the pieces lined up. Add a row of edging brick stitch through all layers to cover the raw edges with size 8/0 beads. Here's what the back will look like. The two little stitches you see through the ribbon are not the only thing holding it in place. It is stitched invisibly to the inside of the necklace too. Ready to have the ribbons finished off. The finished necklace tomorrow!  Part one Part two Part three Part four Copyright 2010 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprint...

Jewellery for Sale at Istanbul Bazaar... Wes Walker 24x24 Photograph... Buy From Art.com

  Art Bead Scene ABS Editor, Cindy Gimbrone asks the readers to weigh in on where she should go next. Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes a jacket pin in order to justify another crafty purchase.   Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy follows her heart and stripez and makes some new beads.   Earthenwood Studio Chronicles A mix of brassy metal components and chain from ArtBeads.com inspires Melanie to make a springtime woodland owl necklace. Jean Campbell Jean shares yet another travelogue. This time, it's Portland, one of her new favorite cities.   Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean emphasizes the importance of checking out the auction of gorgeous treasures from tons of artists which is being held for Michele Goldstein, lampwork artist, organized in a stunning way on Ebay by Anne Mitchell and Gail Crosman Moore! It is not too late to bid on something amazing!   The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornto...

Artist: Wanda Harvell Business name : Wanda's Creations Location: Nicholsville AL Website & Blog: Wandas Creations Picturetrail album How do you describe your work, Wanda? I have been using the title Wanda's Creations for a while now, I mainly started using it on my earring cards and now I use it online also. I chose it because people would make comments about "my creations" so first I used Creations by Wanda, but that was soon changed to a more simple title. About 6 years ago I got remarried and moved about 40 miles from my children and grandchildren. At first my husband was working 5-6 days a week and sometimes he would have to work 7 days a week, and this was from daylight to dark usually. I was home alone all day because everybody else around worked too and I was going stir crazy, there is only so much TV a person can watch. I used to sew so I went and bought some fabric and started making childrens clothing and some other items. Some friends o...

Lucky number 21 was the winner of this glass jewelry book!  Rita , I hope you read this, because you didn't leave me any way to get in touch with you!  Please email me at cyndi@mazeltovjewelry.com  Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

My friend Lea Avroch , who has shared an artist profile here, has started featuring other artists on her blog LA Jewelry Designs on Tuesdays.  Guess who she featured yesterday?  Me!  (As if you couldn't guess...)  Thank you, Lea :-) Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Following up from our look at creative spring cleaning recently, I thought we could look at a few more excellent posts that will greatly contribute to your customers' enjoyment! Alyson Stanfield shared an excellent post recently on how to stand out from the crowd...as an artist and as a person: 7 ways to distinguish yourself as an artist Whip Up featured a post of tips for better craft blogging. Many jewelry artists are trying to increase their "brand recognition" through regular blogging, and here's what Kath Red has to say about that: 3 tips on how to build an audience for your craft blog Finally, think about the experience that you are offering to your potential customers. Is your website all that it could be. Well, honestly, they never are all that they could be...they are works in progress. But still, spring is a good time to fine tune a few details, and Christine Gierer has lots of good suggestions: What makes a good jewelry website? Technorat...

Bead Star 2010 Deadline: 04/30/10      Gemstones, FireMountainGems Deadline: 05/01/10   Beadwork challenge Deadline: 05/12/10       Contemporary Beadwork II Deadline: 05/15/10    Haute Handbags  Deadline: 05/15/10   Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

I drew a design for the necklace front and transfered it to fusible shirt-weight interfacing. The flowers are still loose. I stacked them on top of the design to check for placement. Take a digital picture of your design and then you'll be able to recreate it later.     Dark brown jersey material and a lace overlay are both cut into a rough shape large enough to fit the interfacing pattern. Machine stitch a straight stitch just to the inside of the design line. Cut the pattern out on the line and zigzag stitch all around the outer edge, going just over the edge to hold all layers together. I enjoyed looking through my collection of rhinestone bits and bobs to choose a centerpiece for each flower. Still not stitched together, but I want to give it one last look before committing. Take another digital picture at this point so you won't forget what goes where. Part three soon!  Part one Part two Part three Part four Copyright 2010 Cyndi L...

I wanted to make some multi-layered fabric flowers for my next necklace, and so I set about exploring several different ways that they could be made, including starting from squares and from strips.  Much to my delight, I found that my friend Eileen Bergen, The Artful Crafter had already worked out some numbers for making bigger flowers from fabric strips.  I started from there and made some prototypes until I got the sizes where I wanted them.  Some early prototypes and practice flowers Visit Eileen's blog for the basic directions, and then my photos will make more sense.  I decided to just take a little snip along the outside edge of each flower to indicate where the petal divisions would be, and then to stitch and gather them up before shaping the petals.  Next time I do this, I might shape the petals first and then gather them, but I was still exploring shapes at this point.     Strips for making 5 flowers.  My lace strips are 10 x...

Have you ever bought a bead that was advertised as Murano glass, just to find out that it was a cheap imitation?  Glass of Venice feels that should never happen! Julia Grinberg writes, "Not only is this unfair to the clients, it endangers the future of real Murano glass - an invaluable piece of our global heritage. We are passionate about Venice and Murano glass and do all it takes to preserve and promote this amazing ancient art across the world." Glass of Venice is the final new winner of our sponsorship contest that I am adding this month.  They specialize in authentic Murano glass jewelry, accessories, and home decor imported directly from Venice, Italy.  You'll find their banner ad over in the sidebar.  Please visit them to feast your eyes on some true glass beauty! Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Child Wearing Beads Alexis de Vilar 12x16 Fine ... Buy From Art.com

I am totally delighted to introduce you to Lori Greenberg today and to her site Watch Me Create !  Lori, who did an artist profile for us a couple years ago, promises to show you "what really goes on in creative minds".  Watch Me Create is a team blog of about 12-15 artists of different media, and the purpose of the site is to help these artists gain exposure for their work.  You can find the banner ad for Lori's site in the sidebar...I hope you'll visit them and do a little ooooo-ing and aaaaaah-ing! Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Even though I mostly just like to stay home, my all-time favorite place that we've ever gone is Italy, and I'd go back there in a heartbeat! How about you?  What would be your dream vacation if money and time were no obstacle?  Do you have any pictures you'd like to share from a favorite destination? Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading