Welcome to the first week of my bead blog recaps, a summary in English of this weeks posts on Manekis Pärlblogg. Click the headlines to go to the post in question.
Bead shape glossaries
It's very useful to know the names of different bead shapes. Some are easy, like rounds, ovals and coins, but there are many other, more specialized names in use too. Heard of cupolini and frangia? Both Rings & Things and Fire Mountain Gems have some useful charts and glossaries.
Metal blanks
Metal blanks can be made of different metals and cut in to many different shapes. They have no surface pattern or finish, making them something of a jewellery maker's blank canvas. Includes tips on different techniques that can be used and inspirational websites.
Starfish and Sea Flowers
Use curved glass beads -- talons/spine drops and petal beads -- to make beautiful sea-themed jewellery. Two tips on easy-to-make necklaces and rings.
Wrap jewellery with beads and half hitches
Thread beads on waxed linen and wrap it around a core (e.g. bangle, waxed cotton cord) using the easiest of knots: half hitches.
Knotted bead fringe
More jewellery using cords and beads. Knot pieces of cord onto a base cord and add beads for thick, lush fringes. Use either lark's head knots or overhand knots.
Chain links as fancy jump rings
On Shiny Little Things, I found the tip to use links from pretty, unsoldered chains as jump rings. Shows how small details can make a big difference.
Length increases for multi-strand necklaces
How much longer should each strand be on a multi-strand necklace in order for them to lay nice and look proportional? BeadStyle's Beader's Notebook has a few guidelines.
From bangle to necklace component
On Beading Daily you can find a necklace project using a silver bangle with loops cut in half as a focal component.
Memory wire jewellery projects
Memory wire in popular, not least among beginners. Here are some projects for those of you wanting to make something beyond just the usual stringed bead bracelets. Bracelets, chokers, rings, earrings, bails, pendants and headbands.
Bird's nests
How to make cute bird's nests of wire and pearls (or other beads). Very pretty as well as easy and quick to make. Mostly used as pendants or embellishments, but you also get instructions to rings and a couple of related projects using only one bead/pearl per nest.
Yay, Maneki's blogging in English too now! Thanks for the mention of our Bead Shapes Glossary -- I put in a link to it there, for your readers' convenience :)
ReplyDeleteDave
at Rings & Things
Yes, I wanted blog where I could focus more on my own jewellery-making and beadwork and this is the result. The choice was between making it bilingual or just write in English. I'm lazy -- I choose just English. Still has a lot of work to do with the layout, but I just had to start blogging.
ReplyDeleteBTW I think you'll see R&T being mentioned again real soon. Got this pendant I'm working on, using copper blanks. ;)