Bead blog recap week 4

Yet another week has passed by and with it posts on everything from cadmium and nickel test kits to amazonite and sprakling "square technique" (see photo above).


Embellished ladder stitch bracelets
A few ladder stitch based bracelets in different styles. Add fringe or onlays to create pretty bracelets in an easy stitch.

"Square technique"
Sorry, can't think of an English name for this technque today. A base of cross-woven(2-needle RAW) fp is covered by similarily cross-woven crystal bicones. Create rings, bracelets, brooches and pendants using this stitch, popular in countries like France and the Netherlands.

Buy nickel tests in bead shops
Chemo-Nickel Test is an easy-to-use product for anyone wanting to see if the jewellery findings are compliant with the EU regulations on nickel content. Until recently it was only sold in the drugstores (Apoteket), but nowadays you can also buy if from a couple of bead shops.

New bead shop contests
Two new contests from two different bead shops.

Vertical netting
Netting is normally stitched "horisontally", but you can also do the stitch vertically, which is especially used in necklaces and collars.

Dyed glass beads
Not all glass gets its colour from pigments added to the molten glass. Sometimes a dye is used, which can be problematic as some dyes come off easily.

How to clean gems and stones
Some stone beads are more fragile than others and not all of them can take "tough" treatments like ultrasonic baths or steam cleaning. Here you find links to charts and info on how to clean different stones often used by beaders.

Amazonite
Amazonite is a soft turquoise, minty green or teal gemstone. Named after the Amazon based on a misunderstanding: explorers thought the green stones they got were that stone they knew from the Russian mines, but instead it is now believed the stones they found were nephrite jade.

Contest: bead for a dead celebrity
Another conest from a Swedish bead shop: make a jewellery suiting a dead famous person of your choice.

Cadmium
Cadmium is a very toxic heavy metal known to cause cancer. Now it has been found in cheap jewellery and charms from China as a few manufacturers have substituted it for the now banned heavy metal lead. At the most, one kid charm consisted of up to 91 % cadmium, says AP. Luckily, it does not seem to be widespread: most manufacturers use zinc instead.