Bead blog recap week 11

This has been an up-and-down week for me personally and it might perhaps reflect in this week's postings on Manekis pärlblogg.


Bridal jewellery contest
Design contest by Swedish bead shop Fru Pärla with a royal flair: make a necklace and earring set that would suit the crown princess Victoria on her wedding this summer.

Wire trees
Make wire trees that you can embellish with gemstone chips ("gem trees"), beads, glass or just keep as they are. Some trees are suitable to use as jewellery displays.

Russian style netted flowers
How to make pretty russian flowers in netting, using seed and bugle beads. Also includes tips on other beading techniques associated with Russia: russian leaves, russian spiral and St Petersburg stitch.

Beaded easter eggs
Eggs -- real or imitated -- can be embellished with beads in many different ways. Why not make some new Easter embellishments or be inspired to do some easter crafts this year?

Tso stitch
Tso stitch is a new stitch developed by Hsiao-Hsuan "Eddy" Tso, based on peyote and RAW.

Metal hole punching pliers for square and oval holes
Eurotools has launched hole punch pliers that not only make round holes, but squares or ovals. For any easy way to make hole shapes you can get by just drilling.

Fire Divas quarterly jewelry challenge
Make a creation using a bead from one of the lampwork artists in the Fire Divas group for a chance to win gift certificate in their shops.

Metal hole punch
A hole punch for metals is a handy tool that makes it quick and easy to pierce holes in sheet metal. There are two basic types: screw-down punch and punch pliers.

How to finish loomwork bracelets
Different ways of finishing loom-woven bracelets.

What is bead porn?
Bead porn is a word that keeps coming up. It's not sexually related, but a way to refer to yummy bead pics and the way they are viewed upon by bead addicts.

SoftFlex contest with steampunk theme this year
SoftFlex company is announcing its second annual Flex Your Creativity Beading Contest. This year the theme is steampunk. (Click banner in top of post to go directly to the contest homepage.)