Bead blog recap week 13

This Easter week I've focused on everything from quartz imitations to the Scandinavian/Saami craft of "tin thread embroidery".

Free wire weaving tutorials
Wickwire Jewelry offers three free tutorials for lovely wire-woven earrings, pendants and bangles.

Twilight jewellery projects
Projects inspired by the popular books and films, from red apple pendants to Bella's ribbon necklace.

Texturing metal and polyclay using a Cuttlebug
Scrapbook tools like the Cuttlebug and its patterned plates can be used to add textures to metal as well as polymer clay.

"Quartz" and lab-grown quartz
Many of the quartz beads sold in bead shops are really glass imitations, made from clear glass and a colourant. Best well known are the "berry quartzes" like watermelon, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, and pinapple quartz. Though not stones, these are often cut like stone beads and sold in the same section as real (gem)stone beads. They are not the same as lab-grown or synthetic quartz, which mimics the proporties of true quartz. Includes tips on how to spot an imitation.

Make rouleaus for your jewellery projects
Rouleau is the name of a cording/round ribbon you make by stitching together a strip of bias cut fabric and turn it insideout using a loop turner. This can then be used for making bracelets, necklaces and other types of jewellery.

Beads in space
Charity organisation Beads of Courage have announced a competition for beadmakers to make space-themed beads that can win the opportunity to go into outer space, in a co-operation with NASA. The beads will then be given to children struggling with severe illnesses, such as cancer.

Bronzite
Bronzite is a stone with a bronze-like metallic lustre, perfect for a heavier, earthy style of jewellery and suitable for both men's and women's jewellery.

New colours of K.O. Beading Thread
Adding to the twelve colours already available, K.O. will now be available also in Apple Green, Apricot, Baby Pink, Denim Blue, Lilac and Yellow.

Polyclay cupcakes, cakes and more
It have become popular to make cute cupcakes and other miniature foods from polymer clay. You can find many tuts online and here's a list of some of them.

Costum dye glass pearls
Did you know it's not only your freshwater pearls that you can dye at home? Glass pearls -- though I'm not sure all of them -- can be dyed using Rit Dye.

Tin thread embroidery/braiding
Making bracelets and, to lesser extent, necklaces from spun tin thread (pewter with 4 % silver) is a craft with roots in Saami tin thread embroidery. Every now and then it becomes trendy in Sweden and that's the case for the last couple of years. New thing is using enamelled spun copper thread and dyed reindeer or lamb hides instead of the traditional tin and natural or brown/black reindeer hide.