Bead blog recap week 15

A week that began with a brad link tutorial and ended with news of a new bead mag being launched in the UK.


New British bead magazine
Creative Beads & Jewellery is a new mag for beaders and jewellery-makers with an aim to cover a wide variety of techniques.

New generation discover traditional beads in Ghana
CNN reports of the Ghanaian "bead renaissance" where a new generation Westafricans have made the domestic beads trendy. Ghana has a very long tradition as a bead-making country and now the government see potential in the bead-making as well, both as a tourist attraction and as a lucrative export commodity.

International Charm Day
April 28 has been proclaimed International Charm Day, a day to celebrate handmade art charms in different ways. Check out the International Charm Day blog for more info and giveaways.

Colourful enamelled toggle clasps
C-Koop Beads make copper clasps with colourful enamels. Something for a beader that loves colour. C-Koop also make enamelled charms and beads. FusionBeads have a nice selection of them.

Colourful non-metal toggle clasps
More colour and more toggles. Toggle clasps can be made from a wide variety of materials, some of which can have lovely colours. Why not consider including clasps made from tagua, wood, boro glass, gemstone, ceramics or shell in your designs?

Bezel lace -- make romantic bezels without a torch
I love bezel lace -- a simple way to make bezels for those pretty rivolis and gems without having to solder. Now Rings & Things sell brass lace, while Ezel Findings and Rashbel offer ribbons in sterling silver.

How to etch glass and stone beads
With etches (liquids or creams) you can give a lovely matt finish to beads made from glass or stone -- or why not etch motifs?

How to make links and spacer bars from brads
Brads are fab jewellery compontents that can be used as connectors, spacer bars and more in your jewellery designs. The English version of the tutorial can be found here on this blog.