Sneakpeaks

We've had some beautiful sunny, cold days lately and that was exactly what I needed to get the energy to work on my half dozen projects that I must finish in February. I'm solar powered, I guess. Today is a cloudy day. A snow blue sky. Earlier today a few tiny snowflakes danced around in the gentle wind, nothing seemily landing on the ground, now it's more of an actual snow fall. But still very gentle. The pic above is a month old, but that's how it looked around noon today. Only with less snow on the ground and bit of it in the air instead. (Or.. at least it did look like that when I began writing a few hours ago: no I don't know as it's pitch dark outside.)

So with the change of weather I've also changed down a gear. At least momentarily: I'll be working all night probably as night time is my creative period. Especially when it's not sunny. And with the bead soup blog party on Saturday I thought I'd take the opportunity to show a few sneakpeaks. Of my bead soup projects as well as my other WIP.



I had to wait an finish my bead soup necklace to let the anti-fray liquid dry. All I need to do now is trim the edges and add a clasp. You can tell I'm Scandinavian: I'm really keeping it simple and clean, even when using lace.
I spotted some wavy discs and all I could think of was lily pads. So I had to add some flowers. This is the clasp. The rest will have to wait: it's just the dics that's from Joanna's bead soup, but I still see it as part of the blog event so I won't show that until Saturday. Violet was the only colour available for me.
This bracelet/cuff isn't finished. It looks nice the way it is right now as well, but I'm going to do some more work on it. It's a leather cuff laced with cotton cord. I don't have the right tools for it so each hole is made by pushing a needle through it. First a leather needle, which is too weak to push all the way through, then a thicker needle to pierce the hole all the way and after that a third, even thicker, needle to widen each hole. I'm glad that part of this project is over...

What else am I working on? Well, a necklace I'm not really sure about the details of. But I've stitched a clasp for it. The angle makes the flower look a little wonky. I hope the necklace will turn out good enough to enter in a contest, but I feel so unsure about that right now.

This RAW bezel wasn't made for a contest, but I will probably redo it a bit and add to a piece of jewellery that I'll enter in a challenge. That's one of my new favourite greens there: gold lustered green tea (Toho). So yet another piece to add to my list of projects with deadlines.


Because of the deadlines there are also a few other projects I've had to take a break from. Then there are the project I have laying around for other reasons. Like this herringbone rope that I only stitch a little on, then put down, because I find it so fiddly and frustrating to add large beads to herringbone this way. On top of that I just think it looks skewd and wonky. But I will finish it. Someday...

I have another herringbone projects that's almost finished. I just can't decide whether or not to embellish it, which had been my initial plan. Also, I'm not sure on the clasp: I made it just a little bit too long so adding a clasp, I risk having a bracelet that'll slip over my hand while wearing it. This one's made with two sizes of Miyuki triangles, just like above. Colour's sparkling light bronze-lined aqua luster.

I also have other bits and pieces laying around everywhere. Like this flower made from two silverplated tulip bead caps. Good thing about it is that every now and then I return to it and think of a new way to alter the surface. First I stained it with alcohol inks. Then I added acrylic paint for a more opaque coloured finish. Last night I added golden wax on top of that.

And that's pretty much how it often look here: ongoing projects and UFOs scattered around the work tables (yes, I have to -- and then I do much of my beading in bed). To be found both in the bead room and the bedroom. But as long as I actually do pick up the UFOs at some point, I'm not worried. I like it. Only thing that's frustrating are all the WIPs I can't finish because I can't afford the supplies -- or in a few cases, the tools -- needed. Or wanted. A tight budget isn't fun for my creative side...

Last minute tip: Green Girl Studios giveaway

This is a really last minute tip. Andrew Thornton is giving away a fab bunch of brand new designs from Green Girl Studios. Their fine pewter beads, charms and findings are always such a treat -- you don't want to miss this one. These items are so new, you can't even find them in the online shop yet.

For your chance to win, hurry over to Andrew's blog now!

Bead blog recap weeks 6-7

It's been a fortnight again so once again, here's a recap in English of my latest two weeks of blogging at Manekis pärlblogg.


Versatile jewellery
There are many ways to create jewellery that can be worn in more than one way: reversible bracelets and pendants, lariats, brooches with brooch converters, single-strand necklaces that turn into multi-strand jewellery, wrist watches with interchangeable bracelets and more.

Steel wool
Fine steel wool (size 0000 or 4/0) is used to clean and give metal a satin shine. Use it to enhance high points on oxidised/patinated metal or to apply wax on wood.

Bead Dreams 2011
The big jewellery exhibition and contest accepts entries for Bead Dreams 2011. Deadline is April 5. Accepted entries will be displayed at the Bead & Button show. Read more about it here.

Tibetan silver
What is tibetan silver, which is so common in base metal beads and findings? And is it safe, considering reports in previous years about lead an cadmium in Chinese-made jewellery parts?

Jasseron
Jasseron is the Dutch name for rolo chains. These can be used in a type of linked beaded bracelets and necklaces that became popular on Benelux bead forums a few years back. A bit like beaded chain maille, but using pre-made chains instead of loose jump rings.

DIY rhinestone chains
How to make rhinestone chains. English version can be found on this blog.

Swarovski Elements innovations spring/summer 2012
Topaz blend, astral pink, amethyst blend, chrysolite opal, crystal bronze shade and vintage gold pearl -- I've got pictures of them now, courtsey of Swarovski AG.

Fire Mountain Gems' Jewelry-Making Contests 2011
FMG has divided their design contest into individual contest on different themes. Read all about it for your chance to win gift certificates and a chance to be showcased internationally.

Sirlig design contest
Swedish bead shop Sirlig has announced their first contest this year.

Beads as knobs on boxes
Beads can be used for many things. I've already mentioned one project using them as feet for an altered tin/jewellery box. Panduro uses wooden beads as knobs on altered paper boxes.

Charm chains for quick jewellery project
I really like chains that come with small leaf charms already attached. Just add flower or round beads and you have lush, blossoming or budding jewellery. Make a lariat necklace and you don't even have to add a clasp.

Lily of the valley
It's still a couple of months too early for the gentle lily of the valley to bud, but why not already daydream about spring and summer? From french beaded flowers to crochet barettes.

Dutch spiral, aussie spiral and spirale russe
Different techniques can have the same name and same or similar techniques can have different names. They do have one thing in common, though: peyote and a spiral shape.

Wire wrapped connectors
Make your own connectors for multi-strand jewellery with single-strand clasps.

Filigrees as glue-on bails
I've already mentioned using bail-making pliers to fold filigrees in half, making useful bails. But you can also use small charms and connectors as decorative glue-on bails.

Aluminium
Aluminium is gaining momentum among jewellery makers, especially now that more and more beaders are trying to find alternatives to the expensive silver. Unlike silver, it's also common to anodize aluminium, giving it bright colours.

How to make a rhinestone chain

*Instruktioner på svenska finns HÄR*

I'm not the one that came up with the idea to make rhinestones this way. The inspiration comes from a chain I bought at Panduro some time in the 90's, long before I became a beader. They don't sell this type of chain anymore, but making your own chains in the same style is very easy. All you need is chaton montés and jump rings in colours of your choice.


Supplies:
chaton montés (AKA mounted crystals, preset rhinestones etc)
jump rings

Tools: 2 pairs of chain-nose or bent-nose pliers.


1. Begin by selecting rhinestones and rings. Your preset crystals shouldn't have a flat back with channels -- so called rose montés -- as these will be impossible to link. You need to use chatons, pointed-back crystals with a different type of settings. Avoid stones larger than 6 mm as those settings often have holes on one two of the sides: you need settings with a hole on each of the four sides for this technique to work.

2. Test how big the jump rings need to be in order to fit the holes. Avoid rings in heavy gauges. Also, make sure the diametre is large enough for two crystals to move about on one ring. For my chain, I will be using 4 mm rhinestones and 5 mm (outer diametre) jump rings.


3. Open a jump ring. If you are unsure of how to do this, check out these instructions. You may need to open the ring quite a bit in order for it not to get stuck in the setting. Holding the ring in your chain-nose pliers, push the end of the ring through one of the holes in the setting. Keep pushing it carefully, exiting through an adjacent hole. If the ring get stuck before you reach the hole, wiggle it until you are in line with the opening.

4. Add a second crystal on the jump ring in the same way you added the first one. Be sure you flip the crystal so they both face the same direction. It's easy to end up with one crystal facing up and the other facing down...


5. Close the loop using two pair of pliers, the same way you opened it. You might have to grab the ring using just the tips of your pliers as it can be tight on space at this point.


6. Add another ring in the two remaining holes on one of the rhinestones as in step 3. Keep adding new crystals, one after the other, until your chain reached the desired length.


7. Your chain is now ready to be used in your jewellery designs. For a simple bracelet or necklace, just add a clasp -- or attach a short section of chain on an earwire for sparkling earrings.


By making your own crystal chains you have the advantage of being able to choose the colours yourself -- on the rhinestones and settings as well as on the jump rings. Use different colours of crystals or stick to just one nuance. Mix the colours according to a strict pattern or add them randomly. And why not use coloured jump rings for an unusual effect? You can also test mixing different size crystal settings.


In the beginning, I recommended you avoid settings with parallel holes, but there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes you don't need crossed holes. Above, you can see a chain using mounted Swarovski hearts, linked together using 7 mm (OD) jump rings. (I got mine at Rings & Things.)


And as usual: if you've created something using my projects as inspiration, I'd love to see it. Post a link in the comments below or e-mail me if you want to show something you've made using my instructions.

Givaway from SoftFlex

A last minute tip (as they often tend to be): SoftFlexGirl is giving away one pair of Pocket Crimpers and 250 sterling silver crimp tubes (2 mm). For a chance to win, head over to Sara's blog and answer a couple of simple question. Tomorrow, Feb 10th, is the last day comment on the post.

I actually don't own any "regular" crimping pliers, but I do have two magical crimpers. A regular would probably also be useful sometimes. This crimper is a bit special as it's a mini version made to be easy to carry with you.

Flowers (a triadic colour scheme)

I really don't have much to say about these beads. Other than that I love to "collect" Czech and German pressed glass flower and leaf beads. There are so many shapes, colours and finishes to choose between and I love spending so much time online searching for something new, something different, some unusual.

Also, I like flowers the way someone who grew up with a garden-loving father that pointed out the flowers in the forest for his daughters do: I want to see individuality and different species, not just stereotypical five petal flowers or rose "swirls". Those archetypical run-of-the-mill flowers that are more ideas of a flower than actual interpretations of real or imagined species of flowers. Then it's not as cliché. Because that's why I tried to steer away from floral beads as a newbie. It felt like everyone used that, either floral-shaped beads or beads with flower (often rose) motifs). And it could be so dull. But when you give flower beads more of a personality and more natural look, it doesn't have to be. It feels alive and it feels, well, real.

This pic is one I took to illustrate what's know as a triadic colour scheme, using three colours on equal distanse from each other on the colour wheel. The ratio between the colours are important in these scheme, using one colour as base and the others as accents.

Oh, I see that I did have more to say about these than I thought...

Frosted bronze-lined black diamond

Now it's that time again when I've found a new colour I love and just have to tell everyone about it. This time it's Toho's frosted bronze-lined black diamond that has caught my eye. Did some emergency shopping and of cause I just had to check if it was back in stock, which it was and so I ended up buying it. I've been meaning to get some beads in this colour for some time, but either it's been out of stock in the shop I wanted to buy it from or in stock in shops I currently don't plan on shopping from. So I've been looking forward to seeing this one IRL for months. Now I have and I'm so not disappointed!

I think the best way of describing the colour is tabacco, a shadowed golden brown. The velvet matte grey blend with the shiny metallic bronze in a softly glowing smokey hue.



And now it's fueled my appetite for metallic-lined frosted/matte beads. Especially beads in other linings than the usual silver-lined ones as e.g. bronze changes the colour in a way silver doesn't. I hope to find some frosted coloured copper-lined seeds, but don't think I've seen any.

Also, it made me think about buying lined black diamond/transparent grey beads in general as the grey glass can act sort of like a satin/hematite surface effect does in that it dulls the colour of the lining. When viewing the bead, it can act like almost a sort of antique patina. I saw that in another colour I also picked up on a whim when shopping, magenta-lined transparent grey (sorry not pic). Wonder if there are any other nuances of colour-lined transparent grey beads to get my hands on?

Bead blog recap weeks 4-5

Time again for yet another recap of my writings over at my other blog, the one I write in Swedish, Manekis Pärlblogg. You can use e.g. Google Translate to translate Swedish. Not perfect but it's good enough to understand the general idea. Most links go to English-speaking websites.


Patterned aluminium discs
Beaducation are now carrying a new range of aluminium discs in different patterns (in black) and sizes. Aluminium seems to be getting more and more widespread as beaders keep looking for un-plated alternatives to expensive silver.

In the year of the cat
According to Vietnamese astrology, we've now entered the year of the cat (in China and other countries, the year of the pig). Cats are beloved animals, not least among creative people. They also like beads...

Turning in flat herringbone
There are a few different methods for making turns in flat herringbone. Find the one that suits you and your design.

ABS February challenge
Art Bead Scene Blog has presented their latest monthly challenge. The artwork to be inspired by this time is Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.

Dorset button jewellery
Hate buttons? You still might like these versatile jewellery components as they don't look like traditional buttons. And you can even make them yourself.

Flowers among the buttons
If you like to work with acrylic/lucite flowers, don't forget to check out the button aisle. These lovely 3d flower buttons are from a bead shop. Amongst buttons, you can also find pretty, big MOP flowers as well as dimensional metal flowers.

Swarovski innovations spring/summer 2012
Latest colours and shapes from Swarovski revealed. How about Chrysolite Opal, Amethyst Blend, Topaz Blend and Crystal Bronze Shade? No less than five new hearts for those who love that.

Thing-a-day 2011
February means a month long challenge to excersize creativity daily for some.

Lockets for embroidery
On the blog Wild Olive, you can learn how to make pretty lockets with simple, small embroidered motifs inside.

Glass bubble charms
French bead shop Perles & Co now sells fun charms topped with magnifying glass cabochons.

Kate McKinnon's clasp for beadwoven jewellery
Kate McKinnon sells an interesting couple of clasps, designed for beadwoven jewellery. She also shows how you can make your own.

Herringbone starts
There are different methods for starting flat and tubular/circular herringbone, not just the ladder stitched strip that many of us first learnt.

Re-designing jewellery in style
Re-designing jewellery can be seen has part of two current trends in fashion: the vintage vogue and the eco chic/green fashion.

Why gold may discolour your skin
It happens to many, their gold jewellery turn their skin black. It's not a sign of allergy, but rather a mix of two factors: abrasion and the compounds in you skin's oils and perspiration.

Create abstract patterns using letter stamps
Letter stamps, especially those in fancy fonts, can be used not only to write on metal but to create abstract patterns and background textures.

The herringbone bracelet and the cat

For some reason, when I look at the colours of this bracelet, I keep thinking "cat". Don't ask me why. I guess I often think about cats -- after all, we do have eight of them and one in particular pestered me while beading this -- but I don't get why I keep having this association. Perhaps the white and nougat reminds me of this fella? The little bead wrecker is not this colour: he's black and white with yellow eyes.

Anyway, this is a simple herringbone bracelet I made after accepting a rather tricky colour challenge. I wanted a challenge after the inspirational burgundy/bronze/blue and jump on this one perhaps a second too fast. Since I only use beads I already have for these challenges, it soon proved tough to find beads in the right colours that'd work together. So after days and weeks of trial and error, I ended up with these three Japanese and Czech beads of various sizes and shapes.

Normally, I don't like stripes, but with the beads being so different, keeping the design simple felt like a smart thing. Originally, I planned to make a wrap bracelet, but the kitten wouldn't let me bead so I gave up when it was long enough to fit once around my wrist. To keep it slightly more interesting than stripes usually are, I varied the width of the petrol coloured stripes. (I screwed up the pattern in the beginning, but after having ripped it up several times, I just ignored it.) It's not a masterpiece, but I'm satisfied with the fact that I managed to do something and succeed with the challenge.

Oh, I even did *shudders* peyote... Didn't realise it until afterwards, but that beaded button I made for the closure is circular peyote. I've never done circular peyote before. Tubular, yes, but not circular.

Bead soup update: the bezel

So, I've got a plan. I pretty much know how I want to use by bead soup. As much as I would've loved to used a little bit of everything in one cool piece of jewellery, I've divided the lot into three parts and will be making more than one piece. My goal, though, is to use all of the material provided by Joanna.

Right now I'm working on the main piece, the one using the focal. I tend to move between wirework/metalwork and seedbeading. January has been a seedbeading month and so will February. That means bezelling the cab in seed beads, as you can see in the "sneakpeaks". Above is a pic of the sideview, below you can see the back of the pendant-to-be.


Reminds a bit of the lace, don't you think? Granted, the RAW bezel is more geometric, but as for colour and open latticework I think the two look somewhat matching in style.


But I will be embellishing the bezel so some of the latticework will be lost. Hopefully, though, the end design will be prettier than the basic grid that the bezel is now. In, fact, at this stage the bezel looks best from the side as you can see the RAW-pattern, but with embellishment it'll look nice and romantic from the front as well.

So everthing is going according to plan now. I've tested different designs for the embellishment, using the actual bezel as a sort of base for a temporary sampler, and now I've begun working on the final version. But I probably have to rip up parts of it because I want to add another colour. Of cause, I got this idea after I'd just bought seeds from the UK and busted my winter budget... So now I'm keeping my fingers crossed a fellow beader nearby will have a gram of 11/0 cocoa-lined crystal or galvanized cocoa (shiny or matte/frosted) to swap.