Bead blog recap weeks 36-37

It's time for yet another round-up of my Manekis pärlblogg posts from the last two weeks. These weeks I've posted about challenges and contests, Swarovski innovations, cool Pébéo paints, padded bead embroidery, a jewellery exhibit in Stockholm, bead shopping at Swedish sewing and mineral shows and more. (If you or beaders/jewellery makers you know are going to Stockholm -- or Sweden in general -- you might want to read this as there's an unusual amount of shopping and exhibition tips here.)

Enjoy!




Jewellery at Nordiska museet, Stockholm
The museum Nordiska museet in Stockholm has opened a new jewellery exhibit, which will be open for the time being. The exhibit will showcase jewellery from the 16th century up til today, ranging from royal jewels to everyday costume jewellery. It will include some of the most interesting pieces from the museum collection, such as a ring with the only known portrait of the Årstra lady, Gustav IIIs revolution rings and the Banér jewel, which can be seen in the poster above. If you can't get to Stockholm, you can find photos of some of the jewellery here.

Pearl braids
Learn how to make a romantic hair braid, embellished with pearls.

One braid -- two results
A simple three-strand braid made with flat cords can look very different depending on how you make the turns.

Mineral shows in Sweden
Tips on mineral shows where you can find supplies for your jewellery making and lapidary. Haven't visited one in years, but when I did it was before the beading boom and even then you could find stone/gemstone beads and pearls as well as pendants, tumbled and raw stones etc. Some shows have free admission.

New seed beads with an old patina
I love the new striped czech seed beads with that "dusty" patina that makes them feel like old trade beads.

Bead shopping at Swedish sewing shows
If you want to find shows with attending bead shops, the sewing shows (symässor) are the expos to keep an eye on, not least Syfestivalen in Stockholm and Borås.

Padded bead embroidery -- dimensional effects in beadwork
How to make raised embroidery using felt, bel', beads, satin stitch and slips.

Pantone Spring 2013 fashion trend color report
What are the new and trendy colours for the coming spring and summer season? Includes both men's and women's colours.

Win A-Z of Bead Embroidery 
For contest/giveaway information in English, click here -- or on the badge in the sidebar.

Review of A-Z of Bead Embroidery
For the english translation, click here.

Stockholm Scrap and Pearl Event
A big event i Stockholm in April 2013, geared towards scrappers and beaders (yeah, I know, some Swedes don't know the difference between Bead and Pearl as it's the same word in Swedish -- and many other languages). Information on their website available in Swedish and English.

September monthly challenges
The usual monthly round-up -- keep in mind some challenges are out-of-date by now. Wish they all would have the last day of the month as deadline -- would make things so much easier for me!

Vertical netting challenge
There's a new challenge over at Perles et Dent'Elles. This time you're challenged to make a necklace in vertical netting (if you don't know how to do that technique, there are tutorial links on their website).

Swarovski Innovations Fall 2013/Winter 2014
As per usual, Swarovski Elements have released new colours and designs for next year's seasons. This year, the colours focus on cool blue, grey and transparent turquoise tones. New crystal designs include a new cut, key pendants and mini beads just to name a few.

Pébéo Fantasy paints -- cool effects for jewellery
Fantasy Moon and Fantasy Prisme are two interesting new-ish paints from Pébéo. Pearlescent Moon can be used to create a hammered effect on many surfaces while Prisme produces cool spotted and marbled effects. See the Pébéo website for examples of jewellery made with the paints. Also includes a note on their Gédéo resins (clear, tinted and glaze) for jewellery.

Patinated metal paint beads
Create a patina'd metal surface on all sorts of beads using real metal paint and patina solutions. (No, not Swellegant, but Magic Metallics.)

Bead shopping at PUSS (outside Stockholm)
As usual, the places for the national bead gathering PUSS in Täby (outside Stockholm) were sold out within hours, but even if you aren't attending the weekend-long get-together, you can come shopping at the "mini bead show" on saturday (oct. 6). Free admission.

Monthly bead palette
Readers of this blog have already seen the bead soup here.