Bead blog recap weeks 43-45

I've once again forgot to do a recap last week... Probably should do them weekly instead of biweekly in order to remember it better. (Last weekend was my birthday, but it's not much of an excuse, seeing how I don't really celebrate it and therefore didn't have much more than usual to do. At the most, I planned some shopping as I got a little money from my parents and aunt. Yay, new stuff!)

So three weeks of writing, what has that produced? This time around you can read about new contests and challenges, inspiring beads, colour inspiration, project and techniques such as repairing foilbacks (se photo above) and drilling in stone.

Any contest, challenge or swap that's too late by now has been left out from this list of posts. If curious, you can find all the challenge and contest tips on my blog here.


Drilling and engraving stone
Learn how to drill and engrave stones. Also includes a few other tips and ideas, e. g. about stone tumbling, cutting, etching and painting/embellishing.

The Bench online magazine
The Bench is british jewellery supplier Cookson Gold's online and print magazine with interviews, product features, galleries etc.

Fashion Colorworks 2013
It's time for the latest edition of the annual international beading contest, which as usual focus on Pantone inspired colour palettes.


Wax seal pendants
How to make wax seal pendants in clay (silver, ceramic or polymer is up to you).

NaSeBeMo
Do you want to be part of a National Seed Bead Month? An event inspired by NaNoWriMo.

November challenges
The usual round-up of monthly challenges and contests.

November bead soup palette
The latest monthly bead mix inspiration, which has also been published on this blog.

Personalized beads
For more personalized beads, why not consider doing a custom order of laser-engraved beads/pendants? There are companies who offer this service for a range of different beads and pendants. You could also engrave or stamp your own beads.

The Jewellery Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize inspires other to create real or mock awards with names paraphrasing the original prize. The Jewellery Nobel Prize is one such example.

Jewellery components from vinyl folders
Let Michelle inspire you to create fun and funky pendants and connectors from plastic folders.

Beads and components for catlovers
I've written posts about beads and components for dragonlovers and frog fans so why not for catlovers? The answer is I have too many tips, but the good thing is you can find many cat components on my pinboard.

Jellyfish
How to make jellyfish jewellery and beaded jellyfish.

ABS Ornament Blog Hop call
Art Bead Scene Blog will host an ornament blog hop this year too. It's inclusive, meaning you can make e.g. Chanukkah, Kwansaa and winter solstice ornaments just as well as christmas ornaments.

DIY stamp for cutting out metal shapes
Learn how to make steel stamps for cutting out flat shapes for copper, silver etc.

Zigzag pattern with jump rings and beads
The Gossiping Goddess shows you how to make a zig zag pattern by threading big seeds and jump rings on two strands.

Daily Necklace Expert
This is one of the jewellery-related free online games you can find on the web. A couple of previously mentioned games are also included.

Fresh Pick colour inspiration
The Fresh Pick collages at Lima Beads, which can be created by anyone who's registered on the website, can be a great place to go for some colour inspiration.

Flux-patterned heat patina
When creating heat patinas on copper, you can use flux to paint or stamp patterns on the metal.

How to repair damaged foiled stones
Some glass and crystal stones have foiled backs, which can be worn down with wear, bad storage or accidents knocking the stones from their settings. Here's a round-up of ideas for repairing stones like the once in the photo above -- and tips on how you prevent it from happening in the first place!