Maneki's bead blog recap weeks 14-15

I'm finally catching up with the bead blog recaps. Here's the round-up of the last two weeks's posts. After the break you can read of everything from bead trivets and colourful stretch bracelets to lead-free crystal and jewellery colours that matches the wedding dress. And more. After the break.




Wrapped rhinestone chain jewellery
Various jewellery designs with wrapped rhinestone cupchain. Wrap with wire or cord/floss.

FROSTnollåtta is looking for contributers
Contribute to swedish bead shop FROSTnollåtta's website and be rewarded.

Current Obsession -- new jewellery art magazine
In march, the first issue of Current Obsession was launched at Schmuck 2013. The publication is "a new printed magazine about jewellery and its relation to different fields of art /.../ Our goal is to create a different dimension for jewellery in printed environment. We tell inspiring stories about people and places, touching upon subjects like value, language and presentation.  Our motto is "JEWELLERY IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT "


Beads in a ring makes simple trivets
Wool or wooden beads strung on cord makes simple or colourful trivets. Either tie the beads into a ring or leave it as a long "snake" that you curl into a shape fitting the pan.

Facetted clay rings
How to carve polymer (or other) clay into rustic, unevenly facetted finger rings.

Celebrate the Treaty of Knäred
Swedish bead shop Pysselpärlan have issued a contest in celebration of the 400 year jubilee of the peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark in nearby Knäred. (It ended the Kalmar war between the countries, but didn't mean peaceful times for Sweden, who were still in war with Russia. Denmark wins and gets five years of peace before entering the Thirty Years' War.)

April challenges
Round-up of this month's design challenges and contests.

Lead-free crystal components
Both Swarovski Elements and Preciosa have lauched lead-free crystal ranges with the same high quality and brilliance as leaded crystal. Swarovski will replace all beads and jewellery components while Preciosa currently only offers lead- and heavy metal-free options in chatons.

After Market Coatings
After Market Coatings (AMC) or custom coatings are finished applied to glass/crystal components by a third party by order of the buyer (unlik coatings created by manufacturer itself).

Jewellery colours for the wedding dress
Suggestions for jewellery (metal) colour to go with the white, ivory and off-white dresses respectively.

Face shapes and skin tones
Learn what colours and designs work best with various face shapes and skin tones.

Customizable multi-strand necklaces
How to make multi-strand necklaces where one or more strands can be removed/attached.

Reflections bracelets
Make super-simple colourful stretch bracelets.

Inspired by Reading Book Club
Andrew Thornton have created a book club where members read a book and create something inspired by it. One book for each month, but the list covers 12 months so you can start reading books for the upcoming months already now. No requirement to do all books.

Miyuki Long Drops
Yet another new bead shape hitting the market this spring is the 3x5,5 mm Long Drops from Miyuki.

Battle of the Beadsmith 2013
On April 1st, the second annual Battle of the Beadsmith, aiming to "stimulate excitement for beadwork excellence worldwide", started with 192 beaders from 40 countries.