Jewelry & Beading

May 13th, 2008

Turning a geode into a beaded pendant

Technique Tuesday!

On a trip to Arizona, I found some small cut geodes in a gift shop and promptly bought ten, having no clear idea what I was planning to do with them. Looking at them later, I decided to make a freeform beaded setting, which would cover the less-attractive back and leave the cut and […]

By Cyndi -- 8 comments

May 6th, 2008

The versatile spiral stitch

Technique Tuesday!

There are so many wonderful things that you can do with a basic spiral stitch. If you’ve never tried it before, start with the basic steps that I’ve illustrated below. After you have gotten the rhythm, let your imagination go wild!
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5
Repeat from Step 2
Tags: Beading, beads, tutorialsShare This

By Cyndi -- 2 comments

April 29th, 2008

The Basics: the best of the basics online

In the ocean of information that is the world wide web, there are a few websites that rise to the top when it comes to covering the basics of beadwork. Not surprisingly, one of them is the Beadwork Site at About.com. Paula Morgan has compiled the very best tutorials on just about every aspect of […]

By Cyndi -- 3 comments

April 22nd, 2008

The Basics: The best seed bead books

There are literally hundreds of books that you could buy on the art of working with seed beads, and most of them are good books, with something good to offer. And since I’m a book and magazine junkie, I own most of them. The ones that I don’t own, I’ve read, courtesy of the local […]

By Cyndi -- 0 comments

April 10th, 2008

Artist Profile: Dulcey Heller

Mary of Burgundy, created for Beading for a Cure
Artist: Dulcey Heller
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Websites:
Dulcey Heller’s Beadwork
Buy the Kit

Rubber Gaskets Bracelet
Published in the June/July 2006 Beadwork
Dulcey, would you tell us how you describe your work?
My work is mostly driven by shapes, and to a lesser extent, colors, of things I observe. I am most interested […]

By Cyndi -- 11 comments

April 1st, 2008

Guest tutorial by Wendy Van Camp: Loom Bead Weaving Basics

Technique Tuesday!

Wendy Van Camp, of Indigoskye Bead Fashions has shared her tips with us on getting started with loom bead weaving! Many people mentioned how much they enjoyed the artist profile with Wendy a few weeks ago, so now we’re fortunate to have a tutorial that Wendy wrote.
BEAD WEAVING BASICS by Wendy Van Camp
So, […]

By Cyndi -- 0 comments

March 27th, 2008

Artist Profile: Denise Perreault

Tara’s Tiles, 2007. Glass curtain of 1/2″ square glass tiles in 26 colors, with crystals and seed beads. 28″ deep and 81″ wide. View from my master bath.
Artist: Denise Perreault
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Website:
Denise Perreault
Denise also has a number of articles and two covers published in Beadwork Magazine since 1999, (Interweave Press).
Denise, how do you describe […]

By Cyndi -- 1 comment

March 25th, 2008

How to peyote stitch a beaded bead

Technique Tuesday!
To make a peyote beaded bead without worrying about tension, use a lightweight resin bead as the core. I chose a pretty light purple resin bead in a drum shape, and used crystal aurora borealis size 8/0 beads so that the color of the resin would show through.

It’s hard to see the pattern that […]

By Cyndi -- 5 comments

March 24th, 2008

A beaded bead necklace

Make Art Monday!
I’ve been pretty productive since my daughter went overseas to study in Italy for a semester! I don’t necessarily recommend sending your playmate away just to get work done, but that seems to at least one good thing about the spring…I miss her, but I can concentrate uninterrupted ;-)
Tomorrow, I’ll be showing you […]

By Cyndi -- 1 comment

March 10th, 2008

Run-around turquoise necklace on the cover of Jewelry Crafts!

No, it’s not the same as being on the cover of Rolling Stone, but I’m still pretty happy :-)I’ve got two articles in the March/April issue of Jewelry Crafts magazine, and one of them is sitting right on the COVER!!

Run-Around Wrapping
The second article is for a very easy lariat necklace in an ocean theme for […]

By Cyndi -- 7 comments