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

How to make time…

Technique Tuesday!
Well, how to make the “Time to Run” necklace at any rate! Wish that I knew how to make more time in each day :-)
Materials
3 copper discs, 26 mm
4 hammered oval links, 20 mm
Copper curb link bracelet, cut in half
5 ” piece of heavy brass chain, cut in half
12 ” piece of […]

By Cyndi -- 6 comments

April 15th, 2008

Treasure Chest: a basic bead-embroidered project

Technique Tuesday!
After finished Andromeda’s Pearls, I thought that it might be a good idea to share a really basic tutorial on bead embroidery, a project that can be finished in a few days (or even possibly one long day). Treasure Chest is the name of this piece. :-)

More and more often, modern jewelry is […]

By Cyndi -- 10 comments

April 8th, 2008

Making a Cherry Donut…necklace

Technique Tuesday!

Cherry Donut is constructed with beading wire, so it works up really quickly and easily!
Materials
Large cherrry quartz donut (mine is about 2-1/2″ across)
Size 8/0 seed bead mix
16 triangle beads
4 mm bicone scrystals (Swarovski)
4 mm rounds
10 mm facetted rounds
9×6 mm crow beads
crimp tubes, 2 size #2 and 2 size #3
Bronze s-hook and 2 rings
Medium weight […]

By Cyndi -- 12 comments

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 18th, 2008

Guest tutorial by Leah Hitchcock-Ybarra: Felted bead earrings

Technique Tuesday!
You may remember the wonderful artist profile that Leah shared with us back in December…she primarily makes gorgeous wire and stone jewelry pieces. Well, recently, Leah has added handmade felted beads to the line that she sells in her Etsy shop, called Michon. So just what do you do with these felted beads? […]

By Cyndi -- 3 comments

March 11th, 2008

Bead embroidery techniques - updated

Technique Tuesday!
Today is going to be one of those “my own opinion” posts! Please feel free to leave comments that share your favorite materials and methods for today’s topic.

Orinoco Flow
I am frequently asked for the specifics of how I make my bead-embroidered pieces. You can see examples of my bead-embroidered necklaces here. I’m totally sold […]

By Cyndi -- 13 comments

March 4th, 2008

How to make Autumn Woods

Technique Tuesday!

Materials:
V Pendant (available from New Terra Artifacts)
90 small glass beads, approximately 4mm, in 6-7 colors
20 larger glass beads, from 8-12mm, in similar colors
#8 gold-lined seed beads
3 gold beads, 6-8mm
2 soldered gold loops
2 pieces of .015 inch beading wire, each 2 feet long
2 gold crimps
Gold hook
2 inches of gold chain
3 headpins
Tools:
Wire cutters
Flat nosed pliers
Round […]

By Cyndi -- 3 comments

February 26th, 2008

Making a V-pendant necklace

Technique Tuesday!

Materials
1 mm satin cord, 2 pieces @ 120 inches, 1 piece @ 40 inches
3 soldered sterling silver rings
Sterling silver S-hook
V-Pendant (from New Terra Artifacts)
2 head pins
4 - 2mm silver round beads
2 silver daisy spacers
3-4 accent beads
GS Hypo tube cement
Tools
Scissors
Large tapestry needle
Flat nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters

Tie the three pieces of cord together into a […]

By Cyndi -- 2 comments