Category: Tips & Techniques

There's a Class for that!, Tips & Techniques

Spring Cleaning Your Stash

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It’s not the size the size of the stash that counts – it’s whether or not you can find something in it! As many of you know, I’m a beader. I also teach beading, knit, and weave, and will try anything else that stirs my imagination. I have the stash to prove it. I also live in a one bedroom apartment that isn’t very big and has no built-in storage options. Recently I needed to find something that I knew I had, but I couldn’t locate it. In my frustration I tossed aside everything I had planned to do and …

Compare and Contrast, Tips & Techniques

Color Comparison – Looking for a Light Ivory Seedbead

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We do our best to get the colors accurate – but a lot has changed in 22 years of taking product photos! If you need a detailed comparison – let us know. We got an email from a lady looking to match a light creamy pearl seed bead. After some consideration – we suggested these These are Czech Seedbeads – 11/0 Seedbead – Pearl Eggshell (40 grams) https://www.beadfx.com/catalogue/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5177 Czech Seedbeads – 8/0 Seedbead – Eggshell (20 grams) https://www.beadfx.com/catalogue/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14286 Czech Seedbeads – 11/0 Seedbead – Pearl Ivory (hank) https://www.beadfx.com/catalogue/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5178 As you can see from this photo with them all together, the …

Inspiration Projects, Project of the Week, Tips & Techniques

Project of the Week: Bee’s Knees, part 3

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Welcome back to our Bee’s Knees bead embroidered pin series! In the first two classes we created a design using one of the new Trio of Bees cabochon. Last week, we did the stitching and looked at some design considerations to make our pin more interesting. For a recap, you can see Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Today in our final series class, we are going to finish our pin by adding an ultra suede backing, the pin back and finish the edge with beads. Let’s get started! Our first task is to cut away the excess foundation …

Inspiration Projects, Project of the Week, Tips & Techniques

Project of the Week: Bee’s Knees Pin, part 2

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Welcome back to our bead embroidered pin series. Last week, we discussed what materials we are using and how to get started. If you need a refresher about last week’s post, click here. We also discussed a bit about designing our pin and the possibilities of what we can do. This week, we’re going to do the bead embroidery portion and use a couple of different – but easy – stitches. We’ll also look at considerations to create an interesting design effect. So, let’s get started! Now that our cabochon is securely glued to the foundation, it’s time to add …

Inspiration Projects, Project of the Week, Tips & Techniques

Project of the Week – Finishing Beadwork using French Wire

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Do you have difficulties finishing off beadwork and trying to attach it to a clasp? Have you tried French Wire? As a seed beader, I sometimes find it challenging to finish off a bracelet in a fine, less ‘rustic’, way. I don’t like stitching a clasp directly to my beadwork; if the thread breaks or I want to change the clasp, I need to cut and restitch the beadwork – something I don’t want to do! Typically I add loops of beads to the beadwork edge and attach the clasp using jump rings. Unfortunately, the finished look can be a …

Inspiration Projects, Tips & Techniques

Transformation Necklace

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by Anne Marie Desaulniers Inspiration came in a flash for this one, and the results totally transformed a fairly simple bead. Brushed Silver Beads have been a constant at BeadFX for quite a while, but I never considered working with them. However, the possibilities are endless, when you consider embellishing them. That’s what this project is all about. It is going to be light on instructions, but heavy on imagination and creativity. I will tell you how to make one bead, then it will be your task to decide on the length of your necklace. Mine ended up as 39” …

Inspiration Projects, Tips & Techniques

Link Bead Necklace

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Had some inquiries about the Link Bead necklace that I tossed a picture of up on Facebook.     The pattern for a bracelet is here: http://blog.johnbead.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Link-bead-LR-copy.pdf The pattern for the bracelet calls for 3 x 24 beads, and says it is 8.5 inches, but figure a part of that is the clasp – so say the bead portion is 7 inches, if you wanted to do a 21 inch necklace – then you would need about 225 beads. A tube is about 40 beads. The necklace is an ombre effect, shading from white to clear to cream to antiqued …

Inspiration Projects, Tips & Techniques

Swarovski Launch – Just one more

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Theses are the videos that I couldn’t get to upload last night. Some of them are as long as 30 seconds! The video shows the sparkle much better. We could make some assumptions that the appeal of Swarovski comes from movement – that static pictures alone do not do it justice. Hope you get some inspiration from these!  

Inspiration Projects, Tips & Techniques

A Sneak Peek at the New Swarovski Update – Part 3

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Ok – here we go with part 3 of impressions and tidbits from the Swarovski launch. Next up is the “Metallic Cap Pendant.” This is a pear-shaped drop bead, with a light chrome effect on a large portion of the pendant, over about 1/3 of the top, giving it the appearance of having a metallic bead cap custom fitted. The coating is just on one side, so it looks a bit more ethereal from the back. Still cool, however. Currently – just in Lt Chrome, nothing in gold. Now here’s a thing that has some cool potential. The pointed chaton, …