Jewelry Making

As I posted a few weeks ago , Artbeads.com ‘s most recent Design Partner challenge involved picking out some components from the Artbeads site to create a design that features some of Pantone’s color picks for fall. To keep things interesting, I decided to select five beads with slightly different styles, and then dig through my own stash for stringing material and findings to piece them together with.

Jewelry designer Elena Adams has launched the first three in a new series of chain maille jewelry making videos, and you can watch them anytime online. Here’s what you’ll find in each one. How to open and close jump rings OK, this technique may not sound exciting, but it’s an absolutely essential skill for maille making.

Properly opening and closing jump rings is a pretty important skill to master when making jewelry since jump rings are often used to connect up the various parts and pieces of jewelry items. They are also regularly used on the end of necklaces and bracelets to connect to clasps. I have a pretty good tutorial about jump rings called ” Fixing Jump Ring Problems .” It covers issues such as how to determine a good quality jump ring from one that isn’t that well made as well as opening and closing them correctly so that they stay put.

Beading Arts Cyndi is running a contest on Beading Arts, and the prize is an absolutely free advertisement! A Bead A Day Want to stand out from across a crowded room? These Electric Sparkly Beads ought to do the trick! Barbe Saint John – New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Barbe is avoiding work by showing some pics of recently made creations.

If you have the March 2010 Fire Mountain Gems and Beads supplemental catalog, flip it open to pages 84, 85, 86, and 87 for some hot metal clay information. First of all, I didn’t know that this company carried bronze metal clay (aka BronzClay) and copper metal clay (aka COPPRclay), but yes, they do now.

A Bead A Day Is it too early to “think spring” or will that make it get here faster? Lisa used her Soft Flex Trios in an attempt to hurry spring along. Art Bead Scene Meet the pretty girl with lots of brains plus a whole lotta soul! Carmi’s Art/Life World After a week at CHA Carmi chooses the sweater surgery necklace as her favorite event

January is traditionally the month for setting new goals, and the best goals to make are those that challenge you to move beyond your usual boundaries – without throwing your entire life off balance. If you’re struggling to come up with a doable new beading goal, why not plan on entering a design contest

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Thinking deep thoughts, Andrew offers up a sumptuous bracelet and adds a new bronze charm to his shop. A Bead A Day Lisa shares a special gift she received from a friend, SHRINKY DINK earrings!! Still a great product after all these years!! Art Bead Scene It’s the last ABS monthly challenge of 2009. Are you running out of ideas and inspiration?

If you’d like to participate in the 2010 Your Designs Rock Contest, now’s the time to start planning your entry. This popular event is sponsored by Rings & Things , a big supplier of beads and jewelry making components. But entries aren’t limited to jewelry designs — you’re free to submit a wall hanging, sculpture, item of decor, or just about anything else you can think of, as long as a majority of its components were purchased from Rings & Things