The Fine Art of Knotted Beads

I bought myself a little treat last week for my birthday. Two lovely strands of Blue Apatite Beads. All. For. Me! I thought the best way to string those beauties would be to knot them. I love to knot. It adds so much flair to a simple strand of beads.

I thought I would share what I did with you. Here is the story:

I used two 16" strands of apatite beads, size 2 nylon thread with needle attached, a clasp, a black skull bead,  4 small spacer beads and a rhinestone bead all from my local bead store, Baubles and Beads in Berkeley, CA.

Start by tying a knot at the end of the thread and slide on an endtip (photo 1). Pass the tail through the loop of the knot several times to make a bulky knot that will not slip off the strand. Then string your beads, one by one, and tie an overhand knot after each. Use a fine-tip tweezers if needed to slide the knot into place.

Finish by sliding on an endtip, cutting the needle away from the thread, unravel the threads so there are two ends and tie a square knot into the cup of the endtip (photo 2). Make a bulky knot so that it does not pull through. Seal the knots with clear nail polish and let dry so they won't unravel when the tails are cut away.

And that's it! You can find my tutorial on making an endless knotted strand at this link. And all about how to choose the right necklace lengths here.

You can see that the rhinestone and skull beads are near the clasp. I can wear those in front or scoot them around to the back. The necklace is long enough to wear as a double strand around the neck or wrapped five times around the wrist. It's also a great piece to wear long and layered with other pieces in my jewelry box. I love it!

Another Book, and It's FREE*

Okay. Some of you may remember my shout out for beads for a super secret project. Now the project is complete and I am excited to share it with you.

It's an enhanced eBook from Blurb.com.

And it's all about how to choose color for beaded jewelry in an innovative way. The book is based on a class I teach on color and I thought it was a great match for this eBook format.

And you know what... right now it's FREE!!!  (*Until December 15th...so grab it now!) The only drawback is that it's optimized for the iPad, so all of you other tablet owners are out of luck for now. (However, you can check out one of the videos from the book on my YouTube channel.)

Get your copy of the book at this link. I am really excited about this new technology from Blurb.com. I think the eBook is great for "How To" projects as you can add short videos, links and a lot of photos. You can learn more about making eBooks on their website.

Remember to grab my book soon, as the price goes up to $9.95 on December 15th. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Classes in Tucson 2013

Have you been to the Tucson Gem shows? It happens every year in February in Tucson AZ. You can find everything there, from the finest diamonds and jewelry to geodes sold out of an RV belonging to an old rock hound. It's all there.

This year I am going to be in the thick of it! I am so excited to teach at the J.O.G.S show. The fine folks at JewelryTools.com sponsor the Education Center at the show and invited me to teach a few of my best-selling classes. Click on this link to see all the classes and days I'm teaching.

JewelryTools.com is an online tools supplier that carries the entire EURO TOOL catalog, including brands such as Wubbers, Lindstrom, Wolf, Lortone, and many more. Based in Utah, you may be familiar with their sister company, Wire-Sculpture.com. All the tools will be available at the show and you'll get to use many of them in class.

Simple Soldering Boot Camp

 Plus, I have discount codes you can use to save on taking a class! Just enter the code in the Promo box at checkout and the discount will apply to your total.

• Buy 1 class, get $20 off: KR1320
• Buy 3 classes, get $75 off: KR1375
• Buy 6 classes, get $175 off: KR13175

Start making plans now as travel and lodging during the gem shows gets filled up fast. The classes are going to be great. There are 18 world-class instructors (see all instructors here) teaching a diverse selection of classes (see all classes here).

Ring Roundup

Hope to see you the biggest jewelry event of the year. I'll be there with torch in hand ready to make some jewelry. Come and join in, post-class margaritas are on me!

I Have Dreams...

Yep. I am dreaming of my new studio space in South San Francisco.

Some of you will remember the days of my former bead store in San Francisco, Beadissimo. Boy, those were fun times. And sometimes hard times. But you know what. I missed it. Not the day-to-day grind of owning a retail store, but I missed having a space to call my own. I missed a great classroom where my students could create and learn. I missed hosting special events like trunk shows and having visiting instructors come teach.

So I did something about it and found the coolest space ever for my new little enterprise. It's not a retail store with regular hours. It's a cozy space where students can come and learn and buy a few things and hang out and be creative.

Saturday is moving day and things will be up and running by December with great plans for the New Year. You can find a schedule of classes and events on this page. The calendar is empty now, but not for long! Bookmark it and while you are at it how about joining my email list to stay in the loop? Your info is private, of course and you'll just get stuff from me about what's happening at the new studio.

Dreams? You bet. I have dreams.


(Thanks to my cousin Zoe... she made this video from our ring making extravaganza at this year's Maker Faire 2012) 

My segments on Beads, Baubles & Jewels.

Newsflash! Do you watch the PBS series Beads, Baubles & Jewels? It's a great show on all things bead and jewelry-related. The super-talented Katie Hacker is the host and she creates a great line-up of interesting shows with jewelry experts from around the country.

I filmed three segments back in July that are airing soon. It was a lot of fun! The show shoots just outside of Cleveland, OH. But luckily I did not have to travel alone. My trusty sidekick, Torrance was there every step of the way.

While I worked hard on set...

Torrance lounged around the hotel and called for room service. He eventually made it to the studio and took over for one of the camera guys...

It didn't take the crew long to notice that a bear was trying to run the overhead camera, so he was banished to the green room...

...where he consoled himself with some beads...

...and hooch. (I am not sure how he got it. I should check my credit card statement. Do liquor stores deliver in Ohio?)

Torrance and his hijinks aside, it was all great fun and I can't wait to go back in December to film more segments. The previews for the current season are on YouTube and available for your perusal. The Sampler project and Ruby Tag Pendant are from my new book, and the Rolled and Wrapped Bead and Patina project is a class I teach at bead stores and national shows.

Click on each link to view: You can take a look at the entire schedule for this season on the BB&J website. 

Color On Metal Beads with a Torch
Ruby Tag Pendant
Soldering a Jump Ring

Hola! FREE Micro Torch Basics Class.

¡Buenos dias! I am back from my trip from Mexico and I can't wait to share what I learned. So many traditional Mexican jewelry-making techniques, designs and materials... My head is bursting.

More on all of that great stuff later on the blog. (I gotta TON of pics to download.) Right now I want to share something EXCITING that happened while I was away.

Looky...

My new class on Craftsy.com.

It's FREE!!! That's right! No charge and you can watch it again and again and again. All you need to do is sign up and become a member of Craftsy.com. In my class you'll learn how to use a butane micro torch PLUS how to make a couple of my favorite ring projects. I walk you through each step on using the torch, setting up a safe workspace and other tips and tricks so you won't be afraid to turn on that torch and get started.

The class is broken down into five separate lessons so the class is easy to navigate and presents techniques in easy to follow portions.

I am so super-proud of this class and so happy that students are enjoying it. Are you new to Craftsy? You can learn all about their online classes here. You can check out my activity and projects on the site by following my profile.

Things don't stop there, though! I have a second class coming up in the next couple of weeks... stay tuned, I think you are going to like it. 

Now go forth and fire it up!

P.S. Another Crystal Clay idea...

Two more notes on my affair with Crystal Clay...

I used the clay on a Jess Imports key pendant. I just shaped the clay on the center portion of the key and popped in the crystals. I added the pearl and flower embellishment at the bottom- held in place with a headpin poked through the hole and into the clay.

After it cured, I embellished it with wire. I added the Heart Lock charm and a couple of wire wrapped pearls to the silk saari ribbon.

 And I have another new technique to try. I got a sweet comment from Erin the talent behind the blog "Treasures Found." She she let me know that she used fine glitter with her clay designs and the results are charming! Thanks for sharing Erin, I can't wait to try it out. You can read her post and see the results, here.

I Love You, Crystal Clay!

I am having an affair.

My torch doesn't know. Neither does my jeweler's saw, my chasing hammer or my bench block. I think that my pliers suspect something as they are looking askance and not really speaking to me.

Who is this home wrecker, you might ask? It's that saucy minx, Crystal Clay.

The clay and I have been flirting for some time. I first heard of it from Debra Saucier at BeadFest Philly a couple of years ago. I was intrigued. She gave me a little kit to try out, but I let it languish in my sample box.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I taught a class at Baubles and Beads in Berkeley, CA and they had a display of Crystal Clay and some components. I couldn't help it. I grabbed some clay and crystals to add to my ever-growing pile of stuff that I had to have. (Great online shopping at Baubles, if you are not local.)

This morning I couldn't help it... I jumped in...

I watched Debra's video on how to work with the clay and then got to work.

Such pretty crystals!

I set the pieces into the clay with the wax-tipped toothpick that came with the clay. I added a vintage metal flower component. It is held in place with a crystal rivet that pokes down into the clay. Then I wanted to add pearls, so I string each on a headpin, cut the excess wire away and poked each one into the clay. The headpin will help to hold them in place after the clay cures.

I also secured the ring into a little cup full of rice so I could easily work on it.

Here are the final rings...

I can't wait for them to cure so I can show them off on my fingers! Crystal clay, I don't think I can quit you. I can't wait to introduce you to my metalwork...I know we can make this relationship work.

From the Archives

For your perusal, the latest installment of "From the Archives" where I share some well-loved jewelry that hasn't seen the light of day for a while.

The theme for this installment is Simple. "WHAAAAAAT?!" you exclaim? "Simple? Really? But I thought your style was asymmetrical, free form and the-more-beads-the-better." Well, you are right. I do like throwing beads in a bowl and caution to the wind and just string.

But sometimes it's different. Sometimes you look at a strand of beads and think WOW. Those are so pretty that they just need to stand on their own. The challenge with a necklace like that, (at least for me) is to keep the design clean and uncluttered with just the right amount of enhancement to keep it from being dull. (Insert technical note here: All necklaces are strung on SoftFlex beading wire. .014 for the tourmaline and .019 for the turquoise. I don't use any other nylon coated beading wire brand. I have been using SoftFlex since it came out and it is the BEST.)

I have a couple of necklaces that I think fit into that description.

A simple strand of color-graduated tourmaline. The quality of these gemstone beads were really nice, so I wanted to let the beads stand alone. This is actually two strands that I combined and kept them in color order.

I used a simple toggle clasp and embellished the loop with some wire wrapped freshwater pearls. Also note the finishing detail at the end of the strands. I like my necklaces to have a nice touch at the end and I think this ties everything together. Add a jewelry tag and it's ready to go. I can wear it long or doubled around the neck. I usually wear it doubled with the clasp in front.

When I saw this strand I thought it was the PERFECT strand of turquoise. Graduated, some matrix, great color range. I wanted the strand to really stand out so I had to be careful about what I added to it. I wanted it to be interesting and have whatever I added to it feel like it was a natural extension of the stones.

I had this lampworked bead that I made from my series that resembled rocks. I thought it fit in nicely. The clasp also features a lampworked cabochon that I made. I used a simple brass spacer between each bead. The lampworked bead has a couple of silver daisy spacers around it. Perfect.

So there you have it. Simple and lovely and both are happy to see the light of day.

Spring Challenge Necklace

I was lucky enough to grab one of the beaded bracelets for Michelle Mach's Spring Challenge. (You can read Michelle's original post here.)

The challenge was to take an existing piece and use the components and create a new piece with a "spring" theme.

This is the original bracelet:

I struggled with this challenge a bit. I like sparkly things and I loved the two components individually, but my soul rails against a symmetrically patterned, dot-dash kind of design. I immediately cut the bracelet apart, so I could work with the two beads as individual elements. Then I continued the process by paying a visit to my bead stash and pulling some beads I liked.

I couldn't decide whether to go with the off-white freshwater pearls, crystals and other shiny beads on the left of the picture or the more earthy tones on the right.

I went with the earth tones. In my mind, spring means gardening, and gardening means digging in the dirt under the blue sky. (Artistic license can justify just about anything.)

I squirreled away the rhinestone spacers to use in another project. "Spring" just did not include anything that shiny. Unless you are a magpie. In which case I could have used them, since I like birds. However, magpies don't wear necklaces. And regardless of how much I like little animals in accessories, I am digressing and veering way off point. Kind of like a magpie.

Here is the necklace.

I strung a 50" necklace. I call it "Long is the New Short". Here are some detail shots:

Since it is such a long strand I can wear it wrapped twice around my neck or six times around my wrist. (Like I am doing right now as I type this.) Wrist photo, here. Thanks Heather for the suggestion.

Thanks, Michelle for hosting this great challenge. This was a fun piece to string.

Be sure to visit the blogs of the other participants. It's a talented group and I am looking forward to seeing everyone's work.

Michelle - Beads & Books [Hostess]

Andrew - The Writing & Art of Andrew Thornton

Christa - Adventures of One Beady Woman

Dita - Alankarshilpa

Donetta - Simply Gorgeous

Erin - Erin Siegel Jewelry

Heather - As I Bead It

Jean - Snap Out of It Jean - There's Beading to Be Done!

Karen - Over the Moon Design

Kate - We Can Make That At Home That's me!

Kay - Palm Coast Art

Kim - CianciBlue

Kristina - Wild Roses and Blackberries

Linda - Lindy's Designs

Lisa - Pine Ridge Treasures

Marlene - Amazing Designs by Marlene

Michelle - Reverie & Revival

Pam - The Crazy Creative Corner

Pamela - Someday Beads

Renetha - Lamplight Crafts

Sharyl - Catchenthesun

Terry - Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Therese  - Therese's Treasures

Jade Scott Pinwheel Challenge.

A few weeks ago I entered a contest to win one of Jade Scott's lovely pinwheels on Lorelei's Blog and lo and behold...I WON ONE!!!

Photo from Jade Scott. Look at all of the pretty colors!!!

The task at hand for seven lucky participants (and anyone else who wanted to purchase one and play along) was to create a piece of jewelry featuring the pinwheel that you received. I got a grass green one. (My FAVORITE color and the one that I was hoping to get.)

So I whipped up this little number.

A ring...so I can look at this pretty pinwheel all the time.

I am so happy with it. Here are some fancy snaps.

I made a simple soldered band ring and then soldered the stamped circle to it. I punched two holes in the circle and secured the pinwheel with 22-gauge sterling silver wire.

I stamped "Any Way the Wind Blows" around the front.

And "Wind" on the back of the band.

Thanks so much to Lorelei and Jade for sponsoring such a great challenge. Jump on over to all of the participants to see what other treasures were created with this lovely component. I can't wait to see what everyone else made.

Lorelei Eurto

Ann Rishell

Kate Richbourg---that's me!

Lisa Cone of Inspired Adornments

Charlie of ClaySpace 

Shawna Tobias

Heidi of ExPostFacto

and also .....

Linda

Rebecca

Have a Heart

Another result from my creative whirlwind. The Amour Necklace. Just in time for Valentine's Day.

It features the piece of patina-ed metal that I made earlier this weekend. I LOVE it. I wire wrapped a heart (a wonderful, flocked heart bead) and stamped and riveted a banner-shaped blank to the metal sheet.

I made a couple of my Rolled and Wrapped beads to accent the beaded strand.

And I fabricated a clasp from some scrap copper that I had practiced my stamping on. The stamping came out pretty well, so I thought I would use it for the clasp instead of throwing it on the scrap pile.

I have some of those hearts left over and thought I would share them with you. They are funny, flocked plastic but I kind of love them. I have saved a few for me, so I thought I would give the extras away to my readers.


If you would like one, just leave a note in the comments. (The hearts are spoken for) The first ten who ask, get one. I'll take care of the postage and throw in a few more beads as well, just for fun. You can make something with it, or just hang on to it. It's my Valentine gift to you!

Just make sure that I have a way to contact you in your comment. Then I can get your snail mail info privately and send your package off.

Happy early Valentine's and thanks for reading!

Playing with Patinas

I have had color on the brain lately. Must be the spring (!) flowers that are popping up in California already.

I found a remedy for my colorlust. Yesterday I was dropping off some class samples at Bead Inspirations in Alameda, CA and saw these on the shelf. So I bought a bunch.

I am hooked. Now I want to patina every piece of metal that I have with alcohol inks. I experimented with the metallic and colored inks on copper sheet and got great results.

Before applying the inks, I textured the metal sheets and then annealed them. I did not remove the firescale after heating as it added to the depth of the patina. I sprayed them after they were dry with some acrylic fixative.

I made earrings out of the two smaller pieces.

The earrings feature Peridot and Freshwater Pearls. I am incorporating the larger piece of metal into a necklace design that I'll share with you next week. It has a Valentines theme and I think it's coming out pretty nicely.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

More of My Creative Space

Whew! It's been a couple of BUSY weeks! The spring (well, not quite spring yet) cleaning bug bit me hard and I have been in reorganization mode.

I focused my energy on my creative space. And good thing, too. It was getting, a bit, uh, shall we say unorganized. (That is the polite term for a junked-up, messy pile of you-know-what.)

My original work table was great. It worked for metals and soldering, but I needed a place to BEAD. Plus I did not have a place to store my hammers so I could reach them easily.

So one trip to IKEA and the hardware store later, (and one clearing of a messy corner) I now have this...

A bead table.

The peg board is very handy. Originally it was white, so I spray painted it a nice dark brown color to blend in with the wall. I hung some of my bead strands up for inspiration. My hammers finally have a home!

I also sorted some of my wayward beads... They needed to be relocated to where most of the beads live in my house.

The bead cabinet. It's one of my most favorite things, ever.

Most of the drawers have beads sorted by color, but this drawer is where my ends-of-strands or single beads go. It is full of random bead mixes.

So, there it is. I have some great ideas to share with you soon, so stay tuned. My creative space is going to be hopping with new projects and I have a "how-to" coming up in the next few days.

Now, off to mess up my new table!