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· Year 2 of making jewelry
· Jewelry ramblings
· This and that
· What I've been up to lately...more handmade jewelry
· Handmade jewelry ramblings...
· On wearing your own jewelry
· Beading blog up!
· New blog in the works
· Jewelry making #20
· Jewelry making #19
· Jewelry making #18
· Jewelry making #17
· Jewelry making #16
· Jewelry making #15
· Jewelry making #14
· Jewelry making #13
· Jewelry making #12
· Jewelry making #11
· Jewelry making #10
· Jewelry making #9
· Jewelry making #8 and odd thoughts
· Knitting (and more thoughts)
· Jewelry making #7
· Jewelry making #6
· Jewelry making #5
· Jewelry making #4
· Jewelry making #3
· Jewelry making #2
· Making jewelry #1
· Making jewelry
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Handmade jewelry update
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, May 14, 2007 9:03 PM (Eastern)
Hmmm...what I wanted to do here, was wow you with expansive photos of fabulous jewelry, but, I'm way too tired. I'm slowly taking photos of the jewelry I've made that I want to keep. Here is my Picasa album:
 |
| handmade jewelry |
Boss eh? I've just gotten into Picasa; it's not bad actually.
It takes forever to produce good jewelry. Unless you're smart enough to apprentice with someone who already knows how to make jewelry, preferably someone with all the equipment and materials...heh heh...keep dreaming.
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freddy&ma custom handbags
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, April 16, 2007 6:30 AM (Eastern)
freddy&ma custom handbags
This is not a press release (although they do have one). It's pure word-of-mouth, or word-of-Net these days; I got this link from another board.
They do have a completely interactive bag-designing website...which I can admit I thought would be a bore. I'm not a bag person, I loathe all-Flash websites in the main, who needs to spend time designing a bag...et cetera.
When I got there I realized the bags were good. Started out with the fine intention of making a bag from each designer on the site...about six bags in, I realized this was not a good idea at 3 o'clock in the morning. So, the samples above are just from the first 8 designers.
They have solid colors too, will soon have more selection...all-leather bags and so forth. They have some special bags to benefit charitable causes. I will emphasize again that there are many other designers and their patterns, many ways of putting together "your" bag. You may email "your" bag to your friend for her to critique, as well.
Most intriguing of all, according to their press release, these bags are made in the U.S.A. I had to read that two or three times for it to sink in. There is not much about that fact on the freddy&ma site, which I think is a mistake. There is an enormous, not-talked-about-much sentiment for Americans to "buy American." Not just American designers (but thanks anyway), but especially American labor.
The price range is in the two to three hundreds, which admittedly is more than I pay for a bag; however, I will guess the quality of these bags is up there with the (far more expensive) imported designer bags.
I will leave you with a size description from the charming copy on the site:
Dims: 14.5" x 13" x 4.5"
Carries: new gossip rags, afternoon protein bar, new blouse you bought during your afternoon 'dentist appointment'
Enjoy!
Labels: bags, fashion, freddy and ma, handbags, handmade, personal, purses, style
This is neat...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, March 28, 2007 1:17 AM (Eastern)
MixtGoods
What's neat is that it's all American artists and crafters. Off the top of my head, the only other sites I can think of that sell American made goods are the Sundance site and of course Etsy.
It's been a day of...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, February 10, 2007 5:46 PM (Eastern)
...extraordinarily bad photography.
I think you need natural light to do this sort of thing. It's been overcast and raining the past few days; I've concluded that a good photograph won't be possible until it clears up.
Anyhow. I feel I am slowly, but slowly, making the kind of jewelry I want to make. Did I mention slowly? It takes a long time to get the hang of it. I owe a lot to the forum at jewelrymaking.about.com. I've been there only a short time but the level of experience of the posters is phenomenal.
I had to restring the citrine necklace anyway, to add in the "wire thimbles":
image courtesy www.rings-things.com
So I shortened it some. I hated doing that, but it does have an extender chain clasp, so it can go two inches longer. A shorter necklace is more versatile.
The pieces are finished. Whenever possible, I've "double crimped" them (some designs don't look good that way, like the three-strand jade bracelet). That means using two crimps instead of one:
image courtesy www.artbeads.com
It's best to flatten both crimps, then fold them (not flatten and fold one, then do the other).
Pearl bracelet
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:01 PM (Eastern)
Okay, I'm done with this piece.
If anything, I've learned a lot about the finer details of construction this month. It's relatively easy to make the piece itself. But after you've worn it for a while, you start to appreciate those hundreds of little touches, that were invisible to you before, that make it a piece that either breaks down after a while, or else lasts.
That is a hot topic over at the jewelrymaking.about.com forum. Of all the about.com sections I've visited, I'll have to say this is one of the best. It's constantly being updated, and has all sorts of tutorials and links.
So...in the previous incarnation of this bracelet, for example, the pearls were connected directly to the clasp. Not good; it's a terrific wear-and-tear spot. Solution: use not one, but two jump rings to connect pearl to clasp. In fact two jump rings can work in many stress points.
While I was doing this, I discovered a better way to snip the jump rings (you can and should use a saw for this but I don't have one). Simply hold the coil horizontally to make the cuts. Comes out straight every time.
Why a blue stone? It's a beautiful clasp, but I bought it for a turquoise piece, not this. But I tried it...it's just too perfect. The blue stone in real life is sky blue in color...it's Swiss Blue Topaz, not Sky Blue, but it's not that almost gaudy blue that you see in blue topaz. It's like the California sky on a good day.
Year 2 of making jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, January 02, 2007 4:20 PM (Eastern)
Okay technically year 2 began for me last September, but it'll be easier to document if I start the year now.
(This is the necklace on its shortest setting.)
I'm pretty pleased with this...the pearls are good quality and the overall look is dressy because of the black and clear Swarovski crystals.
Side note: are Swarovski crystals all that? I think they are. I've used Chinese crystals; some can actually be better than Swarovski's only because of the colors (I have some that are red, with this interesting yellow/orange edge, and some olive green ones), but I use Swarovski as my staple crystal.
I have enough pearls to make a matching bracelet. Here is the original bracelet (mind you, nothing in that picture exists anymore though I do plan to redo the pearl earrings):
The original necklace was similar, a plain strand of the pearls with small gold spacer beads.
Here is a double strand citrine necklace:
mumbles... I didn't even use a flash with this, I suppose the light was too bright.
The flower bead is quite nice; it's Indian sterling silver with a round faceted citrine on either side. The drop at the bottom is citrine of course.
Pink Swarovski crystal, vermeil Indian beads, on goldfilled chain. I did use a flash here and it caught one of the crystals.
Finally, some earrings:
I tried photographing them together and it didn't really work. These are good earrings...I've worn them all day and they don't get heavy. (Usually the only way to tell is by wearing them.) The pink pearls aren't that pink...they're a sort of faint peachy pink color, good lustre. The vermeil beads on the right-hand pair are Turkish.
Jewelry ramblings
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, December 08, 2006 9:24 PM (Eastern)
I've finished my second phase of making jewelry.
It's a process remarkably similar to figuring out makeup and learning to use it well, rather than in a default or exaggerated manner. Oh, here it is: Minimalism? (philosophical makeup use).
It's not quite the same in that I think of phase one of jewelry making as a combination of "gee whiz, I can make my own jewelry?" and "it's incredibly difficult" (unless you have the good fortune to learn it from someone else). Because there are so many new materials and techniques, available locally or on the Net, you can be up and running with a relatively low initial investment. i.e. you need not invest in metalworking up front, only in a few key tools and some wire and stringing materials.
The difficulty I suppose varies. I'm not crafty; it was difficult for me.
Phase two is when you can make things, and make them well, but there is still a lot of experimentation. The variables, may I say, are akin to cosmetic variables. If you have tens of thousands of lipsticks, eyeshadows, and blushes from which to choose, so you have tens of thousands of beads, which can be strung, or knotted, or wire wrapped...you can make a necklace from a chain, or make it on a chain, or make your own chain, or skip the chain and go for a leather, or suede, or hemp, or stretch cord, or memory wire...choose a spring ring, lobster claw, box (drools), hook-and-eye, or S clasp...the common materials are sterling silver and gold fill, but now we have Argentium sterling silver (which is slowly becoming more widely available), which reputedly can't tarnish. Oh, and there's vermeil too. And don't forget the crystals. :)
Phase three is when you no longer wish to make casual pieces. Each piece now has to involve...something elevated. It can appear to be more expensive than phase two, but, overall, it's cheaper. Just as you spend less on makeup once you've figured it out, but (most likely) more on each item, so each piece of phase three jewelry can cost more than a phase two piece, but there are fewer pieces to begin with.
I've done three pieces of phase three jewelry so far. The first is a pair of freshwater pearl earrings. These were not extraordinarily difficult, in fact they consist of an egg-shaped pearl, a square pearl, and a large coin-shaped pearl: that's it. They are connected by simple loops, with a few small gold-filled beads thrown in.
They're horribly simple but then they are the MAC "Sophisto" lipstick of my nascent phase three jewelry collection. It probably took me more time picking out those six pearls than doing the design and assembling it. It was the pearls themselves that made these earrings (that, and a hankering I already had for square and coin-shaped pearls); they are of a faint peachy pink hue (not too peachy, nor too mauve), with intense lustre and good size.
I used gold-filled wire to do the loops, and "made" a bronze niobium wire for each (the wires are already bent except for the front loop, so you can add a small bead or wire coil of your choice before making the loop).
What's great: they show. I don't put my hair up often, and it's long enough to drown out many an earring.
They're sufficiently lightweight so that I can wear them all day without wanting to remove them.
The color goes with just about anything, because they're not distinctly pink or peach. In fact (to stretch the makeup analogy until it begs for mercy), not dissimilar to a blush...the blush that looks perfectly natural on you. Not too warm, not too cool.
I debated about making them fancier with, say, vermeil daisy spacer beads. But I think that would actually make them look more ordinary.
The second piece is a citrine bracelet, three strands: two consist of faceted citrine beads separated by Bali sterling daisy spacers, one of citrine "points" (these are like tiny smooth long teardrops) with a Bali bead for every seven points. These are held together not by spacer bars, but by large handmade sterling beads shaped like flowers with a round faceted citrine on either side of the bead. The clasp for this is the same citrine one pictured here: This and that. As much as I rather liked the original bangle, it hardly showed on me (much like, hm, MAC "Jubilee" lipstick...okay, I'll stop now).
The third piece is a matching citrine necklace, two strands: one of the same faceted beads and daisy spacers; the other, the same points and Bali beads. In front is a third flower-shaped bead, with a large smooth teardrop-shaped citrine bead hung below it.
I actually had all of the beads for both pieces, except that last teardrop-shaped one, and for weeks I'd been trying to come up with a design using them.
Citrine is one of my favorite stones (I tried making a list of my favorite stones and it became depressingly long), but its color is subtle and the trick is to use a lot of it when you're making a piece.
So what's next? I have a few odd things I'd like to do, like a three-strand peridot bracelet, a "keishi" pearl necklace (these are "cornflake" shaped pearls), a white square pearl necklace...I'm going to restring my dancing pearl necklace and bracelet (I'd like to add some crystals to both) and my American turquoise necklace and bracelet (here I'd like to use crystal "wheel" beads). I'll need some leather cord for stuff...and I'd like to do some crystal pieces for my daughter and myself (crystals with Argentium silver).
I'll have some pictures later on.
This and that
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:10 PM (Eastern)
I can admit I never really liked cardigans until I saw the late Kurt Cobain wearing them.
image courtesy www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~tsuzy
Keep in mind that I lived outside Seattle when Cobain, and grunge, were very much alive. The climate in the Puget Sound Area more than justifies all aspects of grunge, from Doc Martens boots to flannel shirts to the cardigans to...anything that keeps you warm and dry, basically.
A cardigan need not be "grungy" of course, but it should fit the way you want it to. I like mine oversized and thick, if it's cotton. If it's wool, I prefer it more on the thin side.
I've been making more jewelry. Right now it's important, since I'll be going on a trip. Now, the jewelry has to work.
I made these today (when they're on, they hang straight of course). I got the idea from Target, believe or not. They had some earrings on sale that were made on a jig...they'd wrapped the top so that the top loop was still open and the tail of the wrap was tucked in the back.
Here is more stuff. The bracelet is citrine...I bent the clasp a bit so you could see it's also citrine. The earrings are citrine and gold-filled chain. Very hard to make because the chain is super fine (you can barely fit 24 gauge wire into it), but beautiful on, since they catch the light and glow golden.
I'm making a necklace to match the freshwater pearl bracelet, only it will have a slightly different clasp (onyx cabochon rather than faceted onyx). The pearl necklace will be single strand.
The pearl earrings were my first expedition into chain.
Finally, a really odd necklace. Even I'm not sure what to make of it. Thing is, the colors of this piece are divine. The tiny beads are Japanese, a blend of wine-red, clear light purple, clear light pink, a sort of bronzy red, clear beads lined with pink or purple. I threw in some lampwork beads I had sitting around...a yummy red Chinese pair with pink flowers, and then the big burgundy-colored one. If it were any heavier, I wouldn't wear it. But somehow I like this piece.
If you look closely, you'll see I've run out of several key components. I have them on order so I can finish it all before the trip.
beading, jewelry, handmade jewelry, citrine, bracelet, freshwater pearls, earrings, necklace, carnelian, cardigan, kurt cobain, fashion, style
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4:34 PM, Dain said...
Wow, those look great. Fun hobby. : ) 3:36 PM, Colleen Shirazi said...
It is a lot of fun...and it's good for you. I think mainly because you have to be extraordinarily patient, which I'm not normally...then there is the design aspect, because you have to create from scratch (I've used only a few "readymade" designs). |
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What I've been up to lately...more handmade jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:33 PM (Eastern)
I think...I am finally producing final pieces that are more than just your string o' beads.It's harder than it looks. Not the technical part, because that requires only practice. It's more the notion of being able to step into a bead store with hundreds of kinds of beads and materials, and from there produce a finished piece.
The earrings on the left are labradorite paired with quartz crystals. The necklace and the other earrings are jade, paired with, respectively, quartz crystals and freshwater pearls.
I still need to make a third pair of earrings, conforming to my theory that each necklace needs three pairs of earrings to go with it. The third pair will have to be simpler but I haven't decided yet which style.
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade
Handmade jewelry ramblings...
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, August 09, 2006 11:49 AM (Eastern)
I haven't rambled much here about my jewelry-making expedition lately, since it fits so much more neatly here. Yet it does figure largely into what I wear these days, so I don't mind venturing a post or two over here now and again.
Mind you this is Phase One of jewelry fabrication; it's a case of "Darling, I have no money." I've not been able to invest in classes, nor (yet) in metal work or making your own beads out of glass (which has got to be the height of coolness). It's okay. There is a fairly stunning array of effects you can get working with wire, and even Softflex and stretch cord. There will come a point when I've exhausted the techniques I have now, I know it, it doesn't bother me. By then who knows?
Today it's hot again. The climate here is next to bizarre anyway, it'll start out "leather jacket cold" and somehow morph into "tank top hot" sometime during the day. At night again it's freezing. But today, as I say, it's going to be hot. The morning already breathes differently and I'm planning on wearing something tank-top-ish.
It's the ideal outfit for handmade jewelry, since you're talking minimal cloth and a swooping neckline. In fact, a semi-precious stone necklace (provided it has sufficient stones) can make a tank top appear more modest; I've done that.
What to wear? I have a small set of necklaces I actually consider finished, and about ten times as many that I don't. Hum. On second thought (after putting on a deep grey tank top and pale sea blue "boybeater" over that), sometimes you don't need a necklace. Depends on the earrings.
I have some on now my daughter designed; she has a more acute sense of color than I do. She put together cobalt-blue cloisonne beads...with a pattern of pinky orange flowers and green leaves on a brown bough on them...with teal green glass flower beads. Sounds horrible on paper, but it works, down to the teal green "popping" my green eyes and the large, fan-shaped cloisonne beads providing an intense burst of blue, tempered by the salmon-pink flowers...and cloisonne is an excellent choice for earrings btw, because it's lightweight. You can make sizable cloisonne earrings and the earrings float on your lobes all day.
Oh well that's enough rambling...carry on, fashionistas!
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade
On wearing your own jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, July 21, 2006 1:47 AM (Eastern)
It is kind of weird. I've been wearing some of my pieces (some pics are in the Image Library's fashion gallery, but keep in mind some of the pieces pictured have already been redone). It is very different from wearing jewelry that you bought readymade. It is a bit closer to wearing jewelry that you inherited...that's so old it's unlikely that too many similar pieces are floating around. But handmade jewelry is, by definition, unique. Once you get some skill going--even if you don't feel your skill is there yet--you can create entirely "you" jewelry...that's based on an outfit, or a whim, or something you admired, or something you've been looking for, for years.
Almost a year ago I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't seem to find nice green earrings (More jewelry thoughts...). i.e. I could not easily find a nice pair of earrings with green stones that I could just buy and be happy with. Now, I have a beautiful string of jade beads at home, with two sets of jade briolettes just waiting to be made into earrings. The price for the entire jade suite is less than I would have paid for a single pair of jade earrings, had I been able to find them back then. And of course I'll have enough jade beads left to do something else with.
Today I wore my quartz crystal earrings--pictured here (the diamond shapes):
...and they were quite amazingly perfect. They don't look like much in the picture, but the clear crystal just grabs the light and floats inside the diamond-shaped silver frame. The engineering took me a while (I bent the frames slightly to make them look more handmade, actually)...and I added jump rings to make the crystal strand move better (the model for the design is here: Runway Earrings Jewelry Making Project; as you can see there wasn't a center strand in the original). Along with this I wore the rose quartz and garnet necklace in the same pic. Again, the idea of making clear crystal earrings was to have a pair of earrings that would literally go with anything.
fashion, style, jewelry, handmade, design
Beading blog up!
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, November 03, 2005 2:07 PM (Eastern)
Okay, that was easier than I thought it would be.
Beading Blog - thebroadroom.net.
New blog in the works
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:02 PM (Eastern)
I've decided to make a separate blog for my beading exploits. For one thing, I can see that I have enough material to justify having a separate blog. For another, this is after all the Fashion Blog; I don't want it completely dominated by posts of only one type. It should roundly cover fashion-related topics.
It will probably take me a few days to get the new blog set up, as it will feature our new Javascript "Code That" menu, the new page template, yadda yadda... The blog will appear on TheBroadroom.Net site rather than this site, The Lipstick Page Forums.
Jewelry making #20
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, October 29, 2005 12:58 PM (Eastern)
Well, that is the part that's stunning about even simple jewelry making. Once you've figured out what you want to use, and played around with it enough to feel comfortable stretching the piece, getting the drape right, choosing the findings, knotting, yadda yadda...you can now make anything you want.
I'm now wearing my 24" necklace. It's too long with what I'm wearing...I designed it specifically to work with turtlenecks. But, so what? I could just as easily make myself a 22" one or an 18" one. Or I could make this into an even longer one and double it. Or I could make the same pattern into a two-strand necklace. If I end up not wearing the 24" one, I could dismantle it. shrugs
Jewelry making #19
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:19 AM (Eastern)
Heh heh...so I'm waiting for the glue to "cure." I think it should set overnight before you pull on it too much. Gluing a bead in the back though, it is in a place that doesn't get too much direct stress.
This 24" piece is constructed of two of my favorite colors...deep red and blue-grey. The deep red is key. In this one, it's the color of cheap red wine...deep but clear rather than the smoky tinge of, ah, good red wine.
The blue-grey beads if you look at them closely, seem to have swirls of the blue-grey on the outer layer of the bead. I tried scratching them to see if the color would come off, but I don't think it comes off.
These are accented with a few clear small round beads, that's it.
What I'm trying to do...and people who know me from the beauty forums will recognize this behavior...is try to build a sort of jewelry wardrobe. By this I mean, more pieces, for me, is not better. I heartily dislike clutter, programming is all about clutter and reducing it to something manageable, so what I am after is always the fewest variables, but not so few as to make more work.
So I had to have a deep red piece and something with grey in it, and a turquoise piece. I'm actually eyeing a bracelet I made for my daughter. lol! This is comprised of the blue-grey beads (round), plus some similarly colored beads (these are less grey, a tad more blue) that look like raindrops...not the familiar tear-shaped ones, but raindrops sitting, say, on the deck. And then some truly beautiful beads that have blue and a sort of gold/brown thing in them. This is in, not a symmetrical pattern, but rather a repeating pattern, so you end up with a raindrop next to a round blue-grey bead where you were expecting two identical beads. That's the part I like best.
It's the eccentricity of these three pieces.... But I have a pile of stuff that I need to restring. One is this cool, red, Chinese thing...I have two of them actually.
Jewelry making #18
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Friday, October 28, 2005 9:03 PM (Eastern)
I'm trying out a long piece today...it's a full 24". I put a small metal bead in the back to stash the knot inside...why knot in the first place? I made this piece on Stretch Magic so that my daughter could wear it too.
This time it was easier gluing the knot inside the "cover bead." It's still something of a two-man job since, once you get the Hypo Cement going, it wants to keep going, and you have to jack the very fine wire-cap back into the applicator (with glue beading out and the piece you're working on in your hand). This time I just put a big drop of glue on the knot and then put it inside the bead, rather than trying to squeeze the glue into the bead-hole (which in theory would be possible, but as I say, the glue keeps on coming out, it is hardly worth it).
Well let's see how it goes. My 18" turquoise necklace wasn't long enough to wear with a turtleneck sweater, and I didn't feel like making a longer one of the same type. I do however have a turquoise-chip choker that I got a long time ago and never ended up wearing, so I have it in mind to cut it and use the chips for something else.
Jewelry making #17
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 12:39 PM (Eastern)
My son is so cute. He asks me now every day, "So what did we learn in jewelry making today?"
Putting it that way, you do learn something new each time. I have seven finished bracelets now and one finished necklace. I know that doesn't sound like much...I have easily ten finished designs for necklaces...but they need to be restrung. i.e. I can still be considered to be in the materials phase.
I'm testing out my turquoise necklace now by wearing it, obviously, but also by putting it in my pocket and bending it around and doing the stuff that I myself do to my own jewelry.
Anyhow...here's my advice so far.
Don't bother with the 7 strand beading wire, unless you are deliberately looking for the lowest "break point." The 19 strand wire is much better. The 49 strand wire is even better, but it costs too much.
I checked this out on the Beadalon site...more strands = more flexible, less prone to kinking.
As far as the thickness (a different factor from the # of strands), that depends on which beads you're using. 0.18" is pretty thick if you're closing off your piece the Beadalon way (i.e. you thread the excess wire inside the first bead and then cut it flush). I made it fly with the turquoise piece, which uses small round smoky glass beads, but it was snug. I doubt it would work with anything smaller than that.
Crimp beads work better than crimp tubes for straightforward, beads-on-a-string necklaces and bracelets. They crimp much more easily, they're smaller and neater.
The tubes are kind of neat if you're looking to finish off 1.0 mm Stretch Magic ends, but I will try out the crimp beads next time and see how that works.
The 1.0 mm Stretch Magic is quite a bit less stretchy than the 0.7 mm. Its sole virtue is that you can use crimps with it. I actually tried some crimps on the 0.7 mm and the piece snapped neatly in two where the crimps were, so there is something to it.
On a more personal note...I have reached the "it factor" now. "It" is being able to make the jewelry that you've been looking for. Of course "it" is going to be different for each person...and I can't make all of "it" myself. For example, I have this cool Thai-style carved silver bracelet with a little garnet cabochon in it. It's not worth it for me to learn how to make this...it's perfect, yet it's something I can buy in a shop for twenty bucks. I doubt I could learn how to produce such pieces for less money than that.
The beads though... There is the predictable ability to combine colors, materials, textures, and even symbols, but what I've found more intriguing is the notion of capturing light. :)
Jewelry making #16
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, October 26, 2005 10:38 PM (Eastern)
Now it's getting good...finally....
I have only a few kinks to knock out of the system now. One is that, with my new crimping pliers, it seems that the #2 size crimps I have are too large to work with my beading wire. I mean it says on the face of the beading wire which size crimps to use. But if you're squashing your crimps with regular pliers, it hardly matters what size the crimps are, right? It all squashes down the same.
Still, I tried it out with the #2 crimps. It didn't work in the classical, crimping-pliers way in that I had to first crimp, then press into a round shape, then squash the round shape with the very ends of the crimping pliers. The first time I did it, it didn't work. The crimp shot right out when I tried pulling it with the pliers (which I always do).
The second time though...it seems fine. I put a set of 2 crimps on either side of the wire to make it stronger.
A couple of tips I got while surfing around...one is to coil your necklace one and one-half times, before closing the end. The idea is to get just enough slack to make a nice drape. (This is for non-stretch pieces of course.)
I tried this; it works great.
Two is for stretch elastic pieces. You are to get a bead that has a hole that's big enough to stash the knot inside the bead. You are to glue the knot inside that bead, using Hypo Cement.
I tried this also; it works great as well, but it's messier than what I'd thought. The glue in my Hypo Cement, once I got the wire-cap off, kept coming out even though I wasn't squeezing it. Bleh. I managed to get a good glob of HC on the knot and got the knot inside the bead. I let it set some, but while the cement was still "uncured" I went ahead and cleaned the cement that had gotten on the beads either side of the "cover bead," and some of it that had gotten on the elastic cord. If you clean up the piece before the glue gets hard, it's not too difficult to do.
Three...someone had an idea for Stretch Magic bracelets. It involved stringing the beads, then taking the two loose ends and drawing them through a bead. She then closed the loose ends with a crimp.
This looked beautiful but I wasn't 100% happy with it, because my kids would take apart such a piece the first day. i.e. one good pull on the finishing bead knocked the crimp right off.
However, I was happy modifying this idea. I knotted the ends first, using my usual square knot followed by an overhand knot.
I then took the loose ends and passed them through my bead (this is a bit tricky since it's 1.0 size Stretch Magic that works with crimps...you have to find a nice bead with a big enough hole to pass two lengths of 1.0 through), and knotted again. Here it sort of depends on the bead you're using.
For a cylindrical glass bead, I passed the two ends through it, then took a 10/0 seed bead and passed one of the ends through that. Without the seed bead, the knots at the bottom of the cylindrical bead would go right through the bead with one good pull.
I then knotted again, square knot plus overhand knot, then finished off with a gold crimp and trimmed the ends flush.
Here all of the stress of the bracelet goes to the first set of knots. If anyone pulls on the cylindrical bead, the stress then goes to the seed bead + set of knots of the bottom part of the bead. The crimp doesn't do anything, it just looks nicer than cut ends of elastic cord.
So...that's what I've discovered so far. Right now I'm wearing my first semi-precious piece...it's oval shaped turquoise beads, paired with small smoky glass beads. Why the glass beads, well, I figured anyone could make a straightforward string of turquoise beads. Why not make it more special? It's quite beautiful. I was going to make it longer, and ran out of turquoise beads (you can jack the length around a bit by placing a few more glass beads in the back), but now I think it's quite perfect, because it's light in weight.
This piece joins my finished glass bracelets...heh heh...secretly I'm thinking of never selling the jewelry, because there is something divine about wearing your own jewelry, that you designed, you figured out the materials and the sources, you came up with something out of nothing. Well I keep telling myself that these are samples. i.e. I can wear them, and just make the pieces to order. In any case I do intend to thoroughly wear-test everything before it goes on the market. If it's not perfect then I'll make it perfect before it goes on sale.
Jewelry making #15
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, October 24, 2005 8:47 PM (Eastern)
Ah....
I'm using 1.0 mm Stretch Magic now on some pieces...and I am now, after what, two months? starting to produce finished pieces.
The 1.0 mm SM is quite a bit thicker than the 0.7 mm one. It can still string size 10/0 seed beads though.
1.0 also holds knots much better. It's less stretchy too, so it's tricky getting the piece loose enough (the right "drape").
I have three pieces done now...one uses "cane beads" combined with the purple and gold beads mentioned earlier, one is an old design...mostly clear glass "e beads" (I'm finally getting the terms right!), and one is brand new, it's different shades of blue and blue-grey.
Jewelry making #14
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:43 PM (Eastern)
Okay, I'm a convert. I finally got one of those crimping pliers. All this time, I'd been working largely with the Stretch Magic, however, I started using it in the first place because I was making children's designs. It's much easier for children to put on and take off pieces made with stretch elastic. Plus, elastic or string breaks when stretched too far, which is what you want for children.
All of that said, I've been impressed that it is quite easy to make beaded pieces sophisticated enough for adults. You need only find a good bead shop. A chain like Michael's is a good place to start but there's no way you'll be able to find everything you need there. A small-business bead shop can order the stuff that you need, plus most of the stuff is by the piece rather than packaged, so you can choose exactly what you need (and you won't get stuck with the odd dud beads that "make their way" into packages).
About the crimping pliers...if you're using crimps at all, buy yourself a pair. It's around $13 and it pays for itself the first time that you use it.
Hm. I've found the design part of jewelry making, to be almost too easy. It's the technical part...figuring out how to finish off the pieces, getting the tension just right, figuring out the materials...that is eating up most of the time I've spent since I started. I'm now thinking it takes two or three months to boil it down to perfection. I never intended to produce just a few pieces and leave it at that. From the beginning, I've thought of it as a business. Not a business in the sense of cutting costs to the bone and cranking out multitudes of pieces--because big companies can do that better than I can. But a business in me developing pieces that I like, and seeing if I can sell them.
Jewelry making #13
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, October 19, 2005 10:55 PM (Eastern)
Okay...I've boiled it down to one new design, at most, per day. That does not mean one finished new design per day. It takes at least the rest of the day to simply wear the piece.
Version 1.1 of my green piece failed the wear test. I tried it out with 2 large oval sea-green Indian glass beads in front. It looked great but the oval beads were too heavy. They felt fine at first, but after wearing it for, say, six hours, the beads started to feel too heavy. So the oval glass beads are out.
I tried it again today...using various green beads in front. I tried out some nice square cloisonne beads, some oval (genuine) turquoise beads, the green glass leaf beads, eh...what I ended up with, were two of the sea-green Indian beads, but smaller round ones. I'm wearing it right now.
If I like it well enough, I will probably make a blue version...and maybe a lavender version.
Jewelry making #12
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, October 18, 2005 8:53 PM (Eastern)
Heh heh...verrrrrrry interesting.
I'm in the test-drive stage now...and it is interesting. Pretty much as I'd expected, what looks good sitting on your dresser, does not necessarily work the same way "on."
I've already taken apart my two green necklace designs. And, I have worked out a way to do the back. That's actually quite key. It is the front and the back that make the necklace, but you never think about the back until you start wearing the pieces.
I'm trying out a few things actually...one thing that irritates me about wearing a necklace with a center, is constantly having to adjust the dang thing. I don't mind if it's a little bit off-center but I hate having the center part migrate too much to the side.
Likewise, I hate necklaces that slide backwards. So in both cases, the weight distribution is important.
I have some ideas for designs...I'm thinking, ten to twenty designs at the most. Or, if there are more, then they're going to emerge over time. It takes days to produce a single design that I'm happy with. Once it's done, obviously, then it can be replicated infinitely.
Jewelry making #11
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, October 15, 2005 2:42 PM (Eastern)
And now...finally...I'm making the final designs. Let's look back for a moment, shall we?
I made my first "jewelry making" post on September 13. Back then, I was still thinking mainly of making children's jewelry. I had not figured out a way of turning beading into anything sophisticated enough for adults.
I tried out what I believe is called "tiger tail"--fine steel wire covered with clear nylon. I also tried out those spiral wire bracelets. I tried "jelly string" and I had a brief flirtation with using regular string. I used crimp tubes for most of these.
But I ended up with a strong preference for Stretch Magic and using knots rather than crimp beads. Why? The obvious reason is that it's comfortable. That slight stretch means the piece never feels tight or strangly, nor does it ever feel heavy on.
So, back to the final designs. Once you've figured out what materials to use, and where to buy them...then and only then, can you truly create whatever you want.
So far my final designs seem to have a lot to do with jewelry that I've been looking for, for a very long time. i.e. I have been looking for, say, a yin-yang design for quite some time. It isn't made that much anymore. I'm not a religious person but the yin-yang design is sheer perfection. It's as good as the cross. I like the cross as a design, it is beautiful. I also like the "ankh" so that is something I'm keeping an eye out for as well.
I've often looked for a "green eye popping" design...it has to be green. For this so far I have a design with two pairs of (real) turquoise beads in front, flanking a Chinese round pendant that contains some green (I have one with a green bird in it). For the sides, I have six green glass leaf beads. I may not stay with the leaf beads; nice green beads are actually quite difficult to find.
Then, I've often looked for a design using green and peach together. So I have one of these...yellow-toned green beads for the sides, peach-colored cloisonne beads in front, and a pink lotus pendant.
Red is the easiest color to work with, because there are so many choices in red beads. I already have 3 red designs up...a "warm" red, rather Chinese looking thing, it's got red cloisonne beads in front, a nice red lotus pendant, and six vintage warm red beads on the sides. I have a neutral red piece with Indian red beads and a ladybug pendant. Then I have one with just different kinds of red beads on a clear-bead base...with a heart pendant.
Blue...I have a "youth" butterfly necklace. I like it, but it's too youthful for me. It has butterfly-shaped blue beads on the sides and a butterfly pendant. I'm planning on making an "adult" version of this as I happen to love butterfly designs. It'll be the same but with plain blue beads on the sides.
For the children's designs (aside from the butterfly and ladybug designs mentioned above), I have two just for kids. One is a sea of pink beads, it is very pink. It has a tiny glass Hello Kitty bead, then pairs of different small accent beads. The other design is the glass cat's head bead (still fiddling with that) on a clear-bead base, with pairs of different colored accent beads...whatever catches your eye, buy two of it and add it in.
That's about it. I have two children's bracelets to match the children's designs. But I'm still playing with the adult's bracelets. I'm going to finalize the adult necklace designs first, then figure out the bracelets.
Jewelry making #10
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, October 13, 2005 12:22 PM (Eastern)
Mmmmm... Lessee. I have about 6 designs that I am satisfied with, now. By "6 designs" I mean that the spacer beads (I use 4 different kinds for each piece) and side beads (6 or 8 depending on the bead size...or else a combination of 2 beads, repeated 6 times), and two front beads, are reasonably fixed.
For the pendant, it can be one of those Chinese beads--that is my favorite. It's a round clear glass bead, with a picture inside. I've used ones with a pink lotus, a red lotus, a yellow, green or blue bird, a goldfish design, a ladybug, a blue butterfly...there's one with a bald old man in it but I haven't used that for anything. I make the pendants out of these beads, it is very tricky because the wire wrap functions to keep the beads together (I put a round bead on top of this bead and a small round one under it). If you get the wire too close to the top bead, you stand a chance of shaving off the glass when you close the wrap. If it's too far away, then the beads won't hold together properly. It can take me up to 3 times to get it right.
Another nice pendant is a glass heart with little colored designs in it. Another one...mmm...I have a yin-yang cloisonne bead. It's the round Chinese ones though, that defy your expectations.
I'm in the "wearing design" phase now. To me this is very important. Many times you will buy jewelry that looks nice, and then you end up never wearing it. And then there are pieces that always look good. It's not always easy to define.
I suppose I can refer back to my years of cosmetic experience. It sounds lame, but hey, how much money is spent every year on cosmetics? Isn't it billions with a "b"? I invested some time in figuring out what works. Now I can always look reasonably good; I don't need to think about it much anymore.
So...I have bought many a time, a cosmetic item that looks great--in the package. Whether or not I'll be wearing that same cosmetic item next year...or over the next five or ten years (assuming it's still being made rolls eyes)...depends on that hard-to-put-your-finger-on factor, that "it" factor.
A piece of jewelry therefore, even a precious one...but particularly a "costume" one where the value is not intrinsic...has to have that "it" factor. It takes me days to figure out whether or not a given piece has it.
Jewelry making #9
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, October 11, 2005 2:01 AM (Eastern)
Well, I am out of the materials phase and pretty much out of the design phase too. i.e. I am already working from my own templates.
Now I am...wearing the pieces. That's the thing. The obvious thing is to make a piece that won't break from everyday wear. The next obvious thing...slightly less obvious...is how comfortable the piece is if you wear it all day. Can you sleep in it? Does it tend to migrate around your neck or, worse, does it slide back and strangle you? Does it look nice and clean even if you wear it often? How easy is it to clean it?
Then...even less obvious...do you really want to wear the piece often? Or does it look pretty when you buy it...then it sinks to the bottom of your jewelry drawer?
Do people compliment you on the piece? I'm not big on compliments, but I do want to sell the stuff. So it has to look nice.
I've concluded a few things by wearing some of my own pieces. One is that my design is good. The majority of the weight is on the front of the piece, then it tapers. The back is simple, has no bulk, and very little weight. So the piece tends to stay put.
My pendants...here it's slightly tricky. I've found the beads do revolve with wear, so I have to choose beads that look good on all sides.
Likewise the side beads...these have to be next to unique. They do show. Has to be something different.
I'm experimenting throwing in some semi-precious beads. But my emphasis is not on semi-precious beads (however much I like them). You can find semi-precious stone jewelry anywhere. What I want to produce is something that you can find only in one place. So it has to be a blend.
I did look at the tiny crystals. They're nice, but I didn't buy them...I got some beautiful blue-grey clear round beads, some deep red ones shaped like tiny tulips, some turquoise beads (real ones, oval-shaped), some faceted purple glass ones with a little gold.
What I'm doing next is using more grey. I've already used quite a bit of grey but here I want to step up the grey and make it show more.
Jewelry making #8 and odd thoughts
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, October 04, 2005 3:59 PM (Eastern)
Wowza! That is very sophisticated work. :)
Hermmmm...yeah... I do think there is an added element of...creativity is not the word. An element of something when you produce your own clothing (as you are doing) or jewelry (as I am doing).
It is not that assembling ready-made items does not involve creativity. If it's a basic component, you may be reinventing the wheel. Companies like American Apparel or Banana Republic, etc., may produce these pieces as well as, or better than, someone sewing at home could do.
Conversely something intricate may also be better made by someone else.
There is that in-between factor though...the point where you do begin to add in original stuff.
Anyhow, I am still in the learning process myself. A few things I've discovered...one is that you're supposed to knot pearls. Apparently if you don't, the place where the pearls meet gets rubbed away eventually.
Two is that my lovely pink cat's head bead broke one of its ears. Wah! I'll replace it but I'll have to look more closely next time. If all of the ears are that delicate, then I'll have to find something else to use.
Three...and I'll guess you have discovered this too...my fingers have become much less stiff since I started making jewelry. You and I do a lot of keyboarding, right? Typing is not good for your hands. Making jewelry of any sort, and I will guess knitting, both make the hands bend.
That is one of the main reasons I wanted to make jewelry. It had gotten to the point that I could hardly get my daughter dressed in the morning--my hands were that stiff.
Now they feel nice and bendy. Wondering if it's a good way to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome???
Four...I do have a few, very few, finished pieces that I'm happy with. It does not bother me to redo the same piece over and over and over again. I've come up with a few templates...the idea is to create a few templates and just plug in different beads.
Before I forget...be sure to measure the piece after you've stretched it out. It's oddly quite easy to get the piece too short. When you're trying it on, you're also holding the back of it (since it hasn't been knotted yet). Somehow the finished piece tends to rest lower on the back of your neck, than it does when you're just trying it on and holding it.
The standard adult choker size is 16 inches. I've made pieces slightly longer but nothing shorter than that.
Anyhow about the templates...one involves this. You have a unique-looking pendant in the front. This of course need not be a ready-made pendant. You can make your own out of beads and a "head pin" or "eye pin."
Then you have two unique-looking beads on either side of it.
Then you have six matching beads...three on either side. These can be more ordinary looking and smaller than the beads in front.
The whole works is held together with spacer beads...which make the piece lighter, more delicate-looking, more elegant, and less expensive.
I even have a formula for the spacer beads, or at least one formula (I'm going to try tiny crystals in the mix next).
So far, so good. Having the majority of the weight in front, makes the piece tend to stay put, and also tend not to creep backwards on your neck which is annoying.
Putting the expensive stuff in front makes it more visible...and using only 6 special beads keeps the back of the piece from being bulky.
I tried out 8 matching beads rather than 2 + 6 but, dunno, it just didn't look as good.
Knitting (and more thoughts)
Posted by Raphaelle, Sunday, October 02, 2005 6:22 PM (Eastern)
I just want to go back on my previous post for a bit before going into knitting. I've thought a lot about it and I stand by what I said. It's really true that I don't believe in fashion's rules. I even wish we could get rid of societal fashion rules such as those that say what is appropriate to wear to an interview. I do follow those societal rules and I'll readily admit I believe in some of them. Still, I think they should be done away with. It's just clothes. They're necessary to protect ourselves from the elements but that's it. It's like food. Food is necessary but cuisine is not. I don't think potato chip and ketchup sandwiches sound appealing but noone will tell you you can't eat them. So why should the fashion industry (magazines, designers, etc.) tell you what colour/style/texture combinations you should wear? It's personal taste and that's that. You tastes might not be my tastes but there's no way anyone could judge which tastes are better objectively.
I also wanted to say that creativity isn't just about art. It's not about making something from nothing either. It's about looking at something differently or combining things in different ways. It's one of the most important components of science and engineering. In fact, I believe it's one of the most important components of intelligence. When one creates an outfit, what are they doing if not combining existing elements in new and different ways? It is an example of creativity. It's not art but that doesn't mean it isn't creative.
Now to the good stuff (well, I think it's the good stuff!) : my new obsession, knitting! My mother taught me when I was 9 years old but I stopped doing it a year later. Last Spring, I started up again. I needed to make stuff. Maybe it's a nesting instinct or something... Since Spring, I've completed 7 projects : a poncho, a tank top, two felted bags, a short sleeved sweater, a scarf, and a hat. Not all projects turned out great though they aren't bad.
The tank top is the worst of the bunch. It looks exactly like it's supposed to and fits exactly like in the picture so it's a success in that sense. However, I had a nagging feeling I wouldn't like it before I even started and I was right. It's boxy and that doesn't work for me. I have an hourglass shape and boxy stuff just makes me look fat. It looks cute as a vest over a white shirt but the yarn leaves bits on the shirt.
The poncho is cute but that acrylic yarn! It's really bad, stiff and a little oily. I have to see how it wears though. The bags are very cute but a little small. I have no clue how much I'll end up using them. The hat was my first cabling project and it's very cute, maybe not warm enough for Winter. And I made a small mistake. I can't see it but I know it's there. Bothers me. The place where I did the provisional cast on and the grafting is a bit messy too. I just need more practice.
And now, my stars. The scarf is this one : http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTbranchingout.html . I made it in a mohair blend in an eggplant colour. The yarn is a bit scratchy but feels fine in the end. And then there's this sweater : http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTtempting.html . I made it in a burgundy stretchy wool and acrylic blend. I replaced the ribbon with something called an I-cord, essentially a cylindrical ribbon in the same yarn as the sweater. When I wore it the first time, my mother the expert complimented it and my sister actually thought it was store-bought! Yeah, I was fairly bursting with pride there...
It's those successes that keep the obsession alive during the many frustrating moments. The act of knitting itself also provides some satisfaction. As I knit, I see wonderful fabric emerge. The cotton I've used was heavy and a bit slinky. The wool was springy and elastic, sometimes scratchy. And then there are so many other yarns I've yet to use : alpaca, cashmere, camel, silk... I'm still amazed that one thread, one single long thread of yarn, is all that's needed to make knit fabric. And as I'm gaining experience, I'm using my creativity more and more. For Christmas, I'm making hats for DH and Dad and felted bags for Mom and sister. While I'm not designing the bags themselves, I'll be designing the motifs on them. Quite ambitious as it's the first time I'll be doing colourwork...
Jewelry making #7
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, September 28, 2005 7:09 PM (Eastern)
A few more observations...
One is this. If you wear a choker made from the Stretch Magic, which is stretchy but not overly stretchy, if that makes sense...it's rigid enough to support medium weights of beads...it's much more comfortable than wearing a choker made of a non-stretchy material.
I never liked chokers before for that reason. I liked the look but always felt slightly strangled in the process.
Two is that if I make a design for my daughter, she likes it, but won't wear it. If I make something for myself, then she wants to wear it. So, making something choker-length on me, or else slightly longer, means we can both wear it.
Unfortunately this doesn't apply to bracelets, since what fits her is too small on me.
Jewelry making #6
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, September 26, 2005 8:31 PM (Eastern)
Bwahahahaha...why didn't I think of making my own jewelry sooner??? I am now wearing my first bracelet that I made for myself (I've made several for my daughter of course).
It's a blend of Asian taste (curiously, Caucasian Asian Americans tend to produce more Asian looking designs, where Asian Asian Americans imo tend to produce more Western-looking pieces...jmho)...and something slightly reminiscent of a vintage store. i.e. it's comprised of red vintage glass beads, two porcelain Chinese beads, and a drop...which is Chinese also, it's clear glass with an inner design of a pink flower.
Now I understand why handmade jewelry should be expensive. It's not the materials. It's the time. I've redone this same piece at least six times if not more. It has to be perfect, not in the sense of lying there and looking good, but in the sense of, you put it on. You wear it. How does it hang? Does it look awkward, do the red beads stick out, or does it flow smoothly around your wrist? What about spacer beads? I tried out at least four kinds. I ended up with tiny cracked glass round beads and plain glass seed beads. If you use only the seed beads, the piece will look cheap. Yet the cracked glass beads are too expensive to use only those.
Then, what about the drop? How many drops to use? I have four of them, I ended up using only the one. Does the drop knock against the table when you have it on?
Once you put the piece on, does the "good side" gravitate toward the top of your wrist? Or does it gravitate at all?
I made this piece specifically to match a bangle I already own. How cool is that????? The bangle is carved sterling silver with an oval garnet cabochon in it. I'll guess it was made in Thailand, possibly India.
The vintage store part...that is personal to me. I once owned a necklace that I got from a vintage store (only they called them thrift stores back then, lol)...it had these milky glass irregularly-shaped beads in it. These red beads I have, posess that slight irregularity too. Each one is subtly different.
I'm just inordinately pleased with the darn thing.
Yes, I am still planning on making jewelry to sell. I've gone out of the materials and technique phase. Now I'm in the design phase, which is more fun but just as lengthy.
Jewelry making #5
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Saturday, September 24, 2005 3:58 AM (Eastern)
Hmmm...I think I am reaching the end of my experimentation here...not really, perhaps just the end of the first phase.
I haven't even gotten into semi-precious beads yet. I can see the logic though. Even a simple turquoise stretch bracelet costs a bum, and, it's never the way you want it to be. Why not just buy the turquoise beads you like? I've already gotten the pre-stretching and knotting part down.
I've gotten better at wrapping too. It is tricky. The hardest part is figuring out exactly how much wire to expose in the first place. The wrapping itself is relatively easy, all you're doing is holding the loop with a pair of pliers...any pliers will do, including the same round-nosed ones you just used to make the loop. And you are grabbing the other end with a regular pair of pliers such as you already own.
Make sure the loose end doesn't start to point down, as you want a tight twist of wire.
It took me a few times to figure out when to cut the loose end of the wire (sometimes it doesn't need cutting of course, depending on the size of the bead you're wrapping). If you hold the whole thing close to a flat surface and cut it, it's a lot safer that way since the cut end of the wire tends to just land on the surface rather than flying off.
Hum. I have I think maybe three or four designs done that I'm happy with. And I have to be happy with it, otherwise why bother? If you have to redo a design on stretch cord, you have only the cost of the cord to consider in redoing the design (and if it's a necklace, you don't even have that since you can turn the same cord into a bracelet).
One consists of small clear pink seed beads, lined with silver. There is a tiny glass Hello Kitty at the end. Then a pair of fuchsia glass beads. Yes, they make fuchsia glass beads! Intense, pure fuchsia, the kind of thing daughters covet. Then, I forget, I put a few more pairs of different beads in it. The concept is to use a "base" of the seed beads, with the selected beads as accents.
The second set consists of clear, unlined seed beads. Here my daughter found a pink glass bead shaped like a cat's head, complete with little glass eyes, mouth, etc. Bonus: it has a face on either side (okay that's actually a bit creepy if you think about it, but from a jewelry point of view it's good).
I wrapped this cat's head bead to use as a pendant. Again the same concept...the necklace is mostly small clear beads, with pairs of beads my daughter selected added at regular intervals.
Then...I discovered these tiny tubular glass beads. What you do is combine them with the seed beads. I still intend to make some pieces with larger beads, but my personal preference is with the small ones.
Stretch Magic 0.7 mm cord is thin enough to use with the tubular beads btw. It was hard to tell until I tried it.
You have to be careful when wrapping...I tried using a tubular bead at the top of the wrap. That was a mistake! One slip of the pliers and the tubular bead broke. Unless you are very dexterous, it's not worth having broken glass around.
I'm working on a design of simple green glass leaf beads and clear silver-lined seed beads. The effect is good...it's like real green leaves and dewdrops. Oh you know, how you used to try making jewelry out of flowers when you were a kid.
I'll have some pics up soon.
Jewelry making #4
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, September 20, 2005 1:34 PM (Eastern)
I'm putting this separately because it's more of a ramble than a tutorial.
I've rather enjoyed making jewelry. It started out as an impulse. I mean I've bought and worn jewelry my whole life, but I never made jewelry before. I always felt that you needed to take classes and invest in materials and that it was hard to do or that your finished pieces wouldn't look that good or be that strong, et cetera.
I think how the knots work is that the second knot closes the ends of the cord, so that the first knot can't get loose enough to go anywhere. When you put pressure on the first knot, there's never enough pressure on the outside of it to move the second knot.
I've tried three places for beads: Jo-Ann fabrics, Michael's, and a local bead shop. By far, the local bead shop has superior materials. Michael's has a lot of stuff but a place where you can choose beads individually tends to be cheaper and better.
I've liked using a lot of seed beads. These make the piece lighter and also less expensive. Another useful size, but hard to find, are beads slightly larger than the seed beads. I finally found some...round clear glass beads that had been "crackled" on the inside. I would have preferred plain ones but the size was right.
It's interesting to take children into the bead shop with you. Of course this works only if the children understand they can't touch stuff in the shop or spill the beads. Children have a remarkably keen eye for color and form. They can comb through hundreds of beads and find the ones shaped like cat heads with faces on them, or tiny fruit, or intense green leaves, or beautiful red fluted balls or tiny blue butterflies.
Making designs is good exercise for children. Less and less so, do we make anything from scratch anymore. With jewelry, you start from absolutely nothing and produce a finished product. You have to understand symmetry, you have to count out beads, you have to use design skills, shopping skills, you have to have patience, plus you have to use fine motor skills (tell me about it; as I'm getting older, my hands are getting stiff, so I wanted to do something that would make my hands bend a lot).
I was impressed that my son went from producing, well, horrible designs, to making something quite good.
Jewelry making #3
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 12:48 PM (Eastern)
So...I decided on 0.7 mm Stretch Magic elastic cord. The next thing to do was figure out the knots, since crimp beads don't work with this weight of cord.
I had to practice to get the knots right. Here's a tip: practice on necklaces first. That way, if you dork up a piece, the cord is still long enough to make a bracelet with. :D
It take some practice too to figure out how long to make the cord in the first place. I've been using a full 12" for bracelets and 18" for necklaces. If your fingers are more flexible than mine, you can probably reduce this initial length.
Conclusions: one knot of any kind doesn't work. (Mind you, I am no knot expert.) Two knots work. Three knots also. Technically, you don't need three knots, it just feels more secure that way.
The Stretch Magic cord stretches out the first time you wear the piece. So if you tie a nice knot the way you think it should be, then try on the piece, you get more slack than you want and no way to get rid of it.
So here is my technique: I go ahead and finish stringing the beads. I then tie the first part of a square knot. Do not complete the knot; just do the first part of it.
Holding the loose ends of the cord behind the first part of the square knot very tightly (keeping in mind the knot is not complete!), try on the piece, stretching the piece generously as you put it on.
Now take it off, all the while holding those ends tightly! You will likely notice that the cord has stretched out some. Re-tighten your first part of the square knot and repeat the process of trying on the piece.
After 2 or 3 times, you will have stretched out the cord about as much as it's going to stretch. You'll note that you don't need to re-tighten your first-part-of-square-knot that much anymore.
Now, go ahead and complete the square knot. Take your time. Lay the piece down; it's easier that way.
Hint: finishing your piece with 2 beads that are larger than seed-bead size, can make the piece easier to tie off. i.e., if you are trying to tie off a piece between seed beads, it can be a bit more difficult.
Tighten the square knot as much as you can. Now you will need to tie a knot after the square knot. The square knot by itself will not hold.
Here I like to use the "overhand knot." This is illustrated on the back of the Stretch Magic package.
Lay the piece down again and use both hands. Scoot the overhand knot up until it abuts the square knot, then tighten it as much as you can.
You can tie another overhand knot behind that knot if you want. Again, lay the piece down and scoot the knot up before tightening. Clip off the excess cord.
I haven't tried out, say, using two square knots. The square knot + overhand knot + overhand knot works so well I haven't bothered. But if you're after a truly invisible knot, you might want to play around with it some. Just keep in mind that one knot by itself slides out no matter what you do.
I've also picked up something called "wrapping." This consists of taking a bead and a headpin or eyepin. For this you need a fairly long headpin/eyepin, made out of metal that is soft enough to bend fairly easily.
You put the headpin/eyepin through the bead, and bend the top into a loop using round-nosed pliers. You start the loop a bit higher than you normally would.
You then hold the loop with one pair of pliers. You use another pair of pliers to grab the loose end of the headpin/eyepin. You wrap the loose end around and around the bottom of the loop. In short, you are covering the place between the loop and the bead, with a tight spiral of wire.
When you're about done wrapping, you can cut the excess wire with a pair of wire cutters (be very careful with this as the piece of wire can fly in any direction including into your eye). Using the second pair of pliers to mush the remaining wire around the loop so that it lies smoothly.
You can make charms this way. Just add a "split ring." I prefer these to regular jump rings. The split ring is like a tiny keychain ring, so you can add it on after you've finished the wrapping part.
Well that's about it for now. I've already made several pieces for my daughter and I've been impressed that it's still much cheaper...even going to a bead shop and choosing individual beads...than buying ready-made jewelry.
Jewelry making #2
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, September 14, 2005 7:13 PM (Eastern)
Hold the phone dog!!!!! the 0.7 mm Stretch Magic cord is not supposed to be used with crimp beads. You are supposed to use an Overhand Knot or Double Overhand Knot. (Per the back of the Stretch Magic package--you can use crimp beads with the larger sizes.)
I tested it out today to see what they were talking about. First I took a length of Stretch Magic and literally stretched it out over my hand. It did hurt some but it did snap before damaging my skin. (It left a red mark but did not cut the skin.)
Side note and Disclaimer: I am NOT being paid to do these tests. I am an ordinary person who wants to make some jewelry. If you want a definitive test, go find someone who gets paid to make definitive tests.
Then, I did a dummy with two crimp beads on the same length of Stretch Magic. I tried pulling it. The place with the crimp beads snapped right away.
Then, I tried the Overhand Knot pictured on the back of the Stretch Magic package. This was kind of for crap. Pulling the cord made the knot slide out.
I then tried the Double Overhand Knot. Now this seemed to work. The double knots stayed put when I pulled the cord--but broke when I kept on pulling it--exactly what I was looking for.
So...at least for now, I'm settled with using the 0.7 mm Stretch Magic cord using the Double Overhand Knot. I'm going to try it out and see how much extra cord you need to use in order to make the knots and how hard it is to make them.
As far as the bead-stringing wire...I may try out a finer gauge of it--for adults.
I'm obviously not advocating making pieces that break easily, I just don't like the idea of the piece getting caught on something and not breaking and causing an injury.
Making jewelry #1
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, 1:32 PM (Eastern)
Okay, so say you wanted to use the Stretch Magic.
While I was at it, I tried out bead-stringing wire, the 7-strand one by Beadalon. This is actually easier to use...it's fine, steel wire coated with clear nylon. Supposedly if you kink it, you have to throw out the piece, but I think it depends...if you're making something with stations, then yeah, you can't kink it. But if you're making a string of beads, the kink doesn't seem to matter as long as it's not that bad a kink.
The wire can be cut with plain old scissors (don't use ones that you care about; use an old pair) and works well with crimping beads or tubes (also by Beadalon).
While we're at it, I'm still squashing my crimp tubes with a plain old pair of pliers. According to the Beadalon folks, that's ugly. It works but it's ugly; you get a plain flat square shape. You are to use the Beadalon special crimping pliers, to produce a more pleasing, round shape.
I dunno? Is it that different? I'm planning on pricing the crimping pliers anyway. I will post here how much they are. If it's reasonable, I might go for it.
I decided against the wire for my children's pieces though. It's probably more durable than the elastic cord, but that itself could be a problem. i.e., if a children's piece gets stuck on something, you want to be able to break the piece. You want it to snap, or to be able to make it snap.
So I tested out a piece of the Stretch Magic. Pulling it with my bare hands, it didn't break. But putting the cord around something and pulling it, you could make it snap.
I'm still in the process of fiddling with this actually. I firmly believe that the materials stage is the most difficult and time-consuming...figuring out exactly what works, what you want to use, how to use it. Again I will stress that I'm not looking to spend tons of money. I don't believe that the most expensive option is necessarily the best one.
Making jewelry
Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, September 13, 2005 3:25 PM (Eastern)
I wasn't sure where to post this, exactly. We don't have a "crafts" blog...I've debated about making one, but jewelry making (as well as, say, knitting or sewing) to me, falls more under fashion than under general crafts, if only because you produce fashion items rather than, for example, home decorations.
I've just gotten into this. My primary reason of course is that I have a daughter. Daughters need jewelry; jewelry is expensive. Plus, it is difficult to find nice jewelry for children. A lot of it, for lack of a better term, is overpriced plastic crap. For example--Target. Target used to have a respectable jewelry section with $7 beaded necklaces made in Greece. No more! It's been replaced by a section with $15 plastic necklaces made in China. The quality is mediocre at best.
The first phase of jewelry making is deciding which materials you want to use. If you're going to go whole hog and you want to make fine jewelry, well, this post is not for you. I have not wanted to invest nor make elaborate jewelry. I have wanted to produce nice jewelry for young ladies, to start out with.
So far I have decided on Stretch Magic elastic cord. I experimented some with "jelly cord" that is made in Japan--it's good, but too expensive to produce more than a few pieces. Stretch Magic is made in the U.S. by Pepperell Braiding Company.
The 0.7 mm size is pretty all around. It'll do small glass beads (probably not the tiny ones, I haven't tried it yet) and it's strong enough for medium sized beads. You could go down to 0.5 mm for the tiny beads and there are also 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 1.8 mm sizes.
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