Book on making jewelry with Swarovski crystal and seed beads
Posted by Leah on Feb 27, 2008
Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones
If you’ve seen Laura’s beadwork and are familiar with her style, what she’s done with Swarovski crystal will be no surprise - her signature style definitely comes through in the projects. Lots of Swarovski crystals designed to look like flatback rhinestones, set behind intricately beaded bezels, and her excellent eye for color and texture. My friend Marilyn brought this book to a get-together a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures, despite the fact that I rarely use seed beads in my own work.
If you like working with seed beads, you would probably enjoy this book. The techniques could easily be adapted to work with cabochons, rhinestones, and other non-Swarovski focal stones, although I imagine that the Swarovski centerpieces really sparkle.
Felt Beads
Posted by Leah on Jan 30, 2008
I’ve been making a bunch of felt “beads”. I put beads in quotes because they don’t actually have a hole in them, so really they are felt balls - but they can be used just as beads. All you have to do is poke a needle through them to string into necklaces, bracelets, etc. They can be strung on something thicker, like wire, by poking a needle through & immediately following that with the wire. I’ve made earrings and pendants this way, and they are really fun.
These are fun to make. Working with loose wool fiber is really different from working with metal, so I think of them as something completely different from most of the jewelry I make and sell, but they give me a chance to just play with color and experiment with new techniques. I’m gradually incorporating some felt into finished jewelry, but mostly I just like making the beads.
I love this picture of some of my newest felt beads:
If you are interested in learning how to make jewelry using felt beads, I have a tutorial coming out in a month or two and I will be sure to post a link to it from here. In the meantime, if you’d like to own some of my felt beads to play around with, check out my etsy store.
New Bead Embroidery Book
Posted by Leah on Jan 23, 2008
The Art of Bead Embroidery: Techniques, Designs & Inspirations
If you’ve never tried bead embroidery, be prepared to spend a LOT of time on this craft. Each tiny little bead has to be stitched on individually, so even small projects can be time consuming. But, like knitting, the repetitive action of stitching each bead onto a piece can be a meditative experience for a lot of people, and there is definitely potential to make some absolutely beautiful things with bead embroidery techniques.
Jewelry 101: Seed Bead Sizes
Posted by Leah on Aug 24, 2007
Seed beads are the small glass beads people use in intricate beadweaving projects. They come in various sizes which vary slightly by manufacturer, but in general, the larger the number, the smaller the bead.
One of the most common sizes is size 11. If you look at the wall of seed beads at your local bead store, there will probably be more size 11 beads than anything else (if your local bead store is anything like mine, anyway).
As the number gets bigger, the bead gets smaller. Size 12, 13, 14, and 15 are fairly easy to find, and although sizes smaller than 15 exist, they are not nearly as common. In my experience using seed beads, you need an extremely small needle or very find beading wire to work with size 14 and smaller seed beads. Size 15 beads are maybe half the size of 11s.
As the number gets smaller, the bead gets larger. Size 8 and 6 are common sizes. A size 6 bead will be much larger than a size 11, with size 8 being somewhere in between.
Combining different size beads in a beadweaving project can create very interesting textures. I used to make bracelets and necklaces using peyote stitch (a kind of needle and thread method of weaving seed beads together) and by using a variety of beads from size 8 down to size 15, I was able to get interesting textures and sculptural details on my beaded fabric.
Designs by a Hummingbird
Posted by Leah on Jun 14, 2007
Here’s some fun jewelry from another Pleasanton Craft Mafia member, Jeannine of Designs by a Hummingbird:
Jeannine’s work is colorful, fun, and often intricately beaded as you can see in the photo. She also does metalwork combining different metals, such as copper with silver.
Here’s a shot of her booth from the show:
