Bead&Button Blog

Beadweavers help fight breast cancer

Ann Dee Allen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:10:00 GMT

I love to watch what beaders are doing, especially online. A few weeks ago, the Etsy Beadweavers Street Team got 25 volunteers together to create beaded squares for 2009 bead quilts. Every year, the bead quilts are auctioned at our Bead&Button Show in Milwaukee in June, and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. The donations multiply when show attendees buy jewelry at our show's silent auction and other items at the same live auction where the bead quilts are sold. (We wrote a story about it in Bead&Button's December 2007 magazine issue.)

It's very gratifying for beaders everywhere to see the response to this wonderful bead quilt project. On behalf of Bead&Button, thank you Etsy Beadweavers!

You can find out more about the bead quilt project at Jeanette Shanigan's Web site, shanigansbeadshenanigans.com or Tonette Pillitteri's Web site, beadbabe.com. Tonette and Jeanette, along with hundreds of others, put immeasurable time into this effort. We thank you all.

Giving jewelry new life

Tea — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:28:00 GMT

Whenever I come across an image or article that I’d like to revisit, I put it in a file on my desktop. I have one document that is simply a running list of links to blogs, stories, news items, and forum topics of discussion.

I was excited this past week when I saw the blogs my coworkers Assistant Editor Lesley Weiss and Associate Editor Lynne Soto had written recently, as they both touched on topics that have been near and dear to my heart of late. In addition to making a design with numerous variations, as one of Lesley’s favorite projects inspired her to do, I’ve also been drawn to the idea of adding new twists to historical jewelry, as Lynne mentions.

The jewelry from Elizabeth: The Golden Age is the most recent to enter my inspiration file. I’ve been renting a lot of historical and period films lately, and this one caused me to press “pause” a number of times just so I could take a longer look at the necklaces Cate Blanchett wears.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been bezeling a lot of cabochons lately. Now I’d like to combine Lesley’s spirit of trying new variations and Lynne’s nod to vintage to make a piece inspired by Elizabeth.

What historical piece of jewelry has inspired you?

—Tea Benduhn, Associate Editor, Bead&Button

Bead stash imbalance

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:12:00 GMT

I was recently paging through the May/June 2006 issue of Quiltmaker when I found an article about a problem that is very much relevant to us beaders. In her article “The color-filled fabric pantry,” Heather Thomas writes, “Many quiltmakers buy only beautiful fabric. They’ve got a stash full of gorgeous, starring-role fabrics, but have no supporting cast of ordinary fabrics to put with them. It’s not that pretty fabric isn’t useful, it’s just that pretty fabric isn’t enough.” In other words, without ordinary fabrics to make the majority of a quilt, there’s very little you can make with the extraordinary fabrics.

How many times do we purchase beautiful focal beads, salvage center-stage found objects, or stash away other bead “treasures” of the variety Angel Hrabowiak talks about in The Beader’s Handbook only to find we don’t have a “supporting cast” of more ordinary beads to make jewelry that shows off our gems? For instance, I am terrible about keeping a wealth of metallic beads and spacers on hand, and always seem to be short on crystals in usable shades. This holds me up when designing jewelry.

Thankfully, Heather Thomas goes on to give advice for rectifying this situation, and what she says about fabrics is equally applicable to beads. To obtain a more desirable balance of ordinary and extraordinary beads, try:

Taking an inventory of your bead stash by separating out your “starring role” beads, then dividing the remaining “supporting cast” of beads by where they fall on the color wheel. This will reveal which colors you might need to have more of in stock. You might want to take this advice further by making categories for metallic beads and non-bead components (like findings).

When you shop, try to spend 75% of your funds on ordinary beads you need to construct jewelry and 25% on extraordinary beads that will take center stage in your designs.

Keep you bead stash out in the open where you can see it on a daily basis, so you’ll be more aware of what you need more (or less) of.

Does anybody have other advice for rebalancing your stash?

October 3 Jewelry Gems of the Web

Linda Augsburg — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:54:00 GMT

Welcome October! Our weather has suddenly become autumnal--the symbols of which here in Wisconsin are changing leaves, pumpkin farms, and all the rest. I've gone from open-toed shoes to boots, and the containers of warmer clothes have emerged from the basement.

Fall also means a trip home to celebrate my farming roots (pardon the pun). But when I travel home, I usually have a jewelry project or two to either bring back with me or take home to my mom or sister. This time, it was some jewelry that my mom had found that needed chain extenders added. A little chain, a few jump rings, and it was done. Oh, and speaking of jewelry for my mom, I took a picture of that first necklace I referenced last week while I was there (at right).

And now here are my jewelry gems of the web this week.

About.com Jewelry Making
Yippy! Tammy is thrilled that another resin experiment is a success. This time she's making Halloween style resin cabs.

Art Bead Scene
A Not-So-Scary Jangles Bracelet.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Book Review of Simply Modern Jewelry-its simply GORGEOUS!!!

Bead&Button Magazine
Tea gets inspired about beaded shoes

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Jennifer's been playing with resin, see what's new

Jewelry & Beading
After being named Darth Pyro by her family, Cyndi wants to know what your darth beading name is!

Katie's Beading Blog
Katie went a little crazy buying beads...take a peak inside her shopping bag!

Metal Lid Pendant
Carmi cuts up a thin sheet of metal to make a pendant.

Savvy Crafter--Candie Cooper
Check out Candie's piece, Migration...it's been quite a trip!

Snap out of it , Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean cheats a bit--this tiny creation isn't exactly jewelry unless you wore it as a pin. Which would be quite a conceivable thing to do!

Strands of Beads
Melissa finds inspiration at Kid Robot

15th century vintage jewelry

Lynne Soto — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:50:00 GMT

I'm reading a history book written by Aline Taylor titled Isabel of Burgundy: The Duchess Who Played Politics in the Age of Joan of Arc. Isabel was born in 1397 and died in 1471. This painting of Isabel, at age 50, was painted by Rogier van der Weyden and is reproduced on the book’s jacket cover. When this portrait was painted, Isabel was the wife of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The Burgundian court was opulent, extravagant, and very wealthy.

When I first picked up this book and looked at the painting, I immediately noticed Isabel’s necklace. Doesn’t this look like a style we’re wearing today? It just shows how much designers reference historical styles.

A description of women’s jewelry from the Gothic period notes, “Necklaces and pendants were popular ornaments worn by women as the neckline began to fall during the second half of the 15th century, despite laws forbidding the showing of the neck and shoulders.” (Quoted from a paper about Gothic period jewelry written by Michelle M. Boullianne.)

If you’re interested in creating jewelry inspired by 19th and 20th century fashions, check out VintageStyle Jewelry a Bead&Button special issue. Perhaps the beadwork you create will be immortalized in a photo or painting like Isabel’s and document for future jewelry makers what we were wearing in the 21st century.

Frequent Ask Anna Questions

Anna Draeger — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:39:00 GMT

Q Where can I search for frequently asked beading questions before posting my own question?

A In my newest Ask Anna post! I will be adding to the post to build up a base of questions that I find myself answering often.

A few of my favorite beading projects

lweiss — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:16:00 GMT

This week marks my one-year anniversary at Bead&Button, and I thought I’d celebrate the occasion by sharing six projects that taught me something new about beading. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

1. “A metalsmith’s match,” by Shelley Nybakke, in the June 2007 issue. I love the depth and detail of this bracelet, but I also like how Shelley used the structural possibilities of right-angle weave and combined them with sturdy metal beads.

2. “Swirling sun,” by Hatsumi Oshitani, in the August 2008 issue. I know, I know. I’ve mentioned this one before. But odd-count herringbone? A St. Petersburg chain bezel? I learned lots of new techniques from this project.

3. “Ladder stitch cubes form a bracelet with structural style,” by Lynne Soto, in the April 2007 issue. I’ll confess: I’m normally not a fan of ladder stitch. Or bugle beads. But seeing them used en masse to make this thick angular bracelet changed my mind. There’s a real logic to the way the materials and the techniques come together that makes them both appealing.

4. “Chandelier ensemble,” by Julia Gerlach, in the August 2006 issue. This project is an exercise in patience and perfectionism. Getting each link and loop to the same size is challenging, but the results look so polished and professional it’s worth the effort. The lesson? Patience and practice pay off. (Unfortunately, this back issue is no longer available, but the project is also in the book Creative Beading,Vol. 2)

5. “Pearl garden,” by Christine Strube, in the August 2005 issue. I love how feminine this necklace looks in the photo, and I wanted to make it as a gift for my mother, but when I went to buy the beads I couldn’t find the same varieties of pearls. I looked at what made these pearls work in this design (the variations of sizes, shapes, and finishes), and I chose beads that would fill out the design in a similar way. I love the results, and I’ve grown fearless with substitutions since then. In fact, I love finding different or unique beads to use in a design.

6. “Collier du soleil,” by Anna Elizabeth Draeger (Nehs), in the August 2005 issue. Anna’s piece is lovely, and it’s one of the first pieces that really inspired me to play with a design and come up with my own ideas. I’d never thought of stitching long rows of herringbone to make a necklace before. I tried this technique right away, using graduated sizes of beads to accentuate the curve, and it’s still one of my favorite pieces.

Beaders who inspire you

Tea — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:24:00 GMT

From time to time, I like to explore the notion of inspiration.

Recently, I came across a blog post by Patrizia Tager. In her post, she cites one of my favorite sources of inspiration: Sherry Serafini, who is one of the 15 featured designers for Bead&Button’s 15th anniversary issue. Not only did working on Sherry’s piece inspire me to create a new necklace of my own, but I’ve been exploring other techniques as an offshoot of that original inspiration.

My next goal is to combine my newfound love of bead embroidery with the stunning ambition of Mieko Ogura’s Bead Dreams 2008 entry, Caribbean Beach, pictured. I want to make something similar to these, but I want to wear them, too. I think I’ll find some slides and then bead embroider them. Thankfully, there are enough beaded shoes in the world that I can draw plenty of inspiration from for my own design.

Who or what has inspired you to create your latest design?

—Tea Benduhn, Associate Editor, Bead&Button

Bead stitching blast from the past

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:10:00 GMT

As we gear up to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Bead&Button, we’ve been thinking about how fortunate the magazine was to have emerged at the leading edge of the beading movement. A few years too early, who knows if there would have been enough interest to keep the magazine afloat? A few years too late, and we would have missed the boat.

But that’s not to say that modern-day beaders weren’t stitching up a storm in the decades that preceded the beading boom. Recently, I inherited a canister of beads from a deceased relative. Included with the strands of tiny pearls and beads were instructions for bead stitching projects dating back to the ’70s and ’80s.

One page of instructions was torn out of Woman’s Day magazine. The designs included crocheted ropes, collars, and hand and foot pieces. A second document, a booklet titled Pearl & Bead Designs, was published in 1970 by DoDo Sales in Florida. The designs include bead crochet, but also use crossweave technique, netting, and fringe (even if they weren’t called that formally).

Finally, in a 1973 copy of The Workbasket magazine, I found a tatted beaded medallion, a clear forerunner to Lesley Weiss’ "Loops & lace" necklace from the October issue of Bead&Button.

Were you beading before the beading explosion? Where did you go for designs and instructions?

September 26 Jewelry Gems of the Web

Linda Augsburg — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Melissa from Strands of Beads wins my inspiration award this week (not that I don't love everyone's posts this week--they are all gems after all). First, her clever headline made me smile. Second, her story got me thinking and it suddenly occurred to me that it's been a decade (can it be?) since I really got interested in beading. So after I share the gems this week, I'll share my "how I got started making jewelry" story. But first, the gems:

About.com Jewelry Making
For those in the jewelry biz, Tammy has a collection of jewelry business topics up for discussion in the Jewelry Making Forum.

Art Bead Scene
Fall Foliage as Seen Through The Trendy Bead

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe talks about Personal Imagery-what says YOU in your work?

Crocheted Pillow Pendant
Carmi saves a pillowcase's trim by turning it into wearable art.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Halloween Project

Jewelry & Beading
Repurposing autumn-colored beads gives you a stylish new necklace!

Katie's Beading Blog
Hear all about Katie's experience on The Big Idea. Check it out!

Linda from BeadStyleMag.com
An Oktoberfest-inspired bracelet complete with step-by-step photos and instructions

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean's got some earring designs in this elegant looking book, due out soon!

Strands of Beads
Melissa reminisces about her first time.

And since Melissa ends the list with her first beading project post, her story is a nice bridge for me to tell you about my first jewelry project. Let me see--it was 1998. (Imagine hearing the TV backflash music here.) I was living in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, managing a quilt shop three blocks from the ocean. (I know, sweet gig, but my personal life was in turmoil, so paradise isn't always what it seems.) The building that housed the quilt shop adjoinened another shop--an antique store. Somewhere down the beach, a bead shop owner decided to leave the business about the same time the antique store owner decided to close her shop. Enter Susan Hawkins, a plucky gal who likes making jewelry and was ready for a career change. Next thing I know, antique china cabinets exit and glass display shelves filled with glassware in all shapes and sizes filled with sparkly, shiny, matte, and exotic beads fill the space. And then the Bead Hawk officially opened its doors in the late summer or early fall 1998! We had kept the door between the two shops open to encourage traffic, and the next thing I knew, Susan overheard the quilters in class talking about needing coconuts for their palm trees and she popped in with the perfect beads. The quilters purchased the strand, split it up, and everyone was thrilled including Susan, who wasn't sure how she's ever sell those beads!

When things were slow at the shops, we'd chat about retailing, and about customer and their shopping habits. And while we chatted, I'd poke through her orphan bead cup. Since I often made Christmas ornaments that needed a little something, I was drawn to large drop beads to dangle from the bottom, so I'd purchase the strays as they turned up. And one day, I spotted a copy of Bead&Button magazine. It was the October 1998 issue with the leaf candlestick on the cover (see right) and I was intrigued. So I bought it. I never did make the candlestick, but I did buy beads at Bead Hawk to make my mother a necklace for her birthday, which was that fall. But I kept that issue, and after I moved to Illinois and considered looking in Wisconsin for a publishing job, I remembered that the magazine was published in the Midwest, so I sent them a resume. That resume led to a different opportunity at the company, but I improved my jewelry-making skills thanks to a small group of us that met after hours to learn more about beading. I went to another company for a while, but I ended up returning to Kalmbach Publishing Co. to work on the jewelry magazines we have here.

I think my mom still has that first necklace. I made a necklace for myself around that same time, so I'm not sure which was first, but I think of hers as the first attempt. If I turn hers up when I visit this weekend, I'll try to take a picture and post it in a future blog post. The necklace I made fell apart. Several times. But I've gotten better. They hardly ever fall apart now.

Thread-to-bead and bead-to-thread conversion charts

Lynne Soto — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:42:00 GMT

I came to beading through my interest in needle arts. I still subscribe to counted cross-stitch magazines and yesterday received a holiday ornament issue. I like to convert cross-stitch patterns
to beadwork and I found a number of ornaments I’d like to try to make on a loom.

With my busy schedule it’s always difficult to find time to figure out what beads to use in place of thread. But this year I’m going to be months ahead of schedule in stitching beaded ornaments thanks to a Web site I discovered — fibergypsy.com. This Web site is devoted to “…information about all things related to fiber arts.” Here I found conversion charts for DMC thread to Delica beads, and Delica beads to DMC thread. What a great tool!

The strawberry beadwork shown in the photo was made from a pattern by Melissa Johnson
published in the February 2008 Bead&Button. I stitched the piece using peyote stitch. If I wanted
to stitch it in counted cross-stitch, I could modify the pattern to a square stitch or loomwork design.
The Delicas I used (first number) would translate into DMC embroidery floss as follows: green –
DB 0656/DMC 701, forest green – DB 0148/DMC 700, rainbow yellow/green – DB 0169/DMC 907, silver-lined crystal – DB 0041/DMC 5283, red – DB 0727/DMC 817, and brick red – DB 3777/
DMC 3777.

Happy beading,

Lynne

Designing beaded jewelry: Finalizing a design

lweiss — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:46:00 GMT

I’ve sketched, I’ve swatched, and I’ve worked with colors. What else is there to do?

I started playing with the beads I’d gathered from our store room, using the pattern in my cranberry swatch as a guide. First I thought I’d add some sparkle with crystals, but as you can see from my wavy, incomplete purple swatch, that didn’t quite work. Why not? Mostly it comes down to the crystals I used. They aren’t the right size to work harmoniously with the sizes of seed beads I chose. I’ve only worked about an inch of the pattern, but it’s already wavy, with a noticeable curve. I do like this color combination, but most of the beads are too translucent to show off the stitch pattern, which was the whole point of this experiment. If I really wanted to incorporate crystals into the design, I think that 2 mm rounds would be a better option — they’d add a little sparkle without detracting from the stitched pattern.

I had better luck with my next attempt, but there’s room for improvement here as well. I love how the colors work together, ranging from dark copper through three compatible shades of seed beads to bright new copper in the center. I think the beads are opaque enough that they show off the pattern, but they also have a nice glow to them. What I would change about this one is how I stitched it. Instead of stitching from one side to the other, I would stitch two separate pieces and join them in the center. It would be much faster than the way I originally did it, and it would be easier to explain if I were writing instructions.

Now all that’s left for me to do is to actually stitch up a finished bracelet.

Art, science, math: It’s all in beading

Tea — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Last week I wrote about the intersection of art and science that beading inhabits.

When this story originally caught my attention, I wrote about mathematician Gwen Fisher’s baseball bat tetrahedron. Recently, I’ve talked with friends of mine who are nurses, and they describe the creativity they apply to solving scientific problems. There is even a group called Keep Arts in Schools, which stresses the importance of art education in biology. In fact, my doctor is a beader (lucky me!). Every time I visit, I see her newest creations, which she makes with her daughters.

Beading can help you exercise the part of your brain that finds creative solutions to problems—whether they are scientific, mathematical, or fall into another category altogether.

Just this week, I’ve been applying math to my own beading experiments. I stitched the simple peyote strip pictured here with two different sizes of beads, which I switched at counted intervals to change the pattern.

What are some beading projects that you’ve used to stretch your math skills or find a solution to a problem?

—Tea Benduhn, Associate Editor, Bead&Button

September 19 Jewelry Gems of the Web

Linda Augsburg — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:57:00 GMT

First, let me send out some birthday greetings. Cathy, editor of BeadStyle magazine, and my sister Alice shared a birthday this week, so I want to say happy birthday to both of them. And speaking of celebrations, I'm in a bit of a celebratory mood. We're less than a week from Ornament Thursday, where a group of us create projects based on a theme and and post them on our blogs. The preview for this month is already online and it's from one of the "gems:" Melissa Lee. I don't have a whole lot of time left to figure out what my brew-themed project will be, but being in Milwaukee (Brew City), coming up with brew-themed inspiration shouldn't be too difficult.

The gems have been a busy group this week. Let's check out what they're up to.

About.com Jewelry Making
Mixed-Media is still a very hot topic in the jewelry making world, as evidenced by two recent book reviews posted at About.com Jewelry Making.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Another Marketing Monday and Barbe talks about what is involved with creating a line sheet.

BeadStyle Magazine
Stacy shares her story about working with the jewelry designers who contribute to BeadStyle magazine -- could you be next?

Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry
It's the beginning of the busy season, and Carter has new designs to share!

Clear Resin Silhouettes
Carmi lets her image stand alone in a clear resin ice cube.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
The new studio is finished

Jewelry & Beading
Learn one of the foundational skills of jewelry making: the wrapped wire loop

Katie's Beading Blog
Tune in this Thursday to hear Katie as a guest expert on CNBC's The Big Idea. They're profiling the inventor of a new game called Bead Trade.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to be done!
Jean finds a lot to like about the fun book by Karin Buckingham, Altered You!

Strands of Beads
Melissa reviews a book of grace, style and wit - Links by Jean Yates

Have beads, will travel…even 1,000 years ago!

Stacy Hillmer — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:05:00 GMT

Last week, a group of archeologists digging in Yorkshire, England, uncovered an intricately detailed 1 cm white bead dating to 1,000 years ago. What makes this find so remarkable is that the bead is believed to have originated in the eastern Mediterranean region. The bead would have traveled to Yorkshire by trade routes anywhere between 700 and 1100 AD.

In response to the find, Nicky Rogers, an artifact specialist at York Archaeological Trust, said, “It is often the small finds that have the biggest stories, and this bead is one of those great examples. It is a fascinating object. Considering its size, the craftsmanship that must have gone into producing it is amazing. But when you also think about the complex trade network that must have existed over a thousand years ago to allow this bead to journey more than 2000 miles, that is amazing.”

Today, beads continue to travel around the world and back again to find their home in the hands of a beader. And talk about “complex trading networks” – we buy beads over the Internet, pick them up at international shows, or make them ourselves and then ship them across the planet. What are some of the travel stories behind your beads?