Free Tip Friday: Sea Treasures Wrap Bracelet

Hey Everybody!
June Mix + Summer Feelings = The NEW Sea Treasures Wrap Bracelet.

What a fun Free Tip Friday today... as you will hear in the video, I was just in the mood to make a fun and quick summertime accessory. I hope you like making it, and please share your design take on it!

Ingredients I used:
1 Monthly Mix June, Sea Treasures
1 Half Circle Magnetic Clasp Antique Brass
1 pr Looped Leather End Antique Copper
1 pkg Home Run Antique Copper
5 Mini Hoop Antique Gold
Oasis Charm Antique Gold
1 meter Natural Stitched 5mm Leather
1 pkg .5mm Natural Leather 
1 pkg 7mm Antique Copper Jump Rings
Zap Glue

Free Tip Friday: Wire Earrings with Briolettes and Antiqued Wire (Plus Hammering!)

So much fun today on FTF!
I just love these earrings.

Just a few twists of wire and a briolette wrap and you have a stylish pair of earrings!

Here is a list of the bare copper wire that I used:

Bottom wrapped unit: 16G wire armature and 22G wire coiled over the top.

Top armature: 18G wire.

Briolette wrap: 26G wire.

I pre-oxidized the wire using Liver of Sulphur and polished with a Pro Polish Pad.

London Blue Briolette

Niobium Ear Wire

Tools:

Round Nose Pliers

Chain Nose Pliers

Bent Chain Nose Pliers

Flush Cutters

Nylon Jaw Pliers

Watch the entire broadcast here to get the complete tutorial. Enjoy and I can't wait to see what you make!

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Free Tip Friday: Deco Earring!

Thanks for watching today's broadcast. I hope you'll enjoy creating with our new Sand Bar Chain.

Here are the materials I used for the project:

Materials:
Sand Bar Chain Antique Brass
8mm Soldered Jump Rings Antique Copper
8mm English Cut- Amethyst Blue
Crystal Grey Rainbow-12mm
Daisy Spacer Copper
1.5 inch Copper Headpins
4mm Antique Brass Oval Jump Rings

Tools:
Chain Nose
Bench Chain Nose
Round Nose
Flush Wire Cutters
Bench Block
Chasing Hammer

Find all of the "how-to" in the Free Tip Friday Video below. Have fun!

Free Tip Friday: Learning the Wall Knot with Leather Cord

Thanks so much for joining me today for this fun and fast project! Decorative knots are so stunning in wrap bracelets and this one looks great AND is easy to learn... a WIN all around.

I used 1.5mm Sable Leather Cord, Lt. Turquoise Picasso Roller beads and the Flower of Life Button in Antique Gold.

Download the handout with the written steps here. Enjoy!

Spring Bead Together at Janice's in Alexandria, Virginia

Saturday, April 21, 2018
Alexandria, Virginia
Learning to Knot Pearls

This is us with just one having to leave early....

We had such a fun day beading together. I invited anyone who lived nearby (I live now in Alexandria, Virginia) to come for the day and learn to pearl knot. We had a nice turnout of ten...just the right size for the community room of my complex. 

I shared with everyone my all-time favorite and essential technique: Pearl Knotting. My theory is if you can get comfortable with making knots, you can string and design anything. It's that first knot that is challenging. We have some great, class handouts you can download that really go over everything. There's our classic, Pearl Knotting and our more advanced, Gem Knotting....both worth a read. There is also Tin Cup, which uses a floating bead technique....also worth a read!

We all made necklaces using freshwater pearls, a lovely silver metal bead by Nunn Design and a lobster claw clasp. I teach an age-old method of knotting that doesn't require any tools...just  pre-string your beads and then knot one at a time. The end tips we used (.036mm) have an extra large hole, so we needed to add an 11/0 seed bead inside each bead tip to keep the double knot of the doubled Micro C-lon from slipping through. 

Everyone makes a few mistakes when they first start knotting, but with time and practice, the knots get closer together. Like anything worth doing, knotting takes practice!

We used Micro C-Lon and a Flexible Eye Needle

Freshwater Pearls and a Nunn Faceted Barrel Bead

Finished Necklace

I added one of my jewelry tags with the clasp

Old Fashioned Silk Thread

Tin Cup Floats using Griffin Silk

I'm not sure where the time went. It just flew by. There was so much to go over! I talked about old-fashioned silk and using Griffin to create floating necklaces. Much of this is covered in the handouts I linked at the beginning of the blog. 
We promised to get together sooner rather than wait a whole year. I'm in favor! It's definitely made me excited to teach pearl knotting, gem knotting and floats on Facebook Live! More samples and planning needed but this was just pure fun. Thanks everyone! 

~janice

Free Tip Friday: More SuperDuos & Soft Flex

Hey All!
Thanks for tuning in today for FTF. My design is inspired by Sara Oehler from Soft Flex and our broadcast from Wednesday, April 18.

The bracelet design can be used as the inspiration for so many projects!

For this broadcast I used:

• Picasso Opaque Green SuperDuo
• 4mm- Luster Iris Tanzanite
• Endless Love Chain Satin Gold
• 1.5mm 24G Goldtone Headpins
• Soft Flex Extreme Gold
• Little Lobster Matte Gold
• Gold 2x2 crimp tubes
• Gold Crimp Covers

Tools Used:

• Xuron Maxi Shear Flush Cutters
• Round Nose Pliers
• Chain Nose Pliers
• Xuron Crimping Pliers

I can't wait to see your take on this project! Enjoy!

Free Tip Friday: More Weaving with the Jewel Loom... PLUS leather.

Hey Gang!

Thanks so much for joining me today on FTF.

Looming with leather on the Jewel Loom is so easy and satisfying and I can't wait to see how you interpret this technique.

You could choose a variety of materials, but I used the following:

• 2mm Matte Copper Hematite Cut Cubes
• 2mm Matte Silver Hematite Cut Cubes
• Charcoal C-Lon D or Micro C-Lon
• Size 10 Sharps
• Bordeaux Ultra Suede
• .5mm Distressed Gray Leather 
• Courtesan Button Silver
• E6000
• and of course the Jewel Loom

Just a word of caution when you are looming with cut cubes. When you cut the project off of the loom, it may be a bit stiff. "Massage" the bracelet to loosen the beads up a bit. I really had to massage the piece pretty well to get it to have nice, supple movement.

Check out the FB broadcast from Wednesday, April 4th on how to glue the suede to the ends of the bracelet and the broadcast below for all the details on creating this bracelet using leather and the cubes. Enjoy!