Jewelry Making and Beading Skills to Build

Skill Builders - How to Wrap a Briolette

Even before moving beadshop to a fully online venue, Janice Parsons was a pioneer when it came to creating web-based tutorials, including handouts and videos. As a result, beadshop now has a plentiful selection of free how-to content for jewelry designers and beaders. This free information has been collected and organized in an area of the beashop site called Skill Builders. Here you can find free class handouts, technique instructions, finishing methods, and much more.

If you are ready to expand on some of your current jewelry making skills or if you are totally new to the hobby, spending time building your skills via the beadshop Skill Builders section is a good way to focus on specific methods to help you create beautiful jewelry. I recommend beginning by browsing through this resource area, and then cull out the most important methods for you to learn first. Then, you can return to finish mastering additional skills.

Here are a few examples of what you’ll discover in Skill Builders:

• How to Wire Wrap a Briolette: Learn to add briolette dangles to the ends of chain or turn them into drop earrings. A video is linked over from the beadshop YouTube channel along with information on tools required and suggested wire to use. 
• How to Open and Close a Jump Ring: Seems like a simple enough task to do but if you aren’t careful about opening and closing up ring rings correctly, then you can damage the jump ring. It can also cause the jump ring to slip off a piece of jewelry or snag clothing. This tutorial provide close up photographs along with written instructions. 
  
• How to Macrame: Simple knotting techniques are often used by many of the free beadshop projects. Knowing the basics first can help you successfully make a large variety of stylish jewelry pieces. 
  

Facebook LIVE Wrap-up on Looming!

Hi Gang!
Thanks for watching our debut broadcast this week on Facebook Live.

As promised, here is a list of the products I used during the broadcast for the looming project I demonstrated on-air. My finished bracelet measured 7 1/4".

 Ingredients List:

• Jewel Loom
• Big Eye Needles
• C-Lon Thread in Sage Regular and Gray Micro
• 2 Strands Shadows- I used the regular Shadows for the project in an Antique Copper plate 
• 1 Strand 3mm Czech Glass I used Picasso Green Turquoise in the Copper Bracelet,  Turquoise Moon Dust with the Silver, and Picasso Coral with the Brass
• Cornerstone Clasp in Copper
• Xuron Thread & Cord Scissor
• Beadsmith Zap Jewelry Gel
• Deep Dish Project Tray
• Project Tray Insert

Project Notes:

• The sample is 7 beads wide.
• Pattern is Row 1:  Copper Shadows across entire row. Row 2; Three Shadows, one 3mm bead and three Shadows. Repeat rows 1 and 2. 
• Consult page 8 of the Tapestry Woven Bracelet Project Handout for a refresher on weaving the finishing weft of the bracelet and gluing the clasp in place. 

If you missed our LIVE broadcast, find it on our beadshop.com Facebook Page. We have a special offer for our viewers that is valid through Thursday, October 27 at Midnight PST.

You can watch all of our archived broadcasts on our YouTube Channel. Watch our latest below.

Thanks for watching and see you next week!

Facebook Live - Come Join Us!

Kate Richbourg, Operations and Marketing

Live on beadshop's Facebook page, you will start to see more of Kate Richbourg who will be running live broadcasts from the beadshop offices. She did a test run the other day, so if you were hanging around Facebook, you might have seen her and wondered what's going on. Why does it look like Kate's talking to me? The test run broadcast went well, and now she's ready to make it a regular event, starting October 26, 2016 at 10:30 PST. (If you need a time converter, you can find one here.) 

Topics will be all things bead related, and first up includes a look at a new product available from beadshop, the Jewel Loom. This is a portable loom that allows you to weave on the go. Kate will show how this fun loom works and answer your questions live. If you've ever wanted to try bead weaving but felt intimidated, then looms are a good choice to learn to weave with beads. Future broadcasts are also planned for various bead shows, such as the BABE show this November. 

Make sure you stop by and join in with your fellow bead lovers! If you miss it, though, you can watch past broadcast archived in the videos area of our Facebook page. 

Bead Kits and Bead Recipes

Eclectic Poetry Recipe 

After I posted on the beadshop Facebook page about the Poetry Grey Kit, bam, it was out of stock! That brought me to ask members of our Facebook page what they thought about the kits in general. I see them sell out so fast, but I was wondering what others thought about beading kits we have and using beading kits in general versus picking out supplies yourself. What are the pros, and what are the cons of beading kits?

Definitely the overwhelming majority replied on Facebook that they love the kits for a variety of reasons. For those who travel, the kits are perfectly sized to pack. Many like that you might receive a price break by buying a kit over individual items. Plus, you will end up with only a small amount of leftovers. When some beaders feel creatively challenged, kits are also a go-to option for them. 

Then there are folks who love the free projects by beadshop but who want to pick out their own colors or change one or two elements of the finished piece. A few Facebook members mentioned that they load up when beadshop has super good sales, so that means they usually have the majority of the supplies in their stash and might just need one or two items to complete the project. 

Beadshop will continue to keep the current kits in stock as much as possible as well as come up with new kits, but it can be challenging when inventory might be low. To help out those who prefer to select their own supplies and those who want a kit that might be out of stock, beadshop has come up with a helpful solution – recipes.

For our most popular projects, we have started developing recipes that provide the support you need to get all of the supplies for a project but, at the same time, allows more freedom for those who might want to alter the original design. For example, there’s the Classic Poetry Recipe. By using the hot links provided in the recipe and referencing the free project handout, you can essentially put together your own kit and easily add everything you need to the shopping cart without having to search around the entire beadshop site to locate each ingredient. The Eclectic Poetry Recipe offers the same approach as the Classic Poetry Recipe, but it includes a few more ingredients in the list. 

Recipes basically give you the convenience of a kit but a little extra flexibility in case you want to change one or two parts of it or if there’s something out of stock and you want to just substitute a similar item. Look for recipes under the projects area of the beadshop site. So, don’t despair if a specific kit is out of stock. Consider using a recipe as a way to collect the ingredients to make that finished jewelry piece you’ve been craving. 

Beaded Born Yesterday Collection Additions

Life Partners by Janice Parsons

The Born Yesterday Collection has grown by plus one thanks to the new addition of the Life Partners design by Janice Parsons. This is just one new addition to this versatile macrame and beaded necklace design, and more are in the works thanks to beadshop's Born Yesterday Challenge, which ends on October 18, 2016. Are you up for a challenge?


Beadshop is going to select up to three artists to feature on our website. Each winner selected will win a $50 Gift Certificate to beadshop.com and have their work published on our site, Facebook, and other channels of social media.

Here's how to enter:

1. First, go to the Born Yesterday Recipe Page to select your ingredients.
2. Bead creatively and send photos of your creation to challenge.beadshop@gmail.com .

Entries must be handmade by the artist and 80% of the materials must be products we sell on beadshop.com. You may enter up to 3 samples. Winners will be selected by December 1 and announced by December 10, 2016.

New Bead Additions - Poetry

In radiant fall colors,  meet new additions to Poetry. Add these to your must make list of designs for the fall.

By Janice Parsons

Poetry in Green Tea: The color combination for this beaded piece came after Janice was reading about the oxidation process green tea leaves go through in order to get their flavors. Bronze, brass, Picasso coral, and olive colors of beads, charms, and cord make up this project. 

Project by Janice Parsons; Sample by Beckie Ten Eyck

Spiced Chocolate: The sample for this version of Poetry was crafted by Beckie Ten Eyck. Carnelian gemstone beads are combined with crystal beads in colors of nutmeg, tweed, and iris. 

By Janice Parsons

Indigo: Like all the Poetry pieces, this is finished off with a button as the clasp, and this button is extra interesting. On one side, it is natural shell, and on the other side it is engraved with tiny circles and intersecting lines. Dumorterite, pearls, and crystals in various shades of blue are used throughout.

Most beginners will be able to find success with this project since the main technique used is a square knot. Plan to spend four to five hours to make Poetry, The finished length will vary depending on how many times you want to wrap it around your wrist and the size of your wrist, but most average around forty to forty-five inches long. 

You will find a complete ingredients list as well as a list a necessary tools and, of course, the free download on the Poetry project page so you can order and get started making one or more of these in plenty of time to wear and enjoy this fall. 

Submit Your Beaded Creations

Beadshop is constantly finding inspiration from fellow beaders, and that is why the Beader Showcase was established. Have you made a beadshop.com project that you would like to share? We want to see and share it!

You can find guidelines for submitting photos of your finished jewelry for publishing consideration on the beadshop web site here. However, below are some of the basic requirements for a jewelry piece to be reviewed for possible including in Beader Showcase:

• Photos need to be high-quality and in sharp focus, with space on all sides. If you have the option to send it with your smartphone, pick the "large" setting, whenever possible.
• Only share projects made from beadshop.com tutorials and materials. 
• If you found inspiration to create your piece from anther beader’s work, make sure to include that information with a link in the description of your jewelry piece. We cannot publish any copies of projects from other artists without that artist’s express permission.
• Any changes to pattern or colors should be included.
• Make sure to give a list of the ingredients used.
• Provide a name or title for the finished jewelry piece.
• A few words telling us what the project means to you is appreciated, as it allows us to share your creative process with our readers.
• Please send your photos to info@beadshop.com.

Those selected to be included in Beader Showcase receive a $10 gift card to beadshop.com and be featured on our website, Facebook page, or newsletter. Isn’t it time to show off your creativity? We’d love to see what you have made!