The Fruits of My Summer

Happy Monday bead peeps! I'm back with a blog post after a long summer hiatus. I spent July and August hunkered down in the studio like an obsessed mad scientist, having a great time learning how to make silver charm necklaces. I'm now carrying this new line of custom charm necklaces in my Etsy shop! Here's one example:I have a variety of styles, or you can design your own. The charms can include crystals, pearls, and hand-stamped initials or designs of your choice. They are so much fun to make!
I've also been hammering out sterling bead caps and adding them to my silver cored beads:Here's a recent bead set, made with CiM Halong Bay and Aurae, a beautiful combination:More photos of my new work coming soon. Have a great week!

Beautiful Jewelry - Katinn on Etsy

Kathy the Bead Lady, or katinn on Etsy, makes the most gorgeous jewelry using Bali silver, Swarovski crystal and lampworked beads. I love this combination. Below are some of my favorites from her shop.

How Many Beads in a "Set"?

I've made a poll on the right-hand side of my blog. I'm asking you the reader how many small-sized beads you like to see in a "set." I'm not talking about simple spacer beads, more like the small beads I make that are decorated with swirls or scrolls, etc., like in the photo above.

I've gotten two responses so far, and I'm amazed at the feedback. Both responses call for even numbers of beads in a set. I generally make an odd number of beads in my sets, like 7 or 9.

This question has been asked before on the Lampwork, Etc. forum, but I couldn't find the old thread (if anyone knows, I'd love the link). I'm asking you now here on my blog, because I'm curious about what jewelry makers are looking for. I don't make as much jewelry as I used to, so I'm really out of the loop when it comes to what jewelry designers like to buy. Thank you to the people that left feedback on the poll, I really appreciate it. If you haven't voted yet, please do! Or leave a comment on this post.

Stone Beads

The nights are already getting cooler and it's time for fall colors again! Time to bring out my organic and earth tone beads. This is my favorite beadmaking time of year.

In the early 90's when I first started making fabricated silver jewelry, I used a lot of gemstones. I rarely used glass in my designs. In my opinion at the time, the role that large glass beads played in jewelry making was mostly to replicate the look of real gemstones, sometimes going so far as to deceive the buyer into thinking they were real stones. I had very low esteem for glass. LOL!

Soon after that, lampworked artisan glass beads started to hit the scene. This was a completely new way to use glass, and I was transfixed by the highly skilled work of these glass artisans. Then comes the story of how I started making glass beads, but that's another post....

This year it seems I've been returning to my roots in silver and gemstone jewelry. Not making it again, but looking once more at silver and stone as ways of expressing myself artistically. Most of my beads this summer have been metallic, and the rest of my beads usually look like stone or organic in some way.

Here are two sets of my latest Stone beads. This first set (2 photos) was made by combining six different glasses into a large, layered molten blob, then stretching the blob out into a multi-colored rod. I used this rod to make these beads, which look like banded agate or jasper to me:The glass colors I used for the blob are: CiM Stone Ground and Canyon de Chelly, Double Helix odds T-106 and VK-192, Vetrofond Olive odd and River Rock odd.

This second set is River Rock mixed with silver foil. I'm a newcomer to the River Rock craze... I just bought a small amount a few weeks ago. Figures I'd wait until it's $40/quarter pound to try it. Oh well, I'm glad I did, but it's a sad time to get hooked on this glass, too. It was a small odd batch that probably won't be made again. It's amazing how it reacts with silver:
So, I've come full circle with my art: now *I'm* the one who is making glass beads that look like stone! Ha ha! I promise though I won't deceive my customers as to the materials or whose blood sweat and tears went into making them :-D Happy September!

Cupcakes!

Here is something really far outside of my normal style: a whimsical, cute, sculpted, colorful cupcake bead! And made into jewelry too, which is something else I rarely do. My daughter needed a birthday gift for a friend who loves cupcakes, and here's the resulting bead and finished necklace:

Pandora Beads

I have a fun new project these days - making large-holed beads to fit on Pandora bracelets. Here is a link to a site where you can buy the Pandora bracelet, so you can see what all the hoopla is about: Click Here. This is the site where I bought mine.

There are other companies making charm bracelets like these, such as Biagi and Troll. Most of the beads for these bracelets have holes that are lined with silver. My goal this year is to learn how to silver-core my beads... I'm almost there, I just need $300 for the special tool!

Until that day arrives - very soon, I assure you - I have started making un-lined Pandora beads. I wear them on my own Pandora bracelet with no ill effects such as scratching of glass or silver.

In addition to the beads pictured above, here are some others I've made, pictured on a Pandora bracelet for visual reference. All of these beads are for sale in my Etsy shop:






I have a second new project going on, too. I can't wait to show you! New post with pics coming soon.... Stay tuned!
Happy day!

dZi Beads

I've been fascinated by dZi beads lately. Here is a picture of an old agate dZi bead with "dragon skin":

DZi beads are usually made of agate or fossilized palm wood and found in Tibet and India. There are many new dZi beads being comercially manufactured today, but the real dZi beads are hundreds or thousands of years old and they are dug up out of the ground. There is a lot of mystery surrounding who or what entities made the beads, and how. The beads have patterns of lines and circles that symbolize different things from the Buddhist tradition. They are considered amulets that protect the wearer.

DZi beads like the one pictured above get scales or "dragon skin" from burning in a ritual fire. Hundreds of years ago, monks would take part in a ritual of tossing a bead into a fire and chanting over it all night. When the bead was removed from the fire in the morning, it had the scales. These dragon skin dZi beads are considered very special.

I love the simple geometric patterns of the dZi, and I'm fascinated by their different meanings. I've made a few dZi-inspired beads with lampworked glass this past week. Here is one I've made into a pendant for my boyfriend Steve who is a massage therapist. It's a "healer's dZi," so called because of the pattern of 5 "eyes" (circles) connected in a cross with a lightning bolt on the other side. These photos show both sides of the bead:




More information about dZi beads:
http://www.dzi-beads.com

Jewelry on Etsy

I love the "Bead Hitching Post" pendant findings made by Bronwen Heilman of Ghost Cow Glassworks. They are changeable bead pendants, meaning you can remove the clutch at the bottom of the post and switch the beads out. The style can be changed to match what you're wearing. I've made a few necklaces with them and posted them in my Etsy shop. Here's a photo, click on the image to see the Etsy listing:

Cell Phone Charms

I don't usually make my beads into jewelry, but I had fun making some cell phone charms recently. The charms can also be used on zipper pulls, as rear-view mirror charms, etc. It's like having a fancy piece of jewelry for your accessories that makes them unique and stylish.

Generally I get frustrated making jewelry because it's so tedious, even though I used to make a lot of it. I really like making the beads now, and leaving the jewelry designing to the pros.

Still, when I make a bead or set of beads, I have to think ahead and become a jewelry designer for a moment. I try to visualize how my bead set could be used in a piece of jewelry. I try and think what jewelry designers need: eye-catching colors, unique designs, beads with good holes and beads that are weighted correctly. Still, I never know what creative ideas that a jewelry designer might come up with, and so I make beads that I love and hope they work for someone else, too!

Now I'm off on a tangent... I loved having the opportunity to make a small-scale piece of jewelry with these cell phone charms, and I realize how fun it can be to design jewelry with my beads even if they have a 'wonky' shape. The Kronos disc beads in the photo are lop-sided with an off-center hole, but they look great in a charm like this.

(I will be writing more on wonky/fugly beads in an upcoming post!)

I have a few charms up in my Etsy shop if you'd like to take a look.
Enjoy your day!