The Beading Gem

Wendy's anklet design will suit those who wear darker clothing even in the summer time.

The round beads that she used are not really black but a dark midnight blue. The faceted long bicone beads had a bluish AB (aurora borealis) coating to them adding to the dark blue theme. Wendy's design using three types of beads resulted in a pleasing anklet. Odd numbers in designs somehow work best.

Beader Design #154
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Real topaz is expensive. But Adorna got the look she wanted by using gorgeous faceted crystal beads in both dark and light topaz colours.

She went for the bare wire look using silver tone beading wire to maximise the matching of this necklace with either gold or silver jewelry. The groups of crystal beads were secured in the desired places by the use of crimp beads. Adorna added tiny gold bugle beads in between but chose to let them "float" free. The added movement will lend interest to this necklace design.

Beader Design # : 153

This fun and funky pink flower beaded bracelet was created by Susan for her mother. She had noticed that her mother did not have any jewelry to go with a particular outfit. What a thoughtful daughter she is!

Staying with the floral theme, Susan used muted lime green barrel beads to suggest leaves which were bracketed with just the right type of metal beads. Her final touch was the green Swarovski crystal decorated toggle clasp. Now, that's love for a mother!

Beader Design #: 152
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These hot orange earrings were created by a confident young designer who teamed the big modern looking translucent beads with orange markings with matching bright orange beads in cubes and seed beads.

One factor contributing to a visually pleasing design is balance. In this case, the metallic hearts at the bottom do tie in with the use of sterling silver ear wires at the top. A yin-yang effect with the bright warm colour and the cold metallic beads.

Beader Design #151
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I've noticed that anklets are all the rage these days. No wonder as they look so pretty on sandal-clad feet.

Nicole likes anklets to and she designed this anklet using predominantly metal beads, varying them throughout. For her focal point, she chose just one rectangular mother of pearl bead in a subtle shade of green. This neutrally hued design will go with any outfit so I am certain that the anklet will get lots of outings from Nicole's jewelry box.

Beader Design #150
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Often beginner beaders feel overwhelmed with the bead choices at the start of our workshops and at beading parties. With some tips and guidance, they are then able to create their own unique jewelry.

So what would freak out instructors like us? Gem shows, that's what. As you can see from this neat photograph taken at a San Mateo, California gem show, the choices are truly mindboggling. The mother of all gem and bead shows in North America has got to be one in Tuscon, Arizona, held every February. Every space that could exhibit - hall, convention centre, hotels - is used. Truly, a beadaholic heaven.

Photo Credit : Saveena aka LHDugger on Flickr

Turquoise blue is a popular shade of blue - as someone I love dearly would say, a happy colour.

Stacey kept this turquoise blue bracelet mostly in that hue but she "punched" up the design with the use of two diamond-shaped blackstone beads and some larger beads were decorated with black swirls. The metallic beads in the centre of the design also provided a subdued contrast to the bright blue beads. I'm sure Stacey will enjoy wearing this happy bracelet!


Beader Design #149

Multi-tiered dangle earrings such as this pair created by Colleen have great movement not only because of their length but also the additional articulation.

Colleen chose to go with clear diagonally holed square beads with small silver bicone beads at the top. For her second layer, she added a link with larger silvery bicone beads. The design's pièces de résistance were the double spiralled pewter beads at the very bottom, acting as focal points. The resulting design goes with just about any outfit and that was what this designer was aiming for!

Beader Design # 148

Diamonds are really not that rare. Before the Second World War, the diamond industry was struggling with a crisis of oversupply and rapidly plummeting prices.

But with the formation of a diamond cartel, controlled by de Beers, diamond prices since then have been kept artificially high, even with new supply sources popping up such as Canada's in the 1990's. According to geology.com, Canada alone produced 11.2 million carats in 2003!!

However, coloured diamonds are indeed rare. These "fancies" can be a number of colours like green, blue, orange, brown and yellow. But the rarest of all is red. Just a few dozen specimens exist. The largest of them at 5.11 carats, is the Moussaieff Red which belongs to the Moussaieff Jewelers Ltd. It was found in the 1990's by a Brazilian farmer. The gemstone has been faceted using the triangular brilliant cut sometimes called the trillion or trilliant cut.

The Physics Factbook reported that red diamonds have sold for more than $3,900,000 per gram. For those of us whose bank accounts don't quite reach those heady heights, we can only drool at the picture of this gorgeous cranberry-coloured gem.

References
Wikipedia : Moussaieff Red Diamond
The Blue Mining Company : Diamond and Gold Production
Curious Notions : Rare Gemstones
Famous Diamonds : Moussaieff Red Diamond

Ginette loves bronze, copper and earthy tones. Not surprisingly, she opted for seed and bugle beads of the ilk.

She also chose to use tiger eye chips for the same reason and used them minimally, spacing them evenly throughout her necklace. The irregular shapes of the beads provide interest. In addition, she subtly varied the necklace with alternating groups of bugle beads - sets of two bugles on either side of a larger seed bead in complimentary colours.

Ginette prefers small earrings so she designed this simple pair using just one gemstone chip bracketed with two seed beads.

Beader Design #147
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Beverly was inspired to create a gemstone tile bracelet of her own after she admired her friend's design. Although they were both tile bracelets, they did not look the exactly the same for Beverly put her own touches to her design.

Faceted rose quartz tiles provided the lightest translucent colour which perfectly contrasted with the opaque yet slightly iridescent mother of pearl shell beads. I particularly like the way Beverly butted the square blue tiles right against the rose quartz tiles but chose diagonal brown tiles for the other set. Even the metal beads were flat tiles. A Tibetan silver toggle clasp completed this eclectic and one of a kind design.


Beader Design #146

This rare and exquisite gold bejeweled body chain dates back to 5th century Britain. It once belonged to young girl or petite woman from a well-to-do family.

It definitely added refinement and social statement to what would otherwise be coarsely woven garments in those days. I think this jewelry style would still look stunning today on a plain evening gown with the right cut.

The body chain was part of the fabulous Hoxne (pronounced "Hoxon") Hoard, named after the village where it was found in Sussex, England in 1992.

It is the largest hoard, some 15,000 items, ever found from that era. This treasure trove netted the metal detectorist and the tenant farmer a total of £1.75 million which they shared equally. Several pieces are now on permanent display in the British Museum which purchased the hoard.


From the coins in the hoard, archaeologists determined that the treasure was buried sometime after 406/7 A.D. The disintegration of the mighty Roman Empire was occurring around this time. The breakdown of Roman rule plunged Britain into anarchy which likely explains why these precious belongings were buried for safekeeping. Surely something dreadful must have happened to the family for the hoard was never retrieved.

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Soraya likes chunky necklaces and these large glass Murano style foil beads in white and pink fit the bill. Many women love the feel of a weightier necklace - perhaps reminding them that they are indeed wearing something pretty?

Cranberry coloured window beads, milky pale pink long cylindrical beads and round purple beads with a few metal beads all contributed to the overall prettiness of this necklace. Soraya effectively used the gradation in colour from white to pink to the decidedly warm tones of cranberry in her design. The cranberry and purple beads definitely provided the punches of colour needed to make this necklace attractive.

Beader Design # 145
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Copper is a metal that lends itself so well in jewelry because of its rich warm colour. Susan took advantage of that property by using different kinds of copper beads to offset the lighter coloured dark cream mother of pearl shell chips for this winning combination.

The shell chips were pleasingly clustered in groups and separated by either seed beeds or groups of copper beads. The heavily textured copper clasp balanced the largest oval copper beads which were also textured.

Beader Design #144
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The Padaung call themselves the Kayan, a subgroup of the Karen Hill tribe, who fled Burma amidst political turmoil a decade or so ago. They now live as refugees in Thailand.


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This is a another first -the largest hoop earrings I have ever seen, designed by Erin who likes them BIG! Making one's own jewelry allows the designer to indulge in his or her own particular taste.

Erin is drawn to sparkly crystal beads. For a punch of colour, orange crackle beads were used. Crackle beads are so called because they have been cleverly made to include what looks like a multitude of cracks thus adding to the sparkly look so favoured by Erin.

Not only do these earrings have plenty of "swing" but they will certainly be a conversation item whenever Erin wears them!

Beader Design #143
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So many women have really loved the bronzite tile and yet, all their creations have been unique to the individual designers.

Cathie loves earth tone colours. She said that as a potter, one of her favourite Japanese glaze reminds her of this gemstone, not surprisingly because it, like a number of Japanese glazes also contains iron (ferrous oxide). The slightly metallic lustre of both glaze and gemstome provides such rich character.

Cathie centralised the pendant between bronzish cylindrical and faceted beads. The remaining beads, with a slight graduation in size nearer the focal area, were seed beads in metallic and pearl-lustre hues.

Beader Design #142

References
Wikipedia : Bronzite

This gorgeous ruby and diamond necklace by Cartier, New York, a period piece made around 1938, was put up for auction last year.

At first glance, this piece appears to be just a necklace. However, the three pendants were designed to be detachable and could be worn as brooches. Cartier pioneered the concept of clip brooches which were commonly worn either singly or in pairs. He apparently got the idea after watching a woman hanging up her laundry using clothespegs!

References

Press release : Sotheby's Hong Kong Magnificient Jewels and Jadeite Sale, April, 2006

Leslie Field (1987). The Queen's Jewels : The personal collection of Elizabeth II. Harry N Abrams. Inc

John Downie is a Canadian metal smith artisan whose designs are beginning to catch people's eyes. I was one of them.

He made this lovely silver pendant for his wife. The shape of the pendant echoed the combined form of the geese. The inspiration for the bird design came from a well-known Ontario-born Ojibwa artist whose work John particularly admires. The fluid lines of the geese that John accented with liver of sulfur treatment remind many people of Benjamin Chee-Chee (1944-1977)'s minimalist style. A brief biography and some of his work can be seen here.

We often see books translate into movies - here we have art translating into jewelry!

Sometimes the designing jewelry process takes a little while before it gets going. Sandie wasn't quite happy with the first chandelier findings she picked as they were on the bright side but was pleased with this pair which had the aged patina she prefers.

She first designed dangles all of equal length and ending with round pink shell discs. The beauty of making one's own jewelry is the ability to tweak the design at a whim. When she later decided she wanted the middle dangles to be longer, it was an easy step extending them with pink bugle beads. The result? A design that Sandie really likes and can be proud of especially after her initial insistence about not being very creative!

Beader Design #141
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Jewelry today is almost always decorative. But jewelry in the past was also functional. The ancient and medieval ring brooch, called a penannular brooch was the forerunner of the modern brooch and the humble safety pin. Ring brooches were essential in a time before zippers, buttons and velcro were invented! They were used to fasten cloaks and the tops of gowns. Wealthy people could afford to have elaborate ring brooches made from precious metals such as gold or even bejewelled.

Cathy is a veteran beader who loves to bead but rarely has time to indulge. But I am glad she was able to design this delicate necklace featuring small turquoise chips to add to her collection.

What made her necklace different is the use of yellow beads as a prominent colour contrast. Yellow is not a colour that many women use but choosing the right shade should do the trick. The black bicones and the metallic silver glass cube beads were neutral contrasts that added interest to the overall design.

Perhaps this will be a good excuse to buy outfits just to match this piece?

Beader Design # 140
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Like many girls, Courtney (age 8) loves pink and purple. So she used both colours in her necklace design with some clear beads for contrast.

The use of flat transparent triangular purple beads on either side of a flat blue round bead forms a clever and unique focal area in the front of the necklace. This area is flanked by two pairs of purple crackle beads. The triangular beads make two more appearances towards the back as the central part of groups of beads that graduate in colour from clear, to pink and to purple.

The necklace looks smashing on Courtney and I am sure she will be the envy of her friends in school.

Beader Design #139
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The definition of metrosexual, though coined in our time, can surely be applied to Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester (1532-1588) for he was an urban, well-groomed and well-dressed male of his day.

Pearls were the Elizabethans' favorite gemstone. His heavily bejeweled clothes included a doublet slashed to reveal white bits of his undershirt. Along the slashes and elsewhere are round clusters of pearls.

His elaborate necklace was made from several strands of cream colored pearls and possibly dark colored ones too and bore a cameo-style pendant. Although he was not wearing any earrings in the portrait, many male contemporaries did. After the Elizabethan age, earrings eventually fell out of favour with men although it is back in fashion in our day.

Robert Dudley was a court favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England. This portrait of him was painted in the 1560's at the height of his popularity when he was angling to marry his queen. Quite the ladies' man, rumors abounded regarding his marital ambitions and also the mysterious death of his wife from a fall down a flight of stairs.

Elizabeth liked to flirt but never gave any hints that she would marry this man nor any man and sought to distance herself from him, no matter how dapper or flattering he was. Her intentions to rule alone were clear when she famously addressed her troops , "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and of a King of England too!"

Robert Dudley never stood a chance.

References
Wikipedia : Robert Dudley
Wikipedia : Elizabeth I
Hugh Tait (1986). Jewelry : 7,000 Years. British Museum.

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Selma wanted a sliding knotted necklace which is a great no-hassle alternative to conventional clasps.

Her bead selection was inspired as she teamed gold foil Murano-style beads with long cigar shaped black beads which had a contrasting muted lustre. Brown and black glass beads were also added giving the necklace a more balanced look as they help the transition from long black beads to flat square foil beads.

Although Selma designed this specifically for a man, her design is also suitable for any woman who likes this colour combination. I can see this set matching casual outfits well.

Beader Design #138
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