Anne is frequently complimented for her dress style and her jewelry. Someone she knew wondered if Anne bought her clothes and accessories from upscale out of town stores. However, the secret to Anne's impeccably turned-out appearance can be attributed to her attention to detail, Sears and artisan jewelry!Anne does not make any jewelry but we both collaborate on many pieces for her wardrobe. One of her latest commissions was for me to come up with a design to compliment her newest watch, a Christmas present from her husband. Anne collects watches and has so many her husband actually changes a watch battery almost everyday for her!
As you can see, we were lucky that I had some bold black glass beads which Anne liked. She preferred that the bracelet and earrings be entirely black. This was not a problem as I had black findings and even black beading wire. However, the first time Anne wore the bracelet, it came apart because the black crimp beads I used were not as good as sterling silver ones and I had only used one pair.
So I used even more crimp beads after I restrung them - at the clasp ends and at each beading wire next to the outermost glass rectangles. These glass beads were so heavy that I decided to use 6 crimp beads in all! This shows there is no such thing as too many crimp beads! I also avoided "rolling" the crimps with the crimping pliers to maintain the flat style of the design as well as the holding strength.
Do you have a jewelry malfunction story to share?
Beader design #: 477
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Ugh, you HAD to ask, didn't you? When I first started beading, before I even considered selling anything, my boss saw some of my jewelry and wanted to buy some. Yes, my boss. She bought a lapis necklace with strikingly blue beads. Being the amateur I was I didn't know the beads were died, and when she wore the necklace it left blue circles all the way around her neck after she put some moisturizer on. I wanted to crawl under my desk. I offered to refund her money but she wouldn't hear of it, she planned on just washing the necklace to get any residue off. She did wear it later so maybe it worked but oh my gosh I was mortified.
ReplyDeleteThe beads were dyed - not died. Sigh-h.
ReplyDeleteMy problem was the jump ring I used as a ring to mate with a lobster claw clasp. Not a soldered jump ring! When ever there is even a very small gap the wire will find it. Needless to say the bracelets came apart. Lesson learned use soldered jump rings.
ReplyDeleteI made the same mistake too, Bev. Now I use split rings instead of soldered jump rings. That's why I find the split ring pliers useful.
ReplyDeleteHere is the tutorial if anyone who needs to know how to use this pliers :
http://www.beadinggem.com/2008/04/how-to-use-split-ring-pliers.html
Beautiful set! Nice work too! I don't know if any jewelry from Crystal Allure has malfunctioned since no one has ever come back to me. I would hope that they would if they did have a problem. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have not any new stories of mishaps, since I started making my beads over 8 years ago, I stopped making jewlery...
ReplyDeletea few months ago, I my way to teach a class in Turkey, we had a long stop over in Amsterdam, so I went to this deli in the airport to get some food, I was wearing a bracelet of my beads but made for me by a client, as i leaned over the counter to pick my food, the bracelet came apart and went every where, sterling silver beads, small crystals, the lampwork I make, all of it, went in to the various food containers below, the have to toss out the dressings and all the food in that counter, as we watched severl items sink in to the food...
since then I never wear a bracelet when I travel...
I made a keychain featuring a guardian angel charm for the daughter of a colleague. One day the colleague came to me and showed the angel to me. The poor thing broke its leg! Now what does that mean? A guardian angel with a broken leg? Is that good or bad? We decided it was a good omen: better the angel broke his leg than her daughter! Now I know that this charm was too fragile for a keychain.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, and for the crimp beads: for a very long time I was thinking that I'm just too dumb for crimping. But last week I did my first perfect rounded crimp. Yeah!
I think I know who the person is in this blog!
ReplyDelete