I've never really been involved in a product development before. But I am always curious. So when Paulette Walther, founder and owner of Kazuri West asked me to test if her idea of a ceramic disc with holes would work as wired tree of life design foundations,  I just had to say yes.


Experimenting and playing in my workshop is irresistable!  Kazuri West is the US supplier for not just Kazuri beads but also Samunnat Nepal polymer beads, polymer clay products and so on.

We decided to test a couple of different sizes. The well known fair trade collective in Kenya which provides vital employment to many women (and men) then made up the samples below for me to work on.   The series of holes along almost one half of the disc's edges became my anchor points in the making of the beaded twisted wire tree.


Ceramic discs have some heft.  So I felt the larger 2 ½"discs were a little too big and heavy to be pendants. The completed design shown at the top makes for a great ornament once I find or make a small stand for it!  It is amazing what a difference ½ " makes. The actual two discs now available from Kazuri West are shown below the ornamental tree of life one.



The smaller 2" discs do make good focals as you can see from my necklace design below.  I used copper wire with turquoise chips on the lovely mosaic colored disc. The tutorial for this is available here.





Paulette also asked if were possible to make whimsical people jewelry with Kazuri beads.  So here is what I whipped up!  These little bead and wire people are doing a happy dance because of this awesome giveaway from Kazuri West!

Giveaway

If you'd like to win $75 worth of Kazuri necklaces (note : NOT loose beads) or Samunnat Nepal polymer clay beads, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.

This giveaway is international.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday,  March 2, 2015 . I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

Disclosure

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips