The Beading Gem

Kaitryne explained how she got started : "In the early 90's I designed a line of high end silver bracelets, earrings and necklaces that were sold at Barney's of New York and Fred Segal in Los Angeles. The ins and outs of big retail was not my cup of tea."

Mosaic art work is familiar to us.  But micro mosaics?  That is on a whole other level of skill. This type of detailed work consists of small mosaic glass pieces called tessarae.  The Victoria and Albert Museum of Design in London shared this marvelous video on how skilled artists from the Art Mosaic factory painstakingly make and turn millimetre-thin glass canes into art.

The use of really tiny tessarae can be found as long ago as the Byzantine empire.  Micro mosaics reached their peak popularity during the Victorian period when hordes of wealthy British families visited Continental Europe for their Grand Tours.  They bought many micro mosaics including jewelry especially from Italy as souvenirs.

Making jewelry can be an expensive hobby.  One way to get some great supplies is through your local charity shop.  Most of the time, the jewelry there is not worth a second look. Yup, plain old junk. But occasionally, there are some great bargains for gemstones and good crystals.  These pieces can be taken apart, washed and dried and recycled into new jewelry.  There are indeed some Etsy stores who sell recycled jewelry designs!

Filigree stampings are very useful for jewelry making. They can be folded over focal beads or even beaded upon - see links below for further ideas.  But there is something else you can try and that is to do wire cagework on filigrees. The technique is great for creating vintage style jewelry pieces which will remind you of classic Miriam Haskell costume jewelry from decades ago.

I make jewelry.  But I also collect jewelry.  It is a modest collection but one which gives me pleasure as I am able to admire other designers both far away and from the past.  Some were gifts, others have been handed down to me or were bought in different places. Some are vintage and some are not. The most important tip for starting a vintage (or not) jewelry collection of your own is to collect only what you love. 

Layering is an excellent way to achieve more complex designs and up the wow factor at the same time. Some drop dead gorgeous design inspirations can be found in B'Sue Boutiques's wonderful A Bracelet's Story post about the transformation of a basic multi-bezel bracelet finding.

Blue is a very popular color indeed.  It's one color which covers a broad spectrum of emotions - from sad all the way to happy.  We are always happy to see blue skies and appreciate the beauty of the sea's hue.So it is no surprise when more than one beader chooses to make blue earrings on a single afternoon.

Earlier this year, beginner beader, Nancy came to our workshop to make some jewelry.  She said her skin was so acid that most jewelry did not survive for long!

We suggested she try vintage copper (or brass) because it's been patinated. Our theory being that the patina might provide a barrier.

About a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know B'Sue Boutiques existed. But I discovered Brenda Sue's store when I stumbled on her videos while researching on how to use Gilder's Paste to colorize metal jewelry.

Steampunk jewelry celebrates the vintage technology look. These pieces remind us of the literary worlds of Jules Verne. The fashion and accessories for this style is continually growing in popularity. So here are more steampunk jewelry tutorials to inspire.


Andrea Morici designed this wonderful Full Steam Ahead necklace tutorial using many gears, clock parts and vintage brass elements for Beadaholique.

Most of the women who make multiple earrings at our workshop do so over several workshops or limit themselves to 1-2 pairs per session. But Donna came on a mission one afternoon and blitzed her way through 6 pairs! She used a mix of metals and really pretty beads from Debbie's (Widget's Beads) collection.This is a record in all the years we have been doing workshops and parties.

Did you enjoy my past tutorial post on shrinkable plastic jewelry?  If you did, you'll probably like this one about Friendly Plastic.

Like shrinkable plastic or Shrinky Dink, Friendly Plastic has been around for years.What's significantly different is Friendly Plastic is colorful with lots of shimmery hues. The vibrant metallic colors offer tons of jewelry design possibilities.

It's also reusable so scraps can be recycled. Unlike shrinkable plastic, you can cut Friendly Plastic with either a craft or utility knife, scissors (Tim Holz scissors recommended) , punch holes or die cut it after fusing pieces together with heat.

As you can see by Lisa Pavelka's Autumn Cascades jewelry design tutorial above, the effect can be stunning.

Ribbons are so feminine in jewelry designs. There are so many, many ways to incorporate these delicated strips as shown in my past post on How to make ribbon jewelry tutorials. Here are three more to inspire!

The first one reminds me of the Lanvin inspired version I wrote about before. The vintage crystal and ribbon necklace tutorial appeared on the  Ruffled blog as part of a DIY contest.

I confess I have never seen the much acclaimed tv drama series Mad Men which is set in the 1960's. But after seeing the attention to period detail the set and costume designers paid, I am going to watch! Check out the fashion files as well as the videos on the costumes as well as hair and makeup.


Right on cue with the series' success is New York based Lizzie Fortunato Jewels' Fall 2010 Mad Men inspired collection. Their Look Book shows how much fun they had not just designing the jewelry but plotting the photo shoot - note the ashtray in one of the pictures below.

PS I Made It has done it again! After her hair roller necklace tutorial, she has come up with a spike necklace tutorial made from.....coffee stir sticks! The maroon Dunkin' Donuts sticks make for a dramatic contrast with the black ribbons.  A stunning and fun conversational piece for sure.

However, this design also shows "good bones". The basic focal structure is inspirational. You can do something similar with beading, wire, or fan or spike components like the gemstone ones we have in our workshops.

You can easily dress up plain earring dangles by incorporating oval or round findings. Kristie made some awesome earrings at a workshop because she really took advantage of these elements. Her first pair used laser cut filigree findings which remind me a little of the art nouveau style. The dangles were added as the front layer.