The Beading Gem

California based Melody of the House of Blings enjoys making things pretty.  Especially smartphone cases!  She has been adding her own touch to these for years in one of 2 ways. She uses pressed flowers in all sorts of clear smartphone cases - Apple, Samsung and Sony. These are colorful and unique in their compositions.

Hats off to the readers who are already exploring the enameling technique!  Last week's book giveaway certainly intrigued some beginners.  While others were more experienced not just with enameling but with the instructor.

Many of my favorite components are from Nunn Design.  I especially like the antiqued finishes.  The overall handmade look to designs is simply lovely.  Their collection is constantly being updated. Their Summer 2016 collection is now out and one lucky winner will win a sample pack of this new offering.

Knowing that heat can color copper in glorious ways is one thing.  But to paint with it? That kind of blows my mind. So thanks to friend and reader Aims who spotted this amazing flame painted copper art video everyone's minds can be blown too. The Copper Colorists shown here are Skip and Racheal Mathews, metal smiths based in Arkansas. They are both masters at this unique art form.  They also teach the craft.

Hummingbird by the Copper Colorists

If you've never done french beaded flowers before, you'll love this easy bobby pin tutorial.   The video shows how you can easily wire a simple flower with a pearl center and wire it to the end of a bobby pin. It is so easy, you can whip up a few in next to no time. Perfect for the little girl(s) in your life!

Metal smith designer and instructor, Melissa Muir demonstrated how she makes her gorgeous copper flower pendant in this video.  She also gives viewers a serious case of tool envy! She does not hand saw the petals but uses custom dies and her hydraulic press to cut the flower shapes quickly and easily. And the sanding machine with what looks like a ventilation grid?  Sigh.

There are so many ways to make your own charms and buttons for jewelry making.  Did you ever consider shrink plastic (Shrinky Dinks is a well known brand)? You can easily do that.  Here are a couple of tutorials posted on Karen`s The Graphics Fairy. It is a fantastic resource for free vintage images (the majority are in the public domain).


Heather of the Thicketworks designed the charm bracelet, earrings and necklace in this tutorial using various images from The Graphics Fairy.  The basic tips on how to work with shrink plastic are covered. You can use a heat gun rather than a toaster oven.  Heather even prepared the PDFs so you do not have to figure out what the sizes need to be to shrink down to the right charm size.

Andrea from the Cottage Market wrote the tutorial for making shrink plastic buttons.  I love the scroll pattern she chose from The Graphic Fairy`s collection. The buttons can be used for all sorts of jewelry making projects (see the links below) or as actual custom buttons for sewing garments.


Before You Go:

• How to Make All in One Button Earrings
• Shrink Plastic Jewelry Tutorials
• How to Make Button Bracelet Tutorials

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

Gloria over on Domestic Diva Online has a lovely wire wrapped caged crystal earrings tutorial. It is elegant and yet not to difficult to accomplish.  She has a simple yet clever way to form the cage frame. The wire wrapping on the sides just adds a touch of elegance to her design. She has used briolettes for her tutorial.