Beaded Jewelry Diva

Welcome, everyone, to the wonderful world of beaded jewelry!  The colors and shapes, all made by hand (yours, maybe?).  Wear and share them with delight.

Autumn's Dance, Freeform Peyote with Lucite Leaves

Beaded Jewelry

Beaded jewelry has been a part of my life for years now.  And when I think about it, it goes all the way back to when I was a child, with macrame, stringing and just being fascinated with the colors, textures and shapes.

For many years I abandoned beaded jewelry, except pearls, in my corporate ”dress for success” phase.  After a few years of that, I realized I needed some fun and color back in my life (can you tell I am inspired by color?).

Bead Embroidery - Dichroic Cab Earrings

I became intrigued by wire art jewelry, with its beautiful swirls, but in my mind, they always needed beads.  Then came seed beads, stringing, polymer clay and yes, I even made lampwork beads to suit my own tastes and styles.  (OK, to sell and keep up my all-consuming beaded passions as well.)

I’ve come to realize that no matter what beading style you prefer, it’s all about what you like to create.  And no matter if you wear your creations, give them as gifts, sell them, or some combination, they are a part of your life.

(Hopefully a fun and rewarding part of your life, too.)

"Slink Stones" - Right Angle Weave

Beaded Jewelry 101, 202, 303 and More – Tutorials!

I love looking at photos of other people’s jewelry, don’t you?  I get inspired by designs, wondering, “how did they do that?” and then trying my hand at the design.  More often than not I fail, but I usually still create something I can proudly wear.

Well, I will have photos for you to enjoy.  And I’m also creating tutorials for those of you who like a design and want to know just how to make it.  Some are free, some cost a tiny sum — but I think you’ll find them worthwhile.  And I also have some free video tutorials of some of the basics of beaded jewelry.

Beaders of all levels are welcome in my “Projects” tutorials!  I’ll have beginner, intermediate, advanced and try-this-at-the-risk-of-your-sanity projects.    Most are in the intermediate range, though.

And let’s not forget about my free “Basics” tutorials!

Every so often I do stray into another area, like Viking Knit jewelry, because I adore Viking Knit chains as necklaces for pendants.  Not to mention having beads included in the styles!

Sea Life - Wirework Pendant

What Kinds of Jewelry?

Oh boy, if there is a beading style that I haven’t tried, I don’t know what it is!  In these pages I’ll cover beadweaving (primarily seed beads), stringing, bead embroidery, wire jewelry, chain maille and more.

In other words — a lot of different jewelry styles and techniques.

So kick back, get comfortable, and enjoy the wonderful world of beaded jewelry!

Yes, it’s finally here — my Intro to Bead Embroidery Components tutorial.  It’s been a long time in coming, and kept growing in size when I added more and more topics and projects.  It ended up with 60 pages and loads and loads of photos.

And of course, plenty of components and projects to keep you busy.

One of my favorites ended up being the dagger fringe earrings — made with dichroic cabochons, it turned up being delicious.    It’s one of the components that kind of called out to me (I could hear the cabs pleading to be made into something pretty).

Why Components?

I love bead embroidery, and the drop-dead gorgeous projects I see in books and magazines are definitely eye candy!  But collars and large cuffs aren’t what I wear for jewelry.  And while I do enjoy bling, I also know that I would never be able to finish one of the broad collars — way too time-consuming for me.

Components, on the other hand, are as close to instant gratification as you can get!  Not to mention that they can be dressed up or down to suit your fancy.

You can use them singly or connected together to make a necklace or bracelet.  Maybe a pair for a set of earrings?

What about mixing and matching components?  As you can tell, there are loads of things you can do.

And since each component works up pretty fast, you can start one after lunch and wear it that night.

 What You Will Learn

In the 60 pages of the Intro to Bead Embroidery Components tutorial, you’ll learn lots, including the following.

• The supplies you’ll need for bead embroidery, and how they fit in to the projects as a whole. And why some supplies are better than others.
• Bead embroidery stitches, along with some tips for making some of them easier and faster.
• Five different component styles with full instructions, that you can mix and match; and how using different beads can change the look.
• Fringe 101:  Different kinds of fringework you can use with the bead embroidery components, one of which is the dichroic dagger fringe earrings.
• Two projects that show you how to use some components together.

And naturally…even more!

Here’s a short video on some of what’s covered.

Here’s another idea of how to use components:

Bead Embroidery Bracelet Using Components

How to Get the Tutorial

Your tutorial is delivered as an ebook, so it’s an immediate download. This means you can satisfy your “need to bead” at any time of day or night!

(Keep in mind that while you’re not getting a paperback copy in the mail, it also means that you don’t have to wait for the mailman — yay!) Also, because of the nature of this tutorial, there are no refunds. But I’ve tried my best to over-deliver for you!

The Intro to Bead Embroidery Components tutorial is just $10, and you’ll get instructions for making not only the components, but also a necklace and a pendant (or two). You’ll get all kinds of compliments, and you’ll be able to proudly say, “Yes, I made this myself!”

So click the “Add to Cart” button below and you’re on your way to making your very own bead embroidery components and jewelry. It’s secure and you can safely pay with any major credit card. You’ll receive the download link in an email lickety-split after you place your order.

Thanks so much, and enjoy making your very own bead embroidery components!

Here’s a quick dangle earrings video tutorial for you, now that you know how to make the quick-change earring posts.  After all, what are findings without some earrings to go with them? 

What’s nice about these earrings is that even though the basic design is very, well, basic, you can change it up in all kinds of ways to make something to suit your needs.  And it’s really fast — in fact, it normally takes me longer to pick out the beads I want to use, than to make the earrings themselves!

The design is versatile in that you can make them very dainty with a small drop and no dangle, all the way up to over-the-top.  Your choice!

Earring Supplies

In order to make these earrings, you will need some supplies.  If you’re new to beadwork and wirework, I suggest you make these once first with an inexpensive wire before you try it with sterling silver or gold-filled wire.  In the video, I am using copper wire.  Here are the supplies you will need.

• 2 eyepins, about 2.5 inches long, in 22 gauge copper wire.  You can buy the eyepins or make them yourself.
• 2 lampwork beads (or beads of your choice), about 14mm in diameter.
• 4 Swarovski bicone crystals, 4mm in size.  You can use any color that coordinates with your lampwork beads.
• 4 corrugated copper round beads, 4mm in size.
• 2 round copper beads, 5mm in size.
• 4 copper daisy spacers.
• Pliers — a pair of round nose and a pair of chain nose.
• Wire cutters.
• 2 pieces of squiggled wire.
• Earring findings.

As to the squiggled wire, what I’ve done is take two pieces of leftover copper wire that I have bent around my round nose pliers.  The design doesn’t really matter — just whatever pleases you.  (Making the dangles is fun, and a good way to use up those odd pieces of wire that are too big to throw away, but too small to do much with.)

Quick Dangle Earrings Video Tutorial

Now that you know the supplies, it’s time to make the earrings.  The video is only about 7 minutes long, so it won’t take you long to watch it, and then you can enjoy making your own. 

And if you like the video, please feel free to “like” me on Facebook (thank you kindly).

P.S. — you might also want to check my projects page for more jewelry tutorials.

This quick-change earring finding tutorial is for people who prefer post-style earrings as opposed to the usual french wire.  After all, not everyone can easily wear the french wire style.  Not to mention that there are times when a post earring is more practical, like with the heavier earring styles.

At any rate, I see very few video tutorials that show how to make post earring findings.  So not only will I do that for you, but I will also show you how to make them in a quick-change style!  This will let you quickly (in just a few seconds) change out the earrings you wear.

One of the great things about this style is that if you’re one of the people that needs to wear sterling silver, 14 kt gold (or gold-filled), niobium or other such expensive metals, you can make one pair to quickly change out.  And that will save you plenty of money. 

NOTE:  After I published this post, I got some messages that something very similar had appeared in the Step-by-Step Wire magazine.  Since I don’t read it (although perhaps I should), I didn’t realize someone else had made post-style.  Mine are slightly different at least!

Supplies Needed for Quick Change Post Earrings

Here are the supplies that you will need to have on hand to make these earrings.  If you plan to use a precious metal for these earrings, I strongly suggest that you make these at least once in a cheaper wire (copper, brass) beforehand.  This way you’ll have a better idea of how much wire you will actually  need.  (No sense in wasting expensive wire.)

Here are the supplies and tools that you will need to make these earrings.

• Wire, 20 gauge.  Two pieces, each about 3 inches long.  Half-hard is best, but you can use dead soft if needed.  Note:  You can use 21 gauge wire, but if you do, I recommend that it be full-hard.
• Earnuts, two.  I use small rubber earnuts in the tutorial, but you can also use larger rubber or plastic if preferred.  You can also try regular metal earnuts, but they may or may not fit 20 gauge wire.
• Round nose pliers
• Needle nose (also called chain nose) pliers
• Flush cutter
• Metal file (for smoothing the ends of the post).

The video is about 12 minutes long, and once you’ve done it a time or two, you will be able to make a pair of these quick-change post earrings in just a few minutes.

Sit back and enjoy!  And if you have enjoyed this video, I’d appreciate you “liking” me on Facebook (thanks!).