Craft, Beading, Jewelry Making
DIY lessons for Audio, Craft, Beading, Cooking, Home Improvement, Jewelry Making

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This is an elegant bracelet using Swaroskvi pearls and Japanese seed beads. The tutorial comes with pictorial step by step guides. So it is easy to follow even for a beginner. You may make a matching necklace as well. The tutorial is in
… ContinuePosted by DIY Lessons on October 21, 2009 at 6:30am
Posted by Gaili Jensen on October 20, 2009 at 3:29pm
Posted by online seller on October 7, 2009 at 5:30pm

Posted by christine lim on October 1, 2009 at 3:08am
Posted by DIY Lessons on September 24, 2009 at 2:00pm
Posted by DIY Lessons on September 23, 2009 at 2:00pm

Posted by DIY Lessons on September 22, 2009 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

Posted by DIY Lessons on September 22, 2009 at 1:30pm


Posted by christine lim on September 4, 2009 at 4:30am — 2 Comments

Posted by christine lim on August 10, 2009 at 2:25am
Posted by Jenny Lawson on August 8, 2009 at 9:49am
Posted by StudioOnTheHill on July 11, 2009 at 1:05am
Posted by DIY Lessons on July 8, 2009 at 6:30am
Posted by DIY Lessons on July 7, 2009 at 6:00am — 8 Comments
I would like to share with you guys how I make threaded flower ring using crystals and wire.
If you like the tutorial and would like to consider for a small donation, I would be grateful. Just click on button below:
Materials:
18" copper wire, 16 gauge
1 black onyx, around 6mm dia
10 swarosvki crystal 3mm dia.
Tools
Wire cutter
Needle nose pliers
Dowel
Posted by DIY Lessons on July 5, 2009 at 6:30am
Posted by StudioOnTheHill on July 4, 2009 at 8:37am
Create a gorgeous selection of sparkly accessories with buttons, beads and jewellery wire. The simple technique gives stunning results, you'll be able to make a funky ring to match every outfit.
Posted by DIY Lessons on July 2, 2009 at 6:30am
Posted by DIY Lessons on June 29, 2009 at 6:30am
Created by DIY Lessons Jun 14, 2009 at 8:43pm. Last updated by DIY Lessons Oct 10.
Making bracelet using eye pins and jump ring (Free)
How to Stitch A Bracelet (Free)
Created by DIY Lessons Jun 11, 2009 at 9:26pm. Last updated by DIY Lessons Oct 10.
Wanna learn wire jewellery making? Here is a list of free and paid tutorials on wire jewelry making (wireworks) contributed by us and our members. We hope you enjoy reading them. Do give credit to the teachers by leaving a comment at the post.
Types of Wire for Jewelry Making (Free)
… ContinueCreated by DIY Lessons Jun 11, 2009 at 9:21pm. Last updated by DIY Lessons Oct 10.
Welcome! To view all notes, click here. Continue
Created by DIY Lessons Jun 10, 2009 at 7:44am. Last updated by DIY Lessons Oct 10.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. If you'd like to count down the days in December, download this sweet free advent calendar from Mibo. Just 10 minutes assembly is required, plus a craft knife, ruler, and glue.
Sharon Rowan sent over a link to these little bird bookmarks she designed. You can download and print them right here. And as always, if anyone else has designed a lovely printable freebie, written a super DIY tutorial, or stumbled onto something fabulous, send me a link. I can't feature every submission, but I always love to see what you guys are up to.
Here's another freezer paper stenciling example, printed a couple weeks ago when I was trying out the technique. I had grand aspirations to get the fabric sewed into a zippered bag to use as a sample at the Craft Social stenciling table. But I ran out of time, of course. I finished it this weekend, only a week late.
I think of this blog as my vacation getaway, a happy diversion from commercial graphic design work. (Except for the occasional logo quiz, of course.) But I'm compelled to mention a hilarious site which designers everywhere will appreciate. Clients From Hell is "A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers." Welcome to the wonderful world of graphic design! (Via Coudal.)
If you've got some time to kill, try this logo matching game. A fun way to look at logos if you're interested in design. I could have used this diversion during the short breaks in my jury duty this week. The case ended yesterday, so now I'm tending to the backlog of logo, stationery, and signage projects that piled up while I was gone. How come I don't have a "time-saver" category for posts?



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What's in a name? |
Chain names
I'm relieved when people set me straight on jewelry-making terms, too. That's why I was pleased to find a very clear table of photographs showing and naming eighteen different types of chain in Jane Dickerson's wonderful new book, Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs. Included are familiar types of chain such as the cable, rolo, and curb chain, but also anchor, long-and-short, charm, wheat herringbone, and many others. I know I'll refer to the photos in this book again and again to make sure I'm set straight, and while I'm at it will be inspired by the many fashion-forward projects within.
Learn the lingo for jewelry-making supplies
Seeing all those chains and their proper names made me think about what we call things. For instance, I've always called Boston link chain "elongated box chain," and I'm sure readers can picture what I'm talking about without me using the proper name. It's the same for lots of jewelry-making materials-there can be lots of names for the same thing. Just for fun I made you a chart of some supplies and terms that have multiple names.
| Supply | Common name | Less-common name |
| Findings | Ribbon-end crimp | Basketweave crimp |
| Posts |
Studs | |
| Earring backing |
Ear nut | |
| Hook-and-eye clasp |
Fishhook clasp | |
| Link |
Connector |
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| Knot cup | Clamshell |
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| Spacer bar | Separator | |
| Beads | Fire-polished | Czech crystal |
| India glass | Wound glass | |
| Pressed glass | Molded glass | |
| Semiprecious stone | Gemstone | |
| Cylinder bead | Delica, Treasure | |
| Wire | Beading wire | Flexible beading wire, nylon-coated steel wire, SoftFlex, Beadalon, Accuflex |
| Craft wire |
Artistic Wire, color-coated copper wire | |
| French wire | Gimp, bullion | |
| Tools | Nylon-jaw pliers | Wire straighteners |
| Embroidery scissors | Snippers, sharp scissors | |
| Other materials | Beading wax | Beeswax, microcrystalline wax, synthetic wax |
| Nylon beading thread | Nymo, Silamide, C-Lon, One-G |
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| Braided beading thread | FireLine, WildFire, Power Pro | |
| Elastic cord | Gossamer cord, illusion cord |
These are just some of the hundreds of terms we jewelry-makers run into every day that have more than one name.
What names would you add to the list? Please share them here on Beading Daily.
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Polymer tips for beginners from a beginner. Every culture has a legend about creating something from clay and bringing it to life. It’s very magical to change a lump of clay into something else. It also seemed so easy. I played with clay as a kid. I should have looked at Carol Blackburn's Making Polymer Clay Beads, but I didn't, at first. Like the ambitious sorcerer's apprentice, I tried stuff on my own. Totally scorched the holes in my beads. |
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Make patterns with canes Learning my lesson, I looked to the masters to make better magic with polymer clay. Making Polymer Clay Beads was chock-full of secrets revealed. One technique the book teaches is using cane to make striking graphic patterns, such as in these black-and-white beads. |
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Transform clay into stone One of my favorite polymer clay properties is how it can be transformed to look like something else. Check out these beads. Don't they look like marble? I just think this is an amazing effect, and can't wait to try it. |
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It's easy to explore surface and texture So many surfaces can be achieved in polymer clay. Matte, speckled, rough and gritty, or super slick. In this necklace, the clay looks like Venetian glass. Baked polymer can be sanded for such a shimmering finish. Who knew? |
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Inspiration from the experts You’ll be amazed what you learn! |

Do you work with polymer clay? What tips do you have for absolute beginners?
Share them here on Beading Daily!
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Discover your talents in a Bead Fest Wire Workshop! I love learning things on my own, inventing and playing. Most of us are self-taught in one or another craft forms. But there are times when being a hermit has its drawbacks, or when homeschooling just isn’t economical, let alone safe. I can cut apart and re-stitch a botched piece of beadwork, but broken beads aren’t toxic. I don’t lose much money tossing a few mutant copper wire coils, but wasting small snips of silver wire adds up. To avoid calamity to purse or person, I look to the experts and take a workshop at Bead Fest. Why? Here are my top 11 reasons to take a class. |
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| 1: Conserve materials Seems obvious, but I probably wasted a mile of metal in my early forays with wire. If only I had taken a class and seen early on how to, for instance, use wire from the spool to be more economical. |
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2: Learn safely about safety A Bead Fest student has fun in a safely supervised lampworked-glass class. |
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3: Know the must-have tools Step by Step Wire Jewelry Editor-in-Chief and Bead Fest teacher Denise Peck brings shopping karma to our Bead Fest director, Karen Keegan. |
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4: Discover which tools do what I’m sure a teacher could tell me what the heck these pliers are! |
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5: Observe efficiency Bead Fest teacher Janice Berkebile shows how to keep your work space organized. |
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6: Add tricks and tips to your repertoire Bead Fest teacher and vendor Lisa Niven Kelly shows a student her technique for stamping. |
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7: Learn about your medium Take a class for any kind of work with a torch so you don’t burn up your art. Believe me, I'm talking from experience. |
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8: Watch a technique in action Viking knit is easier to learn when you see it done in person. I didn't know which end was up, down, around, or through until I watched Denise Peck actually doing it. |
9: Discover new resources
Teachers have their favorite sources and favorite brands for a reason. Expand your own sources for tools and materials from your mentors; consider their tried and true recommendations.
10: Be inspired
Most teachers would love to be spending more time in their studio, so we’re grateful for their generosity in sharing their time and expertise. Teaching is a special calling. Take advantage of being up close to the technique and material in your teacher’s work. Ask questions. Let that visual stimulation encourage you! Above all, show respect and don’t reproduce their designs for your own gain.
11. Make new friends and network
Enjoy the company of others of a like mind. Taking a class is fun. Meet people from many backgrounds with many diverse styles and skills. Share stories of juggling family, jobs, and jewelry. Hear why others are so passionate, and what other art forms lead them here. You’ll learn as much from your fellow students as from the teachers! Plus, you may find yourself with dinner companions!
The fun starts here, with a free project by Janice Berkebile, one of our popular Bead Fest Wire teachers. These Coiled Gem Drop earrings are such a wonderful way to bring beads into your wirework, or, to use wire to show off your beads. Sign up for Bead Fest Wire classes today so you don't miss out!
Download Coiled Gem Drops Now!

Good teachers deserve good students. Do you have tips for first time students at Bead Fest? Do you have tips to help teachers be better teachers? Share them here!
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Keep it together with wire.
It’s my birthday this week and, according to a friend, I’ve officially arrived to the point in my life where people will start saying “Yes, Ma’am!” when I ask them to do something. Boy, if she’s right, I’m really looking forward to it: “Do your homework.” "Yes, Ma’am!" “I’d like a discount on that, please.” "Yes, Ma’am!" “Rub my feet.” "Yes, Ma’am!" Wow—this is going to be good.
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To fully embrace this Yes Ma’am! period, I may need to make myself a bold piece of jewelry. You know, something to go with my new firm attitude and red hat. To design for my new attitude, I planned thoughtfully, with purpose, considering each element for its meaning as I lay them out:
I’ll start by featuring this Steampunk-style heart I just received from polymer clay artist Jeannie Dukic. Even though it’s still sweet (it IS a heart, mind you), all that hardware makes it pretty kick-butt, just like the new bold outlook I’ll supposedly wake up with soon.
| Crystal pearls will go perfectly with the heart, and their ageless luster will remind me that getting older is just a state of mind. I'll incorporate these found objects, not only to reflect the flavor of the focal pendant, but also as a nod to my past years. |
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I turned to
Step by Step Wire Jewelry for a way to tie it all together. Subscribe
to Step by Step Wire Jewelry and discover for yourself why I was
inspired!
As I leafed through my issues I decided to use colored copper wire for my
birthday necklace. Colored copper wire turned out to have all kinds of good
birthday reminders for women of a certain age: |
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Did you find inspiration in Step by Step Wire Jewelry to make a design with purpose, as I did this week? What else about making wire jewelry reminds you to keep a good attitude? Please share your thoughts here on Beading Daily.
The reindeer dung necklaces and Christmas ornaments have certainly garnered media attention. I've already linked to the Miller Park Zoo site in Bloomington, Illinois on my facebook page. But I thought other blog readers might appreciate seeing what the Magical Reindeer Gems looked like and learn how they made them!
Tokyo art student, Wataru Itou, spent four long years crafting his meticulous paper city, entitled "A Castle On the Ocean". The miniature papercraft city was constructed with "basic knives, scissors, hole punches and modeling glue." The structure has a "spectrum-spanning colored lighting system" and motorized paper trains.
Pretty insane... take a look:
Previously, Paper-made Girls.
Retro Electronics Papercraft for the Brazil '66 Crowd. ...more
Related:
Yves Rossy, AKA Jetman, attempted to fly across the Atantic from Morocco to Spain yesterday. His homemade, jet powered wings "span 8 feet and are powered by four kerosene-fueled jet engines."
Homemade?! Flying across the Atlantic in homemade, jet powered wings demonstrates some true DIY dedication (and a pretty insane daredevil nature).
From msnbc news:
"Yves Rossy took off from Tangiers but five minutes into an expected 15-minute flight he was obliged to ditch into the wind-swept waters... Apparently the wing malfunctioned, possibly due to engine failure, but said Rossy had deployed his ...more
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Thinking of deep frying a turkey this Thanksgiving?
Careful. Or this might happen: Luckily, Alton Brown (of Food Network) offers a thorough step-by-step on how to fry that bird. Hackaday has also posted Alton's PDF instructions on building a derrick for safe frying.
Fried Turkey: Part 1. ...more
Related:
So, I suppose we're going both redneck and Thanksgiving turkey twice today (Redneck Slingshot Chick + Extreme Thanksgiving Recipes).
Something about home for the holidays inspires... and this is pretty darn great.
USA Today posts a HowTo from the book Manifold Destiny (by Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller) on how to literally cook your Thanksgiving bird on the engine of your car.
Car lover? Know any car lovers (or rednecks)? Then Manifold Destiny might make it on your Christmas list this year. According to USA Today, the book includes "recipes for such delectables like Impressive Veal Impreza ...more
Related:
Well, maybe these folks aren't redneck. That is a pretty nice house, and that slingshot doesn't look too jery rigged. But the idea of a human slingshot is certainly redneck (and lotsa fun). Previously, Build a Redneck Roller Coaster.
Cook Hot Dogs Like a Redneck.
Redneck Sushi. ...more
Related:


Hi Crafters! Happy Thanksgiving from the team at CRAFT and our little mascot, Lulu the pom! She's getting into the Thanksgiving spirit with her tiny pilgrim hat. Enjoy all the food tonight!
If you're still in need of some recipes, here's our feature this month for a Thanksgiving Feast:


I'm absolutely drawn to the hand-drawn look of these shirts from Slow Loris. Created by two artists, Jessica and Arlo, who live on a tiny chunk of land off the Puget Sound by the name of Guemes Island, you can just feel the love that went into these designs. Arlo and Jessica illustrate directly onto Rubylith film with an ink pen and X-Acto knife, and then burn screens from their designs, silk-screening each shirt by hand. Pictured above is the Home Recording Studio and below is the Engline , both of which cause the MAKE side of my brain to say "yummy!"


I hope you've all been enjoying our gift guides so far on CRAFT! If you can't get enough or have other creative types on your list, head over to Make: Online to see Gifts for Dads, Science and Chemistry, Gifts for Kids, the Mischief Maker's Guide, and much more. We're bringing you a new guide almost every day until it's too late to ship orders, so keep checking back!
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I love this downloadable Matryoshka calendar from A Print A Day. She's omitted dates so the calendars can be used again and again, and each month has a different color scheme.
Read this article | Comment on this article
How-To: Make a Twirled Paper Octopus & Angel Fish, excerpt from Twirled Paper
By Jacqueline Lee

It's amazing what you can make with simple paper strips! With this project, kids can learn the art of quilled paper by creating these adorable paper versions of an octopus and angel fish. Recycle and cut long thin long strips of paper from old newspapers, wrapping paper, or even junk mail!
Download the PDF
(Right click mouse to save to computer. More info here on downloading PDFs.)

For more twirled paper projects like these, check out the book Twirled Paper: Make Almost Anything with Simple Paper Strips by Jacqueline Lee which comes with more than 100 paper strips in 28 different colors. You'll also get googly eyes, glue, and a twirling wand and a multitude of project ideas. As a special to CRAFT readers, get 25% off all Klutz titles by entering in the promo code CRAFT at checkout!
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