The Basics of Crimping

Oh man, I've been beading my little fingers off this week! The highlight was when I bumped a container of crimp beads and sent them flying to the floor. Or maybe I should call that the low-light. In any case, it made me think that I should share some crimping tips and fun facts with you. I think I've made just about every mistake in the book in my quest for the perfect crimping technique. Step one should obviously be "place your crimps in a secure location." Here are some other tips:

• Make sure you're using the right size crimp for your beading wire and application. Too much space inside the crimp causes problems.
  
• When the wire passes through the crimp just once, make sure your crease is on one side of the wire so the crimp will fold properly.
• If you've examined your technique, replaced your crimps with new ones, and still can't get them to crimp properly, it might be time to buy a new crimping tool. The middle notch can get worn down after a lot of use.
• Crimping tools are patented and are made by a single manufacturer, so no matter which brand you buy, you're getting the same excellent tool.
  

I've been guest blogging over at Beadalon, so check out this post about the ins and outs of crimping. It covers everything from the difference between crimp beads and crimp tubes to the most common causes of breakage. It's accompanied by step-by-step illustrations. Or, you can watch my Beading Lessons segment about crimping from Beads, Baubles & Jewels. (By the way, if you stop by the Beadalon blog, please leave a comment over there! It feels a little lonely.)

Linky Love

Books galore in this week's round-up of beady news...pre-order your copies now!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton: Andrew shares the NEW cover of his sister's new book, Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed Media Jewelry with Metal, Clay, Wire, Resin & More.

The Savvy Crafter: Candie Cooper's new book, Metalworking 101 for Beaders, will be published by Lark Books in the fall. See the gorgeous cover, learn more about the book, and pre-order it at Amazon.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!: Jean reveals the cover of a soon-to-be-released jewelry design book by Jean Campbell: Steampunk-Style Jewelry: A Maker's Collection of Victorian, Fantasy & Mechanical Designs.

DaLiciuUs by Fernando Dasilva: Bead & Wire Jewelry Exposed is now featured on the Create Your Style with CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements website. Fernando shares pix from the book, available now.

Inspiration, too...

Jewelry & Beading: Repurpose old beads and charms into a wicked fun treasure necklace.

Strands of Beads: Melissa shows off a new necklace design inspired by a beautiful, Russian hand-painted focal pendant.

Beadalon Blog: Katie, Margot & Fernando are guest blogging over at Beadalon.com. Check out more than 100 free new beading patterns available in Beadalon's Design Workshop now!

And new product news...

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles: Melanie chooses a new name for her new work: Toolbox Treasures!

Art Bead Scene: Beads made from nuts are all the rage. Go nuts and add some to your bead stash!

About.com Jewelry Making: Want to try bead weaving but not sure where to start? Consider one of these amazing kits for 1 Bead Weaver.

Exposed Gets Exposure!

Bead & Wire Jewelry Exposed is getting lots of press these days and we authors are really grateful and excited to see the response!

If you don't have a copy yet, you can buy the book on my site; your favorite local bookstore, bead shop or craft store; or online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and more. Learn more about Exposed here:

BeadStyle Blog

Beadalon
Create Your Style
My Craftivity

Beads, Baubles & Jewels

Sorry I left you for a few days there, my friends. Things always get a little crazy when I'm getting ready to tape episodes for Beads, Baubles & Jewels. The week before and during the taping is a flurry of script writing/revising, sample making, rehearsing and filming. This bracelet is one of the projects you'll see on the 10th season and you can find the complete instructions here.


To celebrate the 10th season of the show, you're invited to download a free e-book called 13 Hints, Tips & Secrets for More Successful Jewelry Making. Just go to the Beads, Baubles & Jewels website, login, and download your book. It's free! If you aren't a member of the site, it just takes a minute to sign up for access to the e-book and all of the goodies on offer from BB&J.

Organic, Asymmetrical Necklace

My 3-year-old daughter designed this necklace and I just had to share! I've been wearing it all week. I have been crazy busy getting ready for the next taping of Beads, Baubles & Jewels, so she has been making lots of visits to my studio these days.

Although my daughter has her own box of pony beads and other plastic treasures, she especially loves to use "mommy's special beads" to make her own creations on hemp cord. I liked this composition so much that I added spacers between the coconut beads, strung it onto beading wire, and attached a toggle clasp.

To help your kids enjoy beading safely, always keep them under strict supervision and handle the wire, metal findings and tools yourself.

Books of Note - Gemstone Beads Index

This useful book came across my desk this week and I spent an hour browsing through it, reading about gemstones and their attributes. It's also full of fun facts. I was surprised to learn that my birthstone, peridot, was supposedly Cleopatra's favorite.

Most entries in the Gemstone Beads Index from Rings 'n Things include the origin of the stone's name, chemical composition, where it is found, details about industry practices such as enhancements, metaphysical properties, care recommendations and trivia. The table of contents includes a photo reference for each stone.

Linky Love

A round-up of this week's beady posts on the interweb. Do you have a favorite beading blog? Leave it in the comments!

DaLiciUus: Check out Fernando's beautiful Mother's Day necklace featuring heart-shaped freshwater pearls and a fabulous murano glass bead.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles: A special event inspired a special necklace, which now appears in a special issue of a bead magazine!

Jewelry & Beading: Combine wirework with seed beads for a one-of-a-kind necklace!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Like Art Nouveau? See this lovely book by Judith Durant and Jean Campbell who explore great works from that period in jewelry projects!

Strands of Beads: Melissa shows off a few beautiful fossilized coral beads.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton: Andrew shares the new additions to his bead stash.

About.com Jewelry Making: Hook up with a cute little fiber flower charm and necklace project! Combine your crochet and jewelry making skills.

Art Bead Scene: Hello Spring! Goodbye self-control! Vintage enamel flowers on Etsy.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts: Cindy's Beads & Barbe's Creativity add up to some great necklaces!

Carmi's Art: Carmi sews crocheted flowered into a soft new collar.

Plus, did you see Margot & Melanie's cross-posts about artists and inspiration? Margot made a wire-wrapped lava rock design and Melanie riffed on it with her own creation. Both wrote about being inspired by other people's work without copying. Thoughtful posts and inspiring designs!

Tubular Peyote Stitch

from Bead & Wire Jewelry Exposed (F+W 2009)

I've been working on some tubular peyote stitch designs lately (see Monday's post for a free project!) and have been searching the web for good illustrations. If you've never tried your hand at tubular peyote stitch, it's a really cool stitch that has a lot of applications. You can use it for everything from stitching around an object to creating beaded rings to making tubular beads to making beaded bails like I did in my Delicious Donut Lariat.

If you're intimidated to try seed beads, let me just say that if I can do it, you can do it! I have never been known to be especially adept with a needle. It takes some patience, but the results are worth it. Plus, it's really inexpensive to get started. All you need is: beading thread (such as Nymo or WildFire); hard beading needle, scissors, jeweler's cement and seed beads.

Here are some resources for tubular peyote stitch on the Web:
Beading Lessons video
Beads, Baubles & Jewels script
Bead & Button pdf download
Beading Daily illustration

Delicious Donut Necklace

Check out my Delicious Donut Lariat, which was the featured free beading project on BeadingDaily.com last Friday. It's also the online companion project to my column in the June/July 2009 issue of Beadwork.

The leafy tendrils on the etched-shell donut from Lillypilly were the inspiration for this long, lean design. Download the free instructions and learn to create a simple peyote bail with matte hematite size 11 seed beads and how to turn a donut into a focal clasp. The finished necklace is 25" (adjustable).

For faster stringing of this multistrand necklace, use a seed-bead spinning tool and curved big-eye needle when working the strands. To wear the lariat, place the donut at the base of your neck with the seed-bead “vines” hanging downward in the front.

Beading for Good

Last Friday, I shared a special opportunity for beaders to help save The Bead Museum. I don't want to get all preachy on anybody, but I thought I'd share another cause this week for those who are interested... The Bead & Button Show is committed to join the fight against breast cancer with other bead artists. You can donate to this worthy cause year-round at www.BeadAndButtonShow.com. All proceeds from your donation will be used for breast-cancer research. The Medical College of Wisconsin is dedicated to providing comprehensive cancer care and research and has helped to change national standards.