Chrysanthemum Star

I am obviously not a good blogger!!  It has been years since I posted anything. 

I wanted to give everyone a little Christmas present from me to you!!  So below is a tutorial for Chrysanthemun Star Earrings or Small Pendant.  The beaded size is 1 and 7/8 inches long by 1 and 1/8 inches wide without jump ring or ear wires. 

Bead and Button Show Master Class

I participated in a Master class at the 2018 Bead and Button Show and my experience was great!!!  The class I took was Cynthia Rutledge's Beadwork & Metal: Meet in the Middle!  In the class students chose patina'd copper sheets to use in making boxes!  The boxes are reminiscent of snuff boxes used in 1700-1800s which could be very decorative. To make these boxes students used their beading skills to bezel and connect the copper together to form box shapes.  While doing this adornments were "bezeled" and attached as well.  Below are two of my boxes and I plan on making a third when time permits...

If you get a chance, take this class!!  I learned so much!!!

Thank you, Cynthia Rutledge!!!

Happy beading!!

StormDuos Beads

Potomac Bead Company has released their new bead StormDuo!  I love the twist of these beads.  They add a sophistication to beadwork.  I designed these Shield Earrings using them.

Here is the tutorial for you to use to make your own set....Enjoy!!  Remember to get your StormDuos from Potomac Bead Company!!

Three Pearls Earrings

Three Pearl Earrings are made with Arcos, Swarovski glass pearls, and seed beads.  It is not a complicated beading project.  I am posting it here for you guys to say 'thank you" for hanging in with my sporadic blog posts!  Also it is a good example of my newer tutorials that I sell in my Etsy shop!  Enjoy!!

Happy beading!!

Norma Jean

A New Design with a New Crystal

It has been quite a while since my last blog...what can I say? Life got in the way!!  But it's a new year and time to try to blog more!
After a hiatus in beading due to a right thumb injury, I am finally able to bead again!  I am currently working on the tutorial for Star Dew...

Star Dew uses a small Swarovski trilliant that I found while browsing Fire Mountain Gems.  I loved the shield shape of the crystal and decided that it would make an interesting drop.  To the trilliant drop I added a bezeled Swarovski glass pearl.  I wanted the main focal to be a 'wow' factor, so I used a 27mm Swarovski crystal and edged it with small pearls and crystal bicones.

The neck chain is done in two parts on each side.  The part that connects to the focal is edged with crystal bicones to add more bling!  I don't like the sharp feel of bicones next to my skin so the rest of the neck chain uses seed beads. 

I hope to finish this tutorial and have it listed within the next two weeks.  Happy beading!!

Sparkly Space Invaders

Now that you can get the new AVA beads from The Potomac Bead Company, I decided that you need a freebie tutorial for earrings.  Here is my design called Sparkly Space Invaders...I hope you enjoy making them!!

I used a Sahara briolette, Crystal Amber Full AVAs, Toho #460K drop, and Miyuki #191 for the seed beads.  I would love to see the colors you choose!!!

Happy beading!!

Norma Jean

New AVA beads

I was one of the designers chosen to play with the new AVA beads developed by The Potomac Bead Company.  I received three colors of the beads; Crystal Labrador Full, Crystal Amber Full, and Crystal Capri Gold Full.  My friend who is a retired third grade teacher calls them Less Than and Greater Than beads, because to her that is exactly what they look like.  AVAs measure 10X4mm and have two holes.  I really like the heft of the beads.

I had a great time playing with the AVAs.  I made two bracelet designs, Holly Points and Let It Go.
Holly Points is being made into a freebie video that you can get on The Potomac Bead Company website.  I will also sell a downloadable pdf of the diagrams in my Etsy shop for those of us who like diagrams.

Let It Go will be available to purchase in my Etsy shop when the tutorial is available.

I also designed a pair of earrings called Sparkly Space Invaders.  I am hoping to get the tutorial written up and posted here as a freebie... So much work so little time!!

AVAs will be available for purchase on The Potomac Bead Company's website later this month with more colors becoming available in November.  I think you will enjoy playing with them as much as I have!  There are other new design tutorials becoming available from other designers!!

Happy beading!!

Getting Motifs to Lay Correctly

Antigonian Bracelet is my newest tutorial...so new it has not been released yet!  I made the prototype bracelet this past early summer. It is the turquoise and silver photo. While both versions look similar they are beaded totally differently.

 I loved the way the prototype looked but was not happy with the way the dome beads fit inside of the beaded bezel.  They had a tendency to slip and flip forward making the dome insecure.

I beaded three different versions of the motif that appeared the same but had different bezel designs. Below is a photo of the three versions taken from overhead.  See how similar they look.  (Please disregard the dome bead with a lot of blue, I think it got mixed up in the wrong color bin.)  The main difference is how much surface area of the dome is showing.  The third motif appears larger!

Here is a photo of the same versions taken from the back side.  You can see the different bezel backs. The third is the prototype design.  I used a wheel type bezel.  This is the one where the dome bead moved and could flip forward. The second and first motif have very similar backs but the main difference in the way they lay is shown from the side view photo.

Notice how the second motif does not lay flat against the base surface.  It sets much too high.  The first motif lays flat and will look the best when worn as a bracelet.

When designing jewelry there are many more things that have to be worked out other than the visual harmony of the design.  A designer has to be able to design something that will lay against the body and move accordingly.  The main focal (dome bead in this example) needs to be bezeled in such a way that it will not move around and flip forward or backward.  It needs to fit tightly, but lay flat and not sit up from the base surface.  

I hope this quick blog post will help others out there is cyber-land when designing their own jewelry!! Happy beading!!

Norma Jean

Using only Metallic Finish Beads in a Design

In writing up the tutorial for Grotto Flower, I decided to challenge myself to try and use only metallic finish seed beads.  It is typically not a good design idea, but I wanted to see if I could!

In the original design I used solid color, color lined, metallic, and AB finish beads and was very happy about the way it turned out!

When I made the second colorway, I focused on using similar shades with different finishes.  The matte green really set off the petals of the large flower. The bronze added a needed deep shade to anchor the greens. This color version is my favorite!

My first challenge in using only metallic finish beads was determining the colorway!  I chose a split complement design.  The general colors were violet, yellow, and green.   I chose Miyuki #4220 Galvanized eggplant as my violet, Miyuki #4205 (DB #1835) Zest as my yellow, and Miyuki #465 Dark Green Iris as my green.

As you can see all seed beads are metallic.  They do have the same shiny consistency which doesn't really help the eyes to settle on one part.  The colors do help though.  If I were to do this colorway again I would use a Delica that matched the Dark Green Iris, which would bring the dark shade in around the lilac center gumdrop bead in each flower motif.

Now which one of these three is your favorite?  This design tutorial will be released soon in my Etsy shop and you can try your own colorway!!!

Happy beading!!

Norma Jean

Another Design Issue

This is Nexus Blossom Bracelet.  It is made with RounDuos and seed beads that surround a rivoli to make a crystal flower.   The photo below shows the bracelet flat.  It is a beautiful design, but there is a problem!

I made this late last year, but did not like the way it sat on my wrist. I loved the flowers but the connection between the flowers was too large causing the flowers to lay far apart, which looked funny when it curved around my wrist.

After many explorations with different connections, I finally came up with this new version.  While this colorway is different, perhaps you can see that the flower connections are shorter so the flowers are closer together.  This bracelet version lays very nicely on the wrist.

Here is a photo of the two bracelets side by side so the flower connectors' size can be compared!  I am off now to start writing the tutorial for the final version of Nexus Flowers Bracelet!!

Look for it soon in my Etsy shop!!  Happy Beading!!
Norma Jean