Glass Beads

 

Recently I went to the Spring Knitting and Show at Olympia, it was costly to get in (£16.00 at the door) and I think this put me off buying yarn (shock! horror! I only bought a few skeins of pure silk that were a super bargain @ £1.00 each) plus my credit card malfunctioned and the pin don't work (mmmmm...... the universe also sending me a message no more yarn buying you need to use what you have!..) So my budget was much smaller, but that was good.

I did find a very good bargain at beadtime's stand, they had nice glass beads and metal charm packs. I wish I had bought more at this stand, I only got one pink and one green glass bead pack and a couple of metal charm packs. It was only when I returned home and opened the packs I discovered how nice the glass beads were. I decided to make a necklace with the pink and some of the green glass beads. I used a pink copper 0.8mm wire I already had (bought from jewellerymaker ages ago on a large reel, it took several metres of wire to make but there's loads still left) and decided to use my one step big wire looping pliers (made by beadsmith) instead for a change. I don't know why I don't use these more, it makes looping so easy. I added a little photo how to above on using them :) I think the pink wire compliments the glass beads and am happy with the results.

Jewellery Jigs

 At Christmas I treated myself to some jewellery jigs. They are quite cheap so I was not sure if the results would be good, but I was pleasantly surprised. They were very easy to use and gave good results. Here's a few pic of one of the earring wire jigs. I'll post more results soon.

International Jewellery London 2011

Last week I attended the International Jewellery London 2011 at Earl Court 2.
I enjoy this trade show, Its good to see the new trends for the future year. 

From what I saw there the big trends are - 

Silver and white metals - silver was everywhere, big chunky statement pieces to delicate findings holding an assortment of gemstones, lots of different types of silver chains, some of the more expensive ranges had white gold and platinum keeping with the white metal trend. 

Pearls in all shapes and sizes, classic to fancy coins, hearts, crosses irregular shaped, even the cheaper ranges had freshwater pearls mixed in with coloured glass. 

Colour lots of strong colours - deep purples, all types of pinks, deep greens, teals all reflecting the colour trends for the coming months in fashion/ clothing.

There were still charms and individual bead style components.

Vintage pieces were popular and this saw some gold with aged finishes, very delicate again mixed with pretty gem stones and cabochon cut stones.

Long-chain necklaces and pendant style charm necklaces, some with vintage style beads and gems but updated with leather & rubber woven into the chain giving a more updated punk style, some were very steampunk inspired. There were very shiny modern charm necklaces.

Lots of cuffs very big and chunky some had decorate cutouts in the metal others were adorned with lots of crystals and stones. Fabric cuffs also.

Macrame friendship style bracelets with embossed patterned beads. I also saw little bits of fur some real :( and some fun-fun in bright colours :)

It will be interesting to see what appears in the shops in the coming months.

International Jewellery London 2007

Yesterday I was at a trade only jewellery show - International Jewellery London 2007 This is the part of working I like, remembered to wear my softer shoes too this year, but my feet are still hurting today. It has exhibitors from all over the globe, this year there was a whole section of Jewellery makers and suppliers from Hong Kong. The show had large companies to small independent sellers. All the latest trends and developments can be seen here. From cheap and cheerful to super priced diamond pieces (I just looked at them eyes wide) The show has the jewellery that will be selling in shops in the coming months. The popular, must have items that were been offered by a number of different suppliers were enamelled silver charms, to buy fully made or in component pieces to create individual bracelets and necklaces. The charm bracelet is evolving. There were lots and lots of large murano glass pieces, I noticed many had beaded bails and were on small glass beaded necklaces. Leather, organza ribbon, satin with silver clasps to hang pendants on instead of just a chain. The murano glass was also mixed with silver beads again complimenting the charm bracelet look. Smaller crystals were made into flower and butterfly shaped brooches and pendents. Lots of sterling silver covered with gold plate, last year silver metals were dominant, this year sees gold tones making a comeback (but I think silver will remain popular for some time yet). Jewellers/ makers are experimenting introducing new materials into jewellery. Several sellers had Vegetable ivory pieces, made from a nut sliced and dyed. Worse thing I saw was colourful very cute furry flower brooches when I asked what they were made of --------to my horror ........they said....... chinchilla (aka. large furry nezumi's)

Felted Jewellery

I have been making beads from felt, crochet and knitting.
Here's a felted bead necklace, I used metal beads caps and medium sized pearls between each bead. I put them on a thick jewellery wire and made a wire wrapped loop each end.

Crocheted beads and wire

Saturday was the Knitting and Crochet Guilds London group crocheted and knitted wire & beads day. A very nice group of ladies attended.
We made beaded chain stitch bracelets, played with crochet beaded tubes and wire & pearl bead buttons. Everyone was enthusiastic, took notes, asked questions and shared ideas.



A big THANK YOU to Helda (of heldsland above) who kindly helped assist me and to Eleanor and Winifred for organising the day plus room and much needed refreshments.

Making beaded tubes
and buttons

Photos from the day and no I am behind the camera hidden :)

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I am doing a one day course for the Knitting and Crochet Guilds London group (Crocheted and knitted wire & beads 14th April near Highbury & Islington Station contact Eleanor 02089508014 for details) and decided to get all my samples ready. Arrrrrr can't find them, I think I put them in the recycling bins when I was going through a clearing mood a few months ago.

Instead of getting upset I have been making new samples :) So below is the results of the last two days of playing with beads.

I am playing with wire for the rest of the week.

Crocheted beaded tubular bracelets

Crocheted multi-beaded bracelet. This took 3 hours to string the beads onto the thread and only 25 minutes to crochet and finish. 5 metres of beads were needed.

Knitted bracelet