Heart link tutorial

With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought I'd share the love by revisiting this tute I posted on the UK Beaders forum blog last year. I made this long before I had my own blog. Looking back at it, I've learned a thing or two about editing photos!

In any case, I hope you find it useful. Here it is!

Supplies:

Wire - gauge and type is up to you. I've used 0.8mm silver plated copper here
Round nosed pliers
Wire cutters
File or fine sandpaper (optional)
Hammer (optional)

**Caution** A quick word of warning, if you have a pair of goggles around, put them on! Love isn't the only thing in the air - there are bits of flying metal, too.

Step 1:

Cut as many lengths of wire as you require. The length is up to you. I cut 2cm lengths for this project. File or sand the rough ends of the wire, if necessary.

Step 2:

Take a length of cut wire, and bend it in the middle with your round nosed pliers into a V shape.

Step 3:

Take your V shape and with your pliers curl one end (like you would for a loop). Bend the wire until you've made a half circle (roughly!).

 

Step 4:

Repeat Step 3 on the other end of your V, and you have a heart! You may need to tinker a bit with the shape to get it just right.

Optional:

This next step adds a great effect, especially if you want a rustic touch. You can gently hammer the links. Or, if you're using silver plated wire, squeeze the links between your pliers. Sometimes hammering is a bit rough on plated wire. If you're using solid metal, hammer away!

Now, you should have sweet little hearts to add to your projects. Link them together for chains or add beads to them for charm bracelets and earrings.

New colorful clay beads!

I made some new polymer clay beads over the weekend. They're colorful, rustic, and nature inspired. And perfect for summer. Want to see?

These adorable turquoise blue birds with brown highlights are just waiting to be made into earrings or charms. They're tiny, but sturdy and full of personality.




I also made some flowers with a similar antiqued look. These dusty blue daisies make perfect little charms.

 

I made some abstract flowers in summer colors. The red ones are complete with brass loops, and the yellow sunflowers would make perfect little connectors.





And for something a bit different, there are these tribal, rustic inspired bead sets.

 
I'll be listing these beads and more today in my shop!

7th BSBP - are you ready?

I didn't think I'd be this excited about the next 7th Bead Soup Blog Party® . Last year was the first time I participated in the huge, international bead swap and blog hop. It was a lot of fun, but I wasn't sure I was going to do it again this year with other recent commitments. But as the sign ups draw nearer, I can't resist!

The mystery of who you get as a partner, Lori pairs everyone, is part of the fun, too. It's a wonderful way to expose yourself to other beaders and jewelry designers.

It's also a great way to test yourself. You never know what you will get, even though most of us try to send something our partners will like. Part of the fun is challenging your partner to use something they may not already; to broaden their beady horizons.

Last year, I had a wonderful partner, Maryse, who sent me gold leafed lampwork, vermeil beads and sari silk. Gold and sari were two things I'd hardly used. But the soup was so beautiful, I couldn't help but be inspired.

Sign ups for the 7th BSBP are tomorrow, so don't miss it! 

ABS Challenge

The Art Bead Scene blog has a beautiful inspiration piece for this month's challenge. Black Peacock with Japanese Persimmons by Jessie Arms Botke. I love this painting and found the perfect beads to use in my entry.

The art beads I used were made by Tania Grey. Somehow, they were just perfect. These frit filled lampwork beads had just the right colors; splashed with blues, greens, and dabs of yellow, like the persimmons. The clear glass Tan used reminds me of the river behind the peacocks in the painting. Her beads have beautiful flow!



 

I knotted the glass nuggets along black cotton cord. Then I added a length of handmade copper chain with clusters of glass flowers in the same colors. Nestled amongst the flowers are twisted copper wire beads with rosy tipped ball ends I made. You can see one between the blue flowers here.



The closure is a chunky copper clasp I made with a vintage Swaroski crystal dangling from the extension chain. There's a dark, metal rose stamping as a focal.

 I nestled silver lined seed beads in the flower dangles for a little extra sparkle and detail. I love how this bracelet came out. It's feminine and comfortable to wear, but still earthy without being too bold.

I've listed this  bracelet in my shop. There are lots of new items, so worth a look! Also don't forget to have a peek at the ABS blog to find out how you can enter the challenge.

Tree Wings Studio Giveaway!

Rebekah of Tree Wings Studio is doing one last giveaway for 2012! You can find out more on her blog here.

More beautiful art beads...

Guess what? In my last post I shared with you that I won some of Gaea's handmade beads. Well, they've arrived! And they're gorgeous. It's a beautiful set of ceramics in earthy and pastel colors. I'll share photos soon, I promise!

But for now, I have more art beads to share. I won an absolutely stunning set of beads from Caroline of BlueberriBeads. You can see the exact set I won here. And now for some photos of what I've made so far...

In this bracelet, I used Caroline's stoneware dragonfly, copper lentil, stoneware barrel, and her beautiful silvered glass lampwork spotty barrel.

I went with a natural, beachy theme and added some faceted aqua quartz from my friend Tanya of FusionMuse. The beads are wrapped in solid brass wire and finished with a handmade clasp.


 

Here's another pic of that gorgeous dragonfly bead. This bracelet had a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs at a recent show and will be listed in my Etsy soon.





I've made another bracelet with Caroline's beads that has some scrummy larimar and heat patinated brass chain. It'll have to wait for another blog post, though.

Something that has managed to find its way into my shop, is gemstone earrings. I made two pairs of copper earrings with my handmade rosy ball end headpins. I love how the little balls of copper add that extra bit of detail to these earrings.
 

Aren't those gemstones yummy? The yellow pair has faceted yellow sapphires and smooth citrine drops. I love how the citrine sparkles.

The red pair has faceted rubies and the daintiest Turundu sapphires. All those little facets add a surprising amount of sparkle.

I love making these little rustic earrings. A bit of sparkle, a splash of color, and just the right amount of femininity mixed with rustic simplicity. What could be better? If you'd like to see more photos, you can find them here.

Lucky month

November has been fantastic. I love the Autumn, but it's been more than the colorful trees and cool weather. I've had so much good news this month on my jewelry. Happy customers in my new Etsy shop, commissions, and other news I can't share quite yet.

What I can say is that I've been extremely lucky to win some beads! First off was a bag PACKED with beads from Cazz over at Beadercollie. It took a whole evening to sort through them. There were gemstones, seed beads galore, Czech glass, and everything sparkly in between. I've got tons of new ideas and jewelry in the making!

Then, even more good news. Gaea (does she need an intro?) from Gaea Handmade contacted me. Much to my surprise I won her art beads over on Art Bead Scene. I had no idea! The beginning of November was totally hectic, and I didn't expect to win. So it slipped by. Gaea was sweet enough to contact me nearly 3 weeks later! How lucky am I?

I can't wait to get Gaea's beads, but in the mean time, I have a few commissioned pieces that I'll be working on. I'll share those with you over the weekend.

And since it's been such a great month, I'm going to do a another sale in my shop when I reach 100 favorites (already at 96!). So, if there's something you like, let it be known!

Thanks for reading, and to all my American friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving! It seems like I've got a lot to be grateful for. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

And to my UK friends, I hope it stops raining!