Tutorials Archives - Page 6 of 10

Beadalon Bracelet Jig Idea

April 10, 2015 By candiecooper 2 Comments

Dayyyyyyy FIVE of ~~Spring~~ Beadalon Break!

I have been helping with set up of the Jesse James Beads booth at Bead Fest Spring since 9AM today. Where does the time go?? I will be teaching 10 classes at this Bead Fest.

No pressure.

(yeah right!)

It’s pouring right now–a good day for ducks, as my dad says!

And to test drive the new Beadalon Bracelet Jig!

I’m doing this post in two parts. For the first part, you’ll need the Beadalon Bracelet Jig, basic plier set plus some bead strands.String the beads onto 18g. Artistic Wire. Next, wrap your wire around the first peg on the jig, slide the bead(s) into place, put a peg in next to them and wrap the wire around it.

Keep going, adding a peg and wrapping after each flower for a total of 3 (but you could use more!).

Stay tuned to see how I use my Bracelet Jig focal piece.

In the meantime check out some of the bracelets below made by Meredith Roddy and Wyatt White at Beadalon!

Candie <3

P.S. In love with those rose beads? Get your own from JesseJamesBeads.com!

Filed Under: Tutorials

Aluminum Fabric Earrings

April 9, 2015 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon!Day 4, Party People!

And that calls for some earrings that are ready to party! Or go to work. I like them for both!Oh hey gold and silver. It’s Candie calling. Wanna hang?

Sorry,

for the pun.

This girl can’t help herself!

These earrings are super simple (it is hump day after all) to make. I used two pieces of Beadalon Aluminum Fabric, Swarovski crystal charms, a few inches of chain and some cool ear wires from Beadalon.Aluminum Fabric comes in 3 different metal colors as well as sizes. I’m using the squares. It is super flexible and really does drape and fold like fabric.

On another note, you’ve probably noticed gold is trending right now and I think you’ll love the warm tone of the gold Aluminum Fabric. I was looking at this Aluminum Fabric and noticed the back side (on right) is just as cool as the front. It could be extra nice embedded in resin jewelry or with tiny flat back crystals .Cut a couple pieces of chain so they are offset and attach to a tiny jump ring.Remove the corner piece of Aluminum Fabric, leaving only a ring where it will hang from.
Hang the pieces of chain and aluminum fabric onto the ear wire. I love these ear wires because the connection point is hidden. so it gives a really nice finished look.

Also, look how many things you could hang on the loop?! The wheels are turning… Stack em’ up!

I’m ready to hit the dance floor! Who’s with me??

Filed Under: Tutorials

How to Make Easy Ear Wires

April 6, 2015 By candiecooper 4 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon!And here we are on Day two of ~~Spring~~ Beadalon Break!

Let me cut to the chase:

My name is Candie Cooper….and I am absolutely obsessed with fringe (and jean jackets, but that’s a story for another day).

Have been for awhile, but lately with the fashions it’s gotten extra bad.

So, in this post I’m going to get you to come on over to the dark side and show you how to make fringed metal earrings with Beadalon Artistic Wire as well as how to make easy ear wires with their new Artistic Wire Findings Forms.

Shake it if you got it!

Let’s go!These earrings go together so fast and you can make the metal fringe as loooong as you like because we are actually using a coil of flat Artistic Wire.Materials list from Left to Right: Beadalon Quick Links in gold and silver colors (25mm and 20mm diameter), 20g. silver plated Artistic Wire, Artistic Wire Ear Wire jig, Flat Artistic wire in gold and silver, steel bench block, file, chasing hammer, riveting hammer, Ergo jewelry making plier set, sand paper and a few beads and head pins.Let’s jump into making the fringe. Make a loop at the end of the flat wire with round nose pliers. Trim to the desired length. You’ll need five pieces per earring so you can decide what colors and lengths you like. The wire cuts easily with regular wire cutters.File the corners on the bottom for obvious reasons.Hammer time! Hammer the wire pieces on a steel block with the chasing hammer to create dimples on the surface of the metal. I like to hit the ends extra so it flares them a bit.This is traditionally used as a riveting hammer. They make special hammers shaped like this for texturing too if you really get into this.

Now I want to show you how to make easy ear wires!This handy dandy Findings Forms jig from Beadalon makes DIY ear wires a breeze. This one is especially cool because it makes long legged ear wires so you can change the ear wire to suit your design. For this project, I just need some good ol’ fashioned French ear wires with a slightly larger loop than traditional ear wires have.Once you’ve wrapped the 20g. wire around, trim the back and pull the ear wire from the jig.Like I mentioned earlier, because of this long leg, you could also add a bead or do an easy wrapped loop closure. Trim the front…and roll it back to create a large loop. To add some extra strength to the ear wire, hammer the top arched part on a steel block to harden the wire.Next open up all the fringe pieces and connect them to the large Quick Link.I created a little Czech bead dangle to hang with my layered hoops. A little color never hurt anybody!

Done and done!

Two metal color jewelry makes me HAPPY!

Now go on with your bad self!

I’ll see you tomorrow with another tutorial!

Filed Under: Tutorials

How To Make Macrame’ Bracelets

April 5, 2015 By candiecooper 4 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon.The ~~Spring~~ Beadalon Break 2015 parTAY has officially started, people! All this week you’ll find fun tutorials on my blog with Beadalon products. I’m really excited about it. First up: Macrame Bracelets!Macrame’ hemp jewelry will always have a special place in my heart because I made a ton of it when I was in high school–very early in my jewelry making career. Picture me thrifting for chunky glass beads, tying the cords to my toe and knotting my heart out. Cue Dave Matthews band.

Those were the days. (snaps back into reality)

These days, I’m loving the texture that hemp adds to my bracelet stack. And thanks to Beadalon, my not-so-flexible self doesn’t have to secure the cords to my toe, because they made a cool Tying Station.

For this bracelet you will need: the Tying Station, 19 strand beading wire .018 diameter, hemp cord, clasp, crimp beads and beads (I’m using Czech). AND some wire cutters!I really love the Tying Station because you can make hemp jewelry without having large holed beads (oh and that I don’t have to sit like a pretzel for hours while I knot). Here’s how:String the beads for your bracelet onto the beading wire.

Secure the end of beading wire with a crimp bead onto the top peg of the Beadalon tying station. The loop needs to be loose so you can slide it off easily.Wrap the opposite end around the bottom, under the plate of the Tying Station and twist the nut down so the cord can’t slide. It was when I looked at this with fresh eyes and thought to myself yeeeahhhhhhh. No.

What is going on in this photo??

The Hokie Pokie?

Sorry.

For the hemp: Cut a yard of cord and tie it to the central wire so that both tails are even length.

And now, I’m going to send you here, if you want to learn this basic square not.

Why I didn’t make all the knots like this photo? I have no idea. BUT! You get the idea right? Slide a bead into place and knot around it.

The second reason I love this tools is because of the measurements on the side so you know how long your bracelet will be.

Also, you can also use the tool to create really long wrap around bracelets thanks to the foam plates that hold everything down.

Right now, this bracelet is 7.25″ long which is good if your clasp in 1/2 inch to 3/4″.When you are finished, slide the bracelet down on the core wire toward the bottom peg. This gives you a little wire on the end so you can cut away the loop and attach your clasp with crimp beads like normal. Tie the hemp in a knot and secure it with multi-purpose epoxy.Here are a couple clasp ideas (from L to R): traditional toggle, seed bead loop/button, button/lobster clasp.I love all the colors hemp comes in now. When I was in school we had brown, brown, or brown.The peach bracelet on the right is actually a necklace or wrap around bracelet.

Stack em’ up! and wear em’ proud!

I’ll see you tomorrow with a new tutorial, Beadalon Breakers!

More info on the Tying Station on the Beadalon site!

Filed Under: Beads, Tutorials

How To Make A Statement Bracelet

January 4, 2015 By candiecooper 15 Comments

Jewelry Making How to Make Statement Bracelets with Sparkly Cup Chain

This post brought to you by Beadalon.Are you looking for a fast, instant craftification project? Are you making your own wedding jewelry or bridesmaid gifts? Do you have the winter blues and need a sparkle fix?

Jewelry Making Amazing wire cutters from Beadalon.

Jewelry Making Slide Connector Clasp for Cup Chain

Beadalon Slide Connector Clasps for Statement Bracelet

Then, boy, do I have a project for you! I’m going to show you how to make an amazing statement bracelet piece in minutes.For this project, you will need a Beadalon slide connector clasp and crystal cup chain. You can also add in Beadalon double ball chain for a new texture (I’ll show you an example in a minute).Most of the bracelets I did are in gold. I had a lot of gold metal cup chain and also gold is hot right now in fashion jewelry.The inside diameter of the clasp is 4.5mm so make sure your cup chain crystals are smaller than that.The slide connectors come in 3 lengths: 13mm, 20mm, and 25mm (basically 1/2″ to 1″).Determine the length of bracelet you want and cut the chain accordingly. I figured the clasp to take up 1″ so to make a 7″ bracelet, I cut the chain to 6″ sections. The nice thing about the slide connectors is the chain extender feature so if you need it to be longer, you’re covered.You’re going to freak when you see how fast these go together! Slide the first crystal into the tube. Repeat with the remaining chains.Once the tube is loaded with chain, fold the tab over with pliers or use your finger (like I do). Push the end down on a hard surface to get it really closed.

DIY Jewelry Making Sparkle Clasp from Beadalon

DIY Wedding Jewelry Idea Statement Bracelets

Repeat for the opposite side of the bracelet.If you want to bump up the clasp a bit, check out Beadalon’s sparkly lobster clasp.And that’s honestly all there is to it! This is the pile of bracelets I made last night.Cup chain is so fancy. Here’s a closer look at the double ball chain from Beadalon. Full story–this is only available in silver now. Don’t fall in love with the gold. Ok? Thank you and I’m really sorry I used it before seeing that. Let me know if I need to start a petition for Beadalon to bring it back. “Save the Gold Double Ball Chain” we’ll call it.

Check out Beadalon’s video for more ways to use the clasp!

Filed Under: Jewelry, Tutorials

Make Sparkly Earrings with Stone Sett

January 1, 2015 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadaon!

This is where it all started–the earrings Katherine Heigl was wearing on her new show, State of Affairs. I got completely distracted by the sweet simplicity of them. Does this happen to you? They were really eye catching and reminded of Beadalon’s new findings called, Stone Sett.

Stone Sett findings make it easy to set stones and CZ drops like these.

The settings come in a ton of different shapes so you can set pretty much whatever you like. Beadalon also has stunning cubic zirconia drops to fit in the settings. Ooo la la! That’s what I used to make my earrings.

Each setting will say what size CZ drop you can use in it on the back of the package to make life easy (and fool proof sparkly earrings).

These are some of the Beadalon findings I used to make the earrings above. Super easy!

Each of the findings have a clear spot where the CZ drop sits.

Then, use chain nose pliers to GENTLY squeeze the setting closed. The. End.

Ok, not really.

Now it’s time to connect your heart out. Use chains, jump rings and whatever your heart desires to construct the earrings. It can be as simple as hanging the drops on a pair of kidney shaped ear wires like this!

Done and done! How do ya like them apples?!

Pretty, right? Starting the New Year with a little sparkle is always a good idea! I hope 2015 is off to a great start for you!

Filed Under: Jewelry, Tutorials

Making Halloween Jewelry Crafts with Kids

October 24, 2014 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

For First Friday at the Wabash White House (our little gallery in town), we host children’s creative make and takes and activities. One of the things we did this month is an easy kids halloween craft making skull necklaces. I thought you might want to make your own!
You’ll need some skull beads, 20g. Artistic Wire, Jesse James Beads, pre-made ribbon necklaces or cord, a hammer and steel block, and some basic jewelry making pliers.
When working with kids, I like to keep things pretty tidy and organzied so it’s easy to see what we are doing. Is it me, or are these beads, good enough to eat?!
I buy skull beads at bead markets/festivals, but you can find them in Etsy shops and sometimes in the craft stores.
Use round nose pliers to twirl the end of the wire around in a spiral. Hammer the spiral so it stays nice and rigid.
String your beads!
Finish the end of the wire with a wrapped loop, attaching it to the ribbon before closing up the loop. Pipe cleaners would also work for necklace making. That could be really fun!
Here’s a closer peek at the tools I used. Top: wire cutters. Middle: round nose pliers. Bottom: Chain nose pliers.