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Pearls

We are drawn to the sensuous beauty of pearls, to their soft contours, and most of all to the warm, persistent light that seems to glow from within these unique gems. Kings and queens have filled royal treasuries with pearls and worn impressive jewelry made with pearls to proclaim power and regency. Movie stars and fashion legends have greeted their public draped in glamorous pearls. Brides and debutantes have favored pearls as the gem of purity and fidelity. For those who cherish the radiance of pearls and who wish to make signature beaded jewelry with pearls, today’s affordable and varied supply of freshwater pearls is truly a beader’s delight.

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  • Free Beading Project: Knotted Freshwater Pearl and Lucite Bead Necklace
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  • Jewelry Stringing, Winter 2011
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  • Bead Emergency!
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  • Professional Finishing Techniques for Pearl Knotting
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  • Beadwork, August/September 2011
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  • 5 Free Crystal Bead Projects : Create Jewelry with Crystals
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  • To Wrap or Not to Wrap; Wire that is...
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  • 4 Easy Knots to Pair with Bead Stringing Designs
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  • Kristal Wick's Picks: Top 10 Jewelry-Making Resources
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  • Master Wireworking the Easy Way
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  • Give Pearls a Try: 8 Popular Shapes for Modern Style
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  • A Bead Stringing Chart for You!
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  • First Lady Fashion
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  • What Rocked Tucson in 2010
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  • Jean Campbell’s Favorite Beading Daily Projects
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  • Bead Star Winners Revealed!
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  • Favorite Pearl Projects & How-to Tips from Readers
    The allure of pearls Oh, those pearls! They've captivated us for eons, in hues that span the rainbow, with textures and shapes from dewdrops to crusty grain. Lustrous. Shimmering. Exotic. Birthstone of June babies and traditional gift for thirtieth
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  • Is There Life Beyond Jewelry?
    There is life after jewelry: mixed-media art! Please welcome today's special guest, the features editor from Cloth Paper Scissors , Cate Prato. She is bringing you a festive way to use beads and more in a seasonal project that will add sparkle and
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  • Design Wire Jewelry with Attitude!
    Keep it together with wire. It’s my birthday this week and, according to a friend, I’ve officially arrived to the point in my life where people will start saying “Yes, Ma’am!” when I ask them to do something. Boy, if she’s
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  • 3 Tips for Strong Beadwork
    How to stitch beadwork that lasts It was a close friend’s birthday recently, so I made a card, printed out some photos, and included a CD. I put the items in a paper envelope, but realized the CD would break. So I added a piece of thick cardboard
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  • Make Victorian Jewelry for Gothic Glamour!
    Fashion with Passion My daughter, her friends, and many of my grown women friends have all read the popular gothic romance Twilight . I’ve been resisting because delving into the lives of a bunch of lovesick hormone-laden teen vampires sounded pretty
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  • 4 Ideas for Necklace Extensions
    How do you deal with a necklace design that's perfect but too short? Like most of you, when I design a new necklace I make it to my favorite length. I happen to prefer 16" necklaces because the focal bead sits just perfectly above my “Great
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  • How to Clean and Polish Chain Jewelry!
    7 Great Tips to Maintain your Chain! When I wrote Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs , I couldn't wait to share the 50 fabulous necklace and bracelet designs. So many designs using all kinds of chain! Later on, as my favorite brass chain
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  • Beadwork's Pattern Play Challenge Winners
    “Ooh” and “aah” were just two of the reactions heard while Beadwork’s editors were judging the entries to our latest contest. The June/July 2009 issue of Beadwork challenged readers to create a project using pattern as inspiration and, as you are about to see for yourself, the results were phenomenal
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  • New Right-Angle Weave eBook: 5 Free Projects
    One of the fascinating things about beading is that just by changing the beads you can make a project look completely different. Take the Triple Quatrefoil by Tina Koyama, one of the featured projects in our latest free ebook, Right Angle Weave: Beading Daily Presents 5 Free Beadweaving Patterns. In
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  • Rarity, Beauty, Durability: Gemstone Truths or Myths?
    Ask anyone in the jewelry trade what makes a good gem and the standard answer is "rarity, beauty, and durability." The problem is that many people take these ideas to mythic proportions and believe that all gems have to be all three of these things. Here's why they do not.
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  • 7 Ideas for Displaying Earrings
    Several years ago, I made a pair of earrings that I wanted to submit to a magazine. Normally, I photographed all my jewelry flat on a piece of scrapbooking paper, but these elegant, multi-part dangles looked like a jumbled mess when I tried that.
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  • 5 Free Beaded Necklaces: New Beading Daily eBook
    At first glance, the five necklaces in our latest ebook, Jewelry Making: Beaded Jewelry Projects from Beading Daily: 5 Free Beaded Necklace Patterns, have nothing in common. From a 16" necklace sparkling with a right-angle weave crystal pendant to a 26" rope of simply strung seed beads and
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  • The Secret to Perfect Thread Tension
    “It has been taped, cut short, knotted, stuffed into a baggie, wrapped on a spool, and just plain ignored.” In the August/September issue of Beadwork, Master Class author Nancy Cain urges us not to forget about our little ol’ tail thread. In fact, Nancy teaches that utilizing our tail thread is the key
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  • Create Chain with Wire, Beads, or Yarn: 10 Ideas
    I like chain so much that back in April I spent a full day making my own in a wireworking workshop. Using steel wire, I made my own jump rings, formed my own links, hammered them, joined them, and polished the finished piece. The best tip I learned: once you've figured out the size of wire you need
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  • Jewelry Design Ideas for Briolettes, Plus Free Project
    As a teen, I routinely stuffed my size 9 feet into size 8 shoes, trying to deny that my feet would never be small again. The same kind of denial recently led me to try stuffing a piece of 22-gauge wire (my favorite size!) into the tiny, delicate drilled channel at the top of a lovely Oregon sunstone
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  • Free Project: Modern Wire and Crystal Bracelet
    Before I learned to make my own jewelry, I almost never wore bracelets because my wrist wasn't the "typical" size carried in stores. Bangles and cuffs, with their one-size-fits-many styling, were the exception. Two of my favorite cuff bracelets are in the book Wire Style and suprisingly
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  • New Free Earrings eBook
    6 Reasons We Love to Make Earrings Soon after joining Twitter (under the name BeadingDaily ), I asked jewelry designers to tell me what they liked about making earrings. Within minutes, I was deluged with reasons. Here are just six: 1. "It's
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  • 7 Tips for Designing Summer Jewelry
    I am so a Summer girl. Warm weather means lighter clothing in both color and fabric weight, so I can wear jewelry against my skin instead of around a turtleneck--so many more parts to adorn, from throat and ears, to arms, wrists, ankles and even toes. (I have to admit I can’t get comfy wearing toes rings
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  • How to Make Bracelets That Fit
    A few years ago I tried my hand at being a retail jewelry designer, with my line consisting of mostly bracelets. I’ll admit, I really stunk at it. Not only were my designs a bit out of touch (too funky) for my mostly middle-aged Midwestern market, many of the bracelets were sized too small! I quickly
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  • Free Metalwork Earring Instructions
    Last month I was lucky enough to take an intensive 2-day jewelry making workshop. Not only did I learn a lot in the workshop (notably, how much easier it is to use a jeweler's saw if you don't push down into the metal as hard as you possibly can), but I also learned a lot from my repeated trips
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  • Meet the Semiprecious Beads Design Contest Winners
    Many thanks to everyone for sending in just under 100 exciting entries to our Semiprecious Beads Design contest. It was not easy to choose just three winners, but ultimately Leslie Rogalski of Step by Step Beads and I both agreed wholeheartedly on why we selected the ones we did. Every winning piece
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  • Ribbon Challenge - Beading Daily Readers
    I invited three active Beading Daily forum members to make something with a piece of hand-dyed silk ribbon that I had picked up from Class Act Designs in February at the Tucson bead shows.
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  • Wedding Jewelry Ideas from a Bride-to-Be
    On August 2, 2008, my life changed forever. My fiancé Michael got down on one knee, took my hand, and asked me to marry him. The first words out of my mouth (wet with joyful tears) were, “Absolutely, 100 percent, yes!”
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  • New: Free Wire Jewelry Ebook
    A Lifetime Supply of Wire When I started working with wire, my local bead shop talked me into a 20-foot spool of silver craft wire for practicing wrapped loops. I left there convinced that I had bought a "lifetime" supply of wire. It took me
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  • Miracles, Sea Urchins, and Other Unusual Beads
    Did you have a Sears Wish Book when you were a kid? This was the big Sears catalog packed with toys (and other stuff). I used to spend hours sprawled out on the floor circling all the things I wanted. Even though I rarely received anything on my wish list, it was fun to flip through the pages and dream
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  • Create These Easy Crystal and Seed Bead Earrings
    I've been looking for an earring project for an April birthday gift and this week's free project from Step by Step Beads, Crystal Corona Earrings, is perfect. The materials (crystal bicones, seed beads, ear wires) are common ones you're likely to have in your stash already or could easily
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  • 3 Ways to Mix and Match Bead Designs
    I admit I was a little hurt when a recent survey revealed only about 25% of Beadwork readers follow our instructions bead by bead. Here at Beadwork our editors and illustrator spend countless hours to make our instructions accurate and easy to follow. However, it’s been about six years since the last
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  • Are You a Bead Snob?
    I met a well-known bead designer last year who confessed that she sometimes enjoyed mixing high- and low-end components together--beads from her local craft store with some high-end silver or handcrafted art beads or findings. I admitted to her that I did this, too. Looking back, it's funny how we
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  • Design Challenge: Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads
    Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads Design Challenge To celebrate the publication of the new book Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads by Kim Gover, Beading Daily is hosting a design challenge! Rules • You must be a member of Beading Daily
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  • Beading Techniques, Tools, and How-To Articles
    Check these pages for instructions, illustrations, related articles/magazines/books, and occasional videos on how to create jewelry, whether you favor bead stitching, stringing, or wireworking. You'll also find links to selected articles on selling
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  • Thread
    Thread is one option for stringing material. Popular types include braided thread, nylon thread, pearl cotton, quilting thread, and silk thread. Thread will often need to be conditioned with a wax or conditioner before use to protect it from fraying and
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  • 5 Reasons to Love Glass Beads
    To my delight, an advanced copy of my new book, Create Jewelry: Glass, arrived a couple of days ago. It’s been nearly a year since I finished making the projects and writing the instructions. Seeing the projects in print brings back memories of just how much fun this book was to make. Of the four books
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  • Romantic Beaded Fringe: 3 Lacy Techniques
    It was Valentine’s Day, 1985…my husband and I had been dating for a couple years…and this was the day I knew romance, poetry, and flowers wouldn’t be a big part of our relationship: He gave me a bottle of red-colored Listerine.
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  • Beads, Baubles, and Jewels TV: Behind the Scenes
    A few weeks ago, we taped thirteen segments for the 2009 spring season of the PBS-TV show Beads, Baubles & Jewels, which airs in June. Our theme this time was “Taking your jewelry-making to the next level,” and all our final projects and step-outs were completed immediately following the holiday
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  • 5 Shopping Tips for the Tucson Bead Shows
    Usually the weather in Minnesota at this time of year makes people cuss and throw things. But I’m happily whistling away as I pack up beading kits and my Bermuda shorts. You see, I get to join 60,000 of my rock, gem, and beading enthusiast buddies and head down to Tucson, Arizona in a couple weeks!
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  • Meet the New Beadwork Editor Plus Five Free Peyote Patterns
    Meet the new editor of Beadwork, Melinda Barta. An interview by editorial director Marlene Blessing.
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  • Create Oxidized Wire Post Earrings
    Some days (OK, most days) you amaze me! In the Reader Showcase area of the forums, I was blown away by Australian member Huan Pham who created the beautiful wireworked seahorse pictured here. Isn't it amazing? View the larger photo in the forums if you want to be impressed by his precise wirewrapping
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  • Are You the Next Bead Star?
    Singers have American Idol. Fashion designers have Project Runway. Cooks have Top Chef. And now beaders have . . Bead Star!
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  • 11 Ways to Wear a Rope Necklace
    I have a sick kid at home today. She’s barking like a seal, but she doesn’t have a fever so she’s got just enough energy to knock on my office door every half hour. Not too conducive to the technical editing I’m doing this week. So I put her to good use by asking her to organize my jewelry “vault”—the
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  • Top 10 Free Beading Tips & Projects from 2008
    Any way you count it, 2008 was a terrific year for Beading Daily! We welcomed Jean Campbell as contributing editor every Wednesday. We also welcomed our magazine editors (Marlene Blessing, Danielle Fox, Denise Peck, Leslie Rogalski, Sara Graham, Melinda Barta) and their thoughts on topics like ethnic
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  • Create an Easy Elastic Beaded Bracelet
    Here's a confession guaranteed to fill up my inbox with reader mail: My favorite beaded watch is made with pretty Kazuri ceramic beads in various shades of blue, silver beads, and a silver watch face. Very simple to make and easy to wear. So what's the big deal?
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  • How to Store Pearls, Plus Free Necklace Instructions
    When I read Jean Campbell's post on last-minute gift-giving, I had to laugh when she mentioned pearl jewelry as one of her go-to last-minute gift ideas. Pearls (rather than crystals or gemstones) are definitely my go-to bead type when I'm stumped for a design idea or need a quick project.
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  • Make Easy Patterned Metal Earrings
    My friend Jan recently dragged me to a knitting class. Of course, I knew that we'd need to buy yarn and needles (I do work for Interweave, after all!), but I was suprised to learn that we needed more than two needles, plus a stitch holder and darning needle. (And a crochet hook for those klutzy types
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  • Last-Minute Beading Gift-Making Ideas
    We both know that a handmade piece of jewelry is one of the nicest gifts you can give someone. People love receiving jewelry that was designed specifically with them in mind, and when the wearer knows the designer personally, she’s afforded another layer of bragging rights.
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  • Pick Your Prize Winners, Plus Meet an 18-Year-Old Jewelry Designer
    What can a passionate seed bead artist who’s just eighteen accomplish? Anything she wants! I first saw Scarlett Lanson while she was viewing the stunning crystal creations in Swarovski’s annual design contest display during this year’s Tucson Bead Shows. Little did I know that this young woman in jeans
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  • Vintage Jewelry Inspiration: Design Sketches and Ideas
    In the fall issue of Stringing, the editors (Melinda Barta, Danielle Fox, and Elizabeth Murray) all went shopping at flea markets, antique stores, and thrift stores and with some advice from jewelry designer Mysti Gulsrud, they each created a design using modern components and antique finds.
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  • Free Wire Spiral Earrings, Plus New Reader Gallery
    What makes a piece of jewelry a "winter" design? Is it jewelry type? I hardly ever create bracelets for winter because I know they'll just be buried under miles of sweaters and jackets.
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  • Using Black for Drama in Jewelry Designs
    Today I'm sharing a column by color expert Margie Deeb who writes the "Colorworks" column in every issue of Step by Step Beads. This column on using black (originally published in the January/February 2008 issue) will give you several ideas on how to combine black with other colors or with
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  • Get Organized: Bead Storage Checklist
    If beads are so small, how could I be running out of storage space? For the last year or so, I've been buying random containers for beads and creating a bead tower in my basement. Sounds cool, but it's actually a little scary! When I was working on submissions for Stringing a few weeks ago, I
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  • Learn to Create Wire Jewelry on a Budget
    One of the things I love most about jewelry is the diversity it affords (no pun intended!). Sure, I drool over the Tiffany’s catalogs, and gawk at the windows in the Diamond District when I’m in New York City. But my favorite pieces of jewelry contain no gold and no precious stones. Instead
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  • Pick Your Prize Giveaway, Plus Power of Beading Contest Winners
    We raised $1,143 for two cancer charities, the American Institute for Cancer Research and The Wellness Community, by selling the instructions for the Awareness Ribbon Pins created by designer Kerrie Slade. Thanks to everyone who helped make our first fundraiser a success! Two lucky readers also won the
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  • How to Add an Exotic Touch to Your Jewelry
    Global, multicultural, tribal, ethnic. These are words we use to describe things that are exotic to us, and not of our national heritage, place of origin, or even time period in which we live. Most of us are very inspired by jewelry that looks exotic, and some cultures’ designs may mysteriously appeal
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  • Seed Bead and Wire Halloween Earrings
    Do you bead for the holidays? Which ones? Halloween? Easter? Christmas? How about National Chocolate Day (October 28), Poppy Day (November 11), or Read a New Book Month (December)?
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  • Simple Wire and Crystal Ribbon Earrings
    I recently heard from my high school friend Kristy who was planning on running a race in California to raise money for cancer research. When I saw Sandra Lupo's wire earring project, I immediately bought some half-round silver wire and a 5mm rose Swarovski crystal pearl to make a pendant version
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  • Wire Gauges: How to Find the Right Size
    I recently redesigned a pair of earrings using a different gemstone colorway. I found out pretty quickly that the new stones I was using had very small holes. So, with my stash’s head pin box before me, I started trying…22-gauge? Nope. 24-gauge? Nope. (I was starting to feel like a toddler with a shape
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  • Fall 2008 Reader Gallery
    Looking for inspiration for fall jewelry? Check out these necklaces, earrings, and bracelets by Beading Daily members.
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  • 5 Tips for Designing with Color
    Color is such a key element of good design. Yet each of us wrestles now and then with being in a color rut—“I only buy purple beads”—or wondering what shade of blue brings out the best in a new multicolored lampwork pendant. Do you ever watch The View on TV? If so, you’ll
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  • How to Fix Beads with Too-Small Holes
    Whether you’re a stitcher or a stringer, chances are you run across beads with too-small holes. You have choices: 1) jam your needle or wire through the bead, often resulting in frustration and a broken bead; 2) throw the bead over your shoulder (like with salt, it’s considered good luck); or 3) use
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  • 5 Tips on Today’s Affordable Semiprecious Stones
    There’s magic in stones, and I’m not just talking about some of their mystical properties. (Certain of them are supposed to be good for everything from courage, to protection, love, and foretelling the future.)When Jamie Hogsett and I recently produced our latest book, Create Jewelry: Stones, I was fascinated
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  • Original Jewelry Designs: Is It New or Just New to You?
    When I was in my teens, platform shoes came into fashion. Remember Elton John on his tall elevator boots? My mother was quick to point out that she’d worn platform shoes all through the '30s and '40s. Of course, I was not in a position to recall the '30s or '40s. But when bell bottoms
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  • Brick Stitch O-Ring Necklace and 12+ Free Projects!
    Every Friday I share a free project on Beading Daily. Today, in honor of Beading Daily's one year anniversary, I wanted to introduce you to a bunch of projects--all the projects from the current season of Beads, Baubles, & Jewels which runs on public television.
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  • At-Home Tarnish-Busting Remedies
    I help out at one of my local bead shops every so often. As one of the store managers mentioned, it helps sate “Jean’s need for adult conversation.” That pathetic reality aside, I also like to be at the shop to see and hear about what other beaders are making and doing. It’s a
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  • Quick Wire-and-Bead Fireflies
    I've been searching for a delicate way to ask this, but I can't find one, so I'll just be blunt: What's up with beaders and bugs? Does everyone else who beads have the compulsion to make beaded insects? (Take a look at the "Bead a Bug" gallery from the June/July 2006 issue of
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  • Beadaholic Confessions: Reader Poll Results
    I was delighted that almost 80% buy beads without knowing exactly how they'll use them. Me too! Now that my stash is getting out of control, I try to have at least a general idea--"those beads would make cute earrings"--but sometimes that's as specific as I get. I also found it fascinating
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  • 5 Ways to Stretch Your Beading Budget
    Beading and saving money are two topics near and dear to my heart. My Celestial Sparkle necklace was inspired when I could only afford a single strand of borosilicate beads. I wanted to showcase them in a necklace, but everyone who saw the tiny strand said I should just give up and make a bracelet. Luckily
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  • 5-Minute Hammered Wire Earrings
    Each month, one of the magazine editors will share a free project with Beading Daily. Today's guest editor is Denise Peck, editor in chief of Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine and senior editor of Jewelry Artist . An editor by trade and a lifelong
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  • New: Beading Daily Discussion Forums
    Inside My Inbox One of my favorite parts of this job is reading my email. I love your enthusiasm, your willingness to try new things, your ideas, your creativity. Here's a recent sample from my inbox: Amy wants to make jewelry with found objects.
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  • Pearl Knotting
    Pearl knotting is traditionally done with silk thread, placing a knot between each bead to prevent them from rubbing against each other. Gently pre-stretch the silk by pulling it inch by inch through your thumb and forefinger. Silk thread generally comes
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  • Healing Beads: The Special Meanings of Gemstones
    Healing Beads After experiencing a frustrating year of health concerns, doctors, and hospitals in 2007, I started seeing a naturopath. I'd never been to a natural healer and can't claim I welcomed Diane into my life without a big dose of skepticism
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  • Thread is Cheaper Than Frustration and 4 More Thread Tips
    "Thread is cheaper than frustration." That was some recent advice I received from Bead Expo Philadelphia instructor Liz Smith. I laughed when I read her email because it reminded me of when I started to learn beadweaving. Coming from the world
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  • Coiled Wire Necklace with Lampwork Pendant
    A Solution for Long Lampwork Bead Several months ago I bought a beautiful purple and green lampwork focal bead. I assumed I would hang it vertically in whatever design I came up with. (That's right, I'm one of those people who buys beads without
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  • How to Win Beading Competions: 6 Tips from a Contest Judge
    What would you do with $1,500? If you had a $1,500 gift certificate to spend at a huge online bead store, what would you buy? Every kind of gemstone available? Enough seed beads or toggle clasps to last a lifetime? A top-of-the-line set of beading tools
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  • Free Project: Chain Maille Necklace
    Beading Dangerously The Beadwork challenge kit for the April/May issue didn't look dangerous. Provided by Bead It !, the kit contained garnets, seed beads, metal rounds, pearls, rondelles, fire-polished rounds, and a clasp. Not a subtle, dainty clasp
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  • 5 New Treasures in My Bead Stash
    I went at little bead crazy at Bead Expo Portland . Maybe it was the crazy weather (sun-rain-hail-snow!). Maybe it was the fact that the last bead show I attended was back in September and I was feeling a bit bead deprived. Maybe it was the huge bead
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  • Must Earrings Match?
    Certain things in life should match: shoes, dinner plates, hubcaps, knitting needles. What about earrings? One of my favorite pair of earrings in college was a cowboy boot and hat set--one silver earring of each. In my mind, the two definitely went together
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  • V Scallop Necklace Preview, Plus an Interview with Lisa Kan
    Meet Designer and Dreamer Lisa Kan Have you ever dreamed about quitting your job and beading full time? Lampwork artist and bead designer Lisa Kan had the same dream. In 2001, she was a quality assurance engineer when she began lampworking. Now she sells
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  • 6-Strand Pearl and Crystal Wedding Bracelet
    If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? No wisdom here on that question, but I can tell you that if you whisper the word "wedding" in an empty room, everyone within 50 miles will hear you--and regale
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  • Wedding Jewelry by Readers: A Gallery of Designs
    Nothing makes a room full of jewelry designers more excited than hearing news of an upcoming wedding. Want proof? The Beadwork editors and I recently met with Hwa Soo Park of Ezel Jewels , a talented designer who creates her own tiny, delicate findings
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  • Designing Jewelry for People with Metal Allergies
    My son is a rocker. Long hair, tall and skinny, a bit on the pale side, and a beast with a guitar. He's only twelve, and as far as we know, he's steered clear of the, eh hem, unsavory things sometimes involved with rock and roll. But the issue
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  • Free Project: Caribbean Sunset Multistrand Necklace with Pendant
    Inspiring Focal Beads When I asked Beading Daily readers a few weeks ago to tell me about their "problem" beads, lampwork or other focal types of beads were at the top of the list. In most cases, it wasn't that the bead was actually a problem
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  • Jewelry Ideas for Valentine's Day
    Isn't It Romantic? I'm not an especially romantic person, particularly when it comes to jewelry design. As I mentioned in an earlier post (" Playing with Color ") I have no pink beads in my bead collection and certainly no heart beads
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  • Meet the New Contributing Editor: Jean Campbell
    I'm pleased to introduce Jean Campbell as Beading Daily's new contributing editor. Jean will join us every Wednesday for some serious beading fun! Jean knows her beady stuff, but she's also not afraid to show her zany side. She sent me some
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  • Choose Your Free Beading Project
    Introducing Bead Romantique Last fall I saw a preview of the new spring beading books from Interweave. There are some terrific new books coming out, but the one that really captured my imagination was Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan. ( See a preview .) This
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  • Peyote-Stitch Barrette with Picot Edging
    Creating the Flower Girl Barrette Writers are often advised to imagine their ideal reader and write for that person. A recent Beadwork challenge proved to me that this advice could be adapted for jewelry designers as well. Free Project: Flower Girl Barrette
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  • Playing with Color: 3 Tips
    It's easy to get in a color rut in beading. Sometimes we don't even realize it! This past Christmas I wanted to make some pink earrings for someone who loves pink. I discovered I had no pink beads at all in my collection. Instead, I had probably
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  • Choosing the Right Bracelet Clasp
    Choosing the Right Bracelet Clasp Beading Daily reader Nicole asked a great question about bracelet clasps. Her "best clasp" question is one of those questions that seems on the surface to be quick and easy. While there are some basic facts
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  • Ideas for Floral Earrings
    Free Project: Caribbean Breeze by Sandi Wiseheart I know, I know. Most of you are probably glancing outside at all the snow and ice on the ground and wondering if I have my calendar wrong. Yes, it's still January and yes, I'm talking about floral
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  • 10 Reasons We Love Making Beaded Gifts
    y Holiday Beading Above: One of my holiday gifts decorated with a ceramic snowman bead from Studio 59 . I've finished my holiday beading! It helped that my list was short this year--two pairs of earrings, a purple chain maille bracelet, and a few
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  • Easy Beaded Snowflakes
    Easy Beaded Snowflake Ornaments View the snowflake gallery It's that wonderful time of the year. Well, wonderful for some; wonderfully stressful for others with not only the holidays, but all that year-end, wrap-up stuff at work. I decided to offer
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  • 4 Jewelry Business Tips
    Welcoming a New Jewelry Designer A few weeks ago, I had an email from a new jewelry designer. She enjoys working on projects like Leslee Frumin's right-angle weave necklace, Puttin' on the Ritz. (Her version is pictured at left; instructions are
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  • O-Ring, Crystal, and Wire Earrings
    Oh, Those O-Rings! When was the last time you shopped in a hardware store for your jewelry components? (It's been a couple of months for me, personally.) This week's featured project from the editors of Step by Step Wire Jewelry uses three sizes
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  • Rubber Stamping Polymer Clay Beads
    Make Your Own Beads with Polymer Clay and Rubber Stamps Isn't it funny how you sometimes start out in one craft and end up going back to it years later? I used to be into rubber stamping--on paper--so this Rubber Stamping Polymer Clay Beads project
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  • A Case of Bead Doom
    A Case of Bead Doom On Wednesday (" Make Your Own Pendant "), I wrote about creating the Love Birds Necklace , my Beadwork challenge piece. After finishing the pendant, I thought the necklace needed something more--like individual seed bead
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  • Make Your Own Pendant
    Fear of Large Butterflies or How to Make Your Own Pendant Only one element in the latest Beadwork challenge--a gorgeous 38 x 46mm brass filigree butterfly--felt large enough to use as a necklace pendant. But, honestly, it was so large it made me feel
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  • Zulu Beadwork
    Copper, silver, brass, or ? I'm going through a copper phase. The last few necklaces I've made (including "September" pictured at left) have all used copper. I'd blame it on fall--this time of year always makes me want to wear brown
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  • Beads. . .It's What's for Dinner
    From your wrist to the table: The Faerie Queen Cuff Beads for dinner? Not literally, of course. I may not wear a lot of glittery jewelry myself, but I love seeing my table dressed up! A much smaller version of the Faerie Queen Cuff makes a beautiful napkin
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  • Bead Substitution Tips
    The original Faerie Queen Cuff My version of the Faerie Queen Cuff I don't think I've ever followed project instructions exactly, down to the last bead. (Except, of course, when editing projects for Beading Daily .) Frankly, one of the things
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  • A Wedding Story
    Many beaders I know got their start making wedding jewelry. When I heard how Rebecca Campbell created the Filigree Drops (from the book, Create Jewelry: Crystals ) for her sister's wedding, I knew I wanted to share her story with you. I hope you enjoy
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  • Dazzle Them with Crystals!
    In a recent survey, 44% of Beading Daily readers named crystals one of their favorite types of beads. Most crystal fanatics are fascinated by the sparkle and shine of crystals, but I find the names of the crystal colors intoxicating: rose alabaster, padparadscha
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  • 10 Reasons to Bead Happy
    Ever have one of those weeks? You rip your skirt getting out of the car, your boss says something upsetting, the grocery store has absolutely no mint chip ice cream . . . And then something happens to put it all into perspective. In my case, I found a
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  • Attention Seed Beaders!
    Hello seed beaders! I bet you thought I forgot all about you, didn't you? One of the wonderful things—as well as one of the challenges—about Beading Daily is that every bit of the beading world is being covered. This is a very diverse
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  • Designing with Pearls
    Wild Trellis shows off top-drilled pearls Katie Hacker recently wrote a fun blog entry titled " Then and Now ," where she described the process of pulling out old projects to see how far you've come. (She has a photo of friendships pins
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  • Color Your World
    My green pearl nightmare! I spent the weekend experimenting with color. For my first experiment, I used Jamie Hogsett's Champagne Necklace (from the new book, Create Jewelry: Pearls ) as my inspiration. I used a narrower ribbon and thinner wire (26
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  • Y-Necklaces: Why Not?
    The Y-necklace (along with The Rachael haircut) was one of the lasting effects from the popular TV show Friends . As you can see from the photo, the Y-necklace is named for its "Y" shape. A recent article in JCK.com mentions the comeback of
    Read More >>
  • Dragonfly Pin and Other Beading Challenges
    The Challenge The idea behind the Beadwork challenge is simple: give different designers the same materials and see what they create. The August/September 2007 kit was from Lady Bug Beads and contained seed beads, Czech pressed-glass beads, crystal bicones
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  • Calling All Bead Princesses!
    “Perhaps we all need a little tiara magic in our lives. . .”—Sandi Wiseheart, Faerie Crown designer For those of us who are not afraid to let our inner princess out—at least in the privacy of our own home—the Faerie Crown
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  • Creating a Wearable Bouquet
    Beadwork's managing editor, Melinda Barta, describes her reaction to the June/July challenge kit supplieddd by lampwork artist Cassie Donlen : "The second I opened the kit that Cassie Donlen provided for Beadwork’s Challenge Project and
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  • Love Those Lariats!
    If you're ready to move slightly beyond a basic strung necklace, try the Lovely Lariat Tassel . It starts out like a very long—more than 4 feet—single strand of Swarovski crystals, seed beads, pearls, carnelian rondelles, cintrine beads
    Read More >>
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