Bead Cruise 2012

Registration for Bead Cruise 2012 opens on Monday!

Join us March 3rd as we set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 8 nights of beads, friends and fun! We'll sail on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas to Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Basseterre, St. Kitts; San Juan, Puerto Rico and the private beaches of Labadee.  Visit the Bead Cruise website for complete details.

Instructors include Tracy Stanley, Kerry Bogert, Beverly Herman, Jill Wiseman and Heather Powers. Our classes include metalwork, wire-wrapping, beadwork, beadmaking, and even photography!

All the fun of a luxury cruise combined with a great bead retreat. The registration fee covers classes, workshops, open beading sessions, a cocktail party, gift bags, door prizes, a bead bazaar and more.

Space is very limited for our 2012 sailing - don't miss the boat!

As a special treat, I'm offering our Bead Cruise Program as a free ebook.  You can view it here.  It includes 7 free projects and bead resources. 

I do have a small request - if you like the ebook please blog, twitter or facebook about the Bead Cruise!

Memory Wire Cuff Bracelets - Free Project

Want a fast, easy, affordable and completely trendy item for your summer shows?  Pull out that spool of memory wire that you have stashed away in your supplies and create some fun memory wire bracelets.  Here is an updated version of one of the simplest designs you can whip up. 

What you'll need:
Memory Wire - 3-5 loops depending on how big you want the cuff
Seed Beads - I used 4x2mm peanut seed beads and 11/0 copper seed beads
Decorative headpin - Humblebeads
Pewter charm - Green Girl Studios
3 7.5mm copper jump rings

Tools:
Round and chain nose pliers,  heavy duty wire cutters or memory wire cutters and a Spin-N-Bead bead spinner.

Directions:

1. Form a loop on one end of the memory wire. Use the chain nose pliers to press the end of the loop, so that it is completely flush - you don't want your charms falling off!

2. Add the seed beads to the bead spinner and position the end of the wire to catch the beads as they spin around. (Watch the video below and use the end of the memory wire instead of the needle.)  You should be able to bead the bracelet within a few minutes.

3. Add on your charms to the end of the wires with the jump rings or by opening and closing the loop.  For the headpin, I created a wrapped loop and kept wrapping the extra wire to create that entwined texture. 

4. Add the 3 peanut beads to a jump ring and attach to the loop.  Repeat.

Peanut seed beads can be found at WhimBeads.com, FusionBeads.com or BelloModo.com.

A design alternative using a tiny nest charm, Vintaj brass bird and 3 amazonite rondelles.

Word of caution: Don't use your good flush cutters to cut memory wire - memory wire is harder than normal wire and will destroy them.  Use an old pair of heavy duty hardware wire cutters or pick up a memory wire cutters.

What the heck is a bead spinner?  This is!  Watch the video below to see how it works.  If you hated working with seed beads before because stringing them is so time consuming - well you are just going to love me for sharing this handy little tool.  It took just a few minutes to whip up the bracelets using the Spin-n-Bead from Beadalon.  You can find them at craft stores or online bead shops.

Cuff Bracelets

Cuff bracelets will be everywhere this summer.  Give them the art bead treatment to turn them from a trend into a treasure. 

Try a curved connector beads by Captured Moments. 

Or look for beads with two holes like this fun set by Gaea. 

Chinook Jewelry has a collection of beautiful curved ceramic connectors in her Architectural Collection. 

More Skye Jewels offers vintage images on wood, Marie will drill them any way you'd like.  You could do two holes or create a double strand beaded cuff with 4 holes on this component.

Let the clasp become the focal by using a cuff style toggle like these ones by Higher Chakra.

Or look for resin and metal pendants with 4 holes like this one by Gardanne Beads.

Lorelei Eurto curved a copper and resin pendant into a cuff focal bead for her bracelet. 

Jean A. Wells combines a ceramic connector with leather and large chunky ceramic beads.

Staci Louise has layered a ceramic pendant on top of a leather cuff.  I love how the wire mimics the line work of the the quilting.

I created a bracelet using one of my 3-hole spacer beads with 3 Vintaj bangles to create a cuff. 

I could also see a cuff made from memory wire that wraps around the wrist several times with metal seed beads and an art bead charm at the end of the loops.

Kick off summer and whip up a cuff bracelet design of your own using beads from your favorite artists.

If I'd Only Known -- Some Tips for New Beaders

I've mentioned in the past that I got into the jewelry design business completely and totally by accident.  I didn’t take a class, just jumped in with both feet and started messing around and figuring things out for myself.

Almost immediately, my hobby turned into a business.  Looking back, there are so many things I wish I’d known:

1)  Beads will take over your life.

Do not fight this.  So from the start, get a huge storage system in place.  It will be full sooner than you know.  The quicker you allocate studio space (even if it's a corner in your basement!), the quicker you’ll be able to find things when you need them — and you'll know what you have so you don’t keep buying the same supply over and over again!

2)  Take some classes early on.

I don’t know how long it was before I learned how to make a perfect wrapped loop, but at first, I had no idea how.  And it showed.

I now allow myself to make all sorts of mistakes while I'm learning a technique....

...but when it comes to selling something, I'm very, very particular about how something is constructed.

3)  Explore different mediums.

Right now, I’m a stringing/wire work jewelry designer.  I know traditional metalsmithing and lampwork bead making, but I’ve gotten so involved with keeping inventory up for the shows I do that I don’t have much time to look into other things, or hone new skills.  If I’d started exploring new mediums sooner, who knows what I’d be making now … altered art?  Woven wire?  PMC?.  It also would have helped me figure out what direction I wanted to go with my jewelry — what did I want my primary market to be?  I didn’t allow myself enough experimentation time before starting to sell.

4)  If you’re going to sell your work, use the best beads you can afford.

I should have been pickier when I first started selling my work.  I cringe now at what I was using.  This doesn’t mean you have to start with AAA London Blue Topaz, but if you’re going to be serious about selling, be serious about your beads.  There are LOTS of wonderful art beads out there that will run circles around the run-of-the-mill beads you'll see in craft stores.


Suburban Girl Beads

 5)  Get a handle on your pricing structure right away.


I quickly learned that my retail prices weren’t going to support a wholesale business.  I also learned that because I started with such cheap beads, it was a little difficult for my customers to get used to prices once I discovered beauties like handmade glass.  (Another good reason to make sure you’re happy with your style before you start selling it!)  Do some research by hitting the craft shows -- what is the price range that seems to be selling?  Additionally, try to decide right away if you’re going after the wholesale or retail market.  Each one has its own peculiarities, and it’s often a good idea to choose one or the other.

I feel pretty lucky that seven years later, things have turned out as well as they have.  But it sure would have made a difference if I knew then what I know now.

What are some things YOU wish you'd known then?

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.    She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party. 

Designer of The Week- Malin de Koning

Each Monday the Art Bead Scene features the Designer of the Week. One of our editors picks her favorite from the Monthly Challenge entries. This week's featured designer is his is what ABS Editor, Jennifer Heynen had to say about Malin de Koning's bracelet:


Hide and Seek is the name of this months painting as well as Malin's bracelet for the monthly challenge. The soft woven leather in the bracelet is a unique way of connecting the donuts. The softness of the painting comes through in the softness of the bracelet.

You can read Malin's post about the bracelet here on her blog.

Sundays with Cindy

Hello Readers! This is getting to be a habit - I'm off early working this morning so please hand me the travel mug of coffee before you start reading on what the bead bloggers have been up to this week....

A Bead A Day
It's Bead Mix week on A Bead A Day! Do you have a favorite bead mix you'd like to share? Stop on over!

About.com Jewelry Making
It's hot, and it's here - summer time! Enjoy our summer with these jewelry making and other crafting ideas.

Art Bead Scene
Copper is the new silver! Here are some copper-y ideas for you!

Beading Arts
And yet another chance to win a fabulous bead package giveaway!

Beads & Books
If you're in a creative rut, you might want to read what Michelle learned from interviewing bead artist Betsy Youngquist.

Carmi's Art Life/World
Carmi tests a package of Shrinky Dink for ink jet printers in order to make a new bracelet.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Bright Colors are everywhere - here's a rewind on how to put some color into your designs!

Resin Crafts!
Carmi creates a ring combining Envirotex Lite resin and resin clay!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean received the most wonderful email from Pasty Evins! You must read it --it will make you, as an artist, think!

The Bead Dreamer
Charlene shares a bracelet made with moon beads, owl charms and thoughts on how we are more alike than different

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew dishes on his secret ingredients for making affordable, but beautiful silver coin pendants!

Studio Saturday with Jennifer Jangles

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner. Congratulations Alice, you won an Ally bead from Cindy.
Hi everyone! Spring is my busiest time of the year....let me show you a little of what I have been working on since my last Studio Saturday post.

A project for Quilts and More magazine.

Made some more drop pairs for these earrings.

Built a bench.

Worked on re-arranging the store.

I've been making lots of beads like these for Bead and Button.

I just got back from Quilt Market.

It's been a wild and super month. I am looking forward to Bead and Button in a few weeks. I always love to reconnect with all of my bead friends. I wish it was more than once a year. I am having a great time working on some new kits and beads for the show. Will you be there?

That happens to be my question for the week. Leave me a comment letting me know if you plan to be at the show. One person who comments will be randomly chosen to win a set of Jangles Beads. If you will be at Bead and Button this year, please stop by booth 1103 and say hi.

Happy Saturday!