Autumn Colours and Classes

By now you've noticed the days getting longer and the nights are nice and cool. Yes, Fall is upon in all its glory and colour! Have you also noticed that Santa's helpers are starting to decorate some of the stores? (No, come back and finish reading!!)

Now is the time to start some of your holiday projects to finish in time for gift-giving! And what better time to learn a new technique to create beautiful gifts for your family members and friends - and yourself!

We've had a lot of inquiries about photographing jewellery and we're proud to announce that Jules Oille, a professional photographer who specializes in product photography, is teaching three introductory classes on Saturday, October 26. He will discuss the elements of taking good photos and what you can do to create the best possible photographs without spending a huge amount of money. Malliga Nathan, whom many of you know from the store, is sharing how she uses resin and mica powder to create stunning cabachons that you can use in bead embroidery or set into pendants. Catherine Winter is repeating How to to Start and Run a Successful Microbusiness as well as holding How to have a Successful Craft Show. We also welcome wire artist Marg Hughes!

Here's what is scheduled October 16 - 31:

Thursday, October 17
Soutache Lesson #1 - The Basic Module (left)
Instructor: Angela Peace
6:00 - 9:00pm

Open Metal: Soldering (right)
Facilitator: Iris Rogers Melamed
6:00 - 9:00pm

Friday, October 18
NEW Resin Cabachons
Instructor: Malliga Nathan
6:00 - 9:00pm

Saturday, October 19
Knotted Box-style Bracelet (left)
Instructor: Angela Peace
9:30am - 12:30pm

Hot Connections 1 (right)
Instructor: Iris Rogers Melamed

10:00am - 2:30pm

Introduction to Lampworking, Part B (two-day course)
Instructor: Amy Waldman-Smith
10:00am - 2:30pm

Sunday, October 20
Getting to Started with Hadar's Clay (left)
Instructor: Liz Reynolds
1:00 - 5:00pm

Metal Clay Play Day (right)
Facilitator: Jennifer Tough

11:00am - 4:00pm

  Monday, October 21
How to Start and Run a Successful Microbusiness
Instructor: Catherine Winter
5:00 - 9:00pm

Tuesday, October 22
NEW Diagonal Netting
Instructor: Maria Rypan
6:00 - 9:00pm

Thursday, October 24
NEW Twins Peyote Band Bracelet
Instructor: Pamela Kearns
6:00 - 9:00pm

Saturday, October 26
Charmed I'm Sure (left)
Instructor: Heather Bell Denison
10:00am - 5:00pm

NEW Taking the Mystery out of Photography (right)
Instructor: Jules Oille
10:00am - 12:00pm; 12:30 - 2:30pm; and 3:00 - 5:00pm (three classes)

Sunday, October 27
NEW Wrap it Up! (left)
Instructor: Marg Hughes
Time

NEW Knotted Chips and Wrapped Loops(right)
Instructor: Rae Huggins
12:30 - 3:30pm

Monday, October 28
NEW How to Have a Successful Craft Show
Instructor: Catherine Winter
5:00 - 9:00pm

Tuesday, October 29
NEW Cascading Swags
Instructor: Maria Rypan
6:00 - 9:00pm

Complete information about all classes, including descriptions, class fees and kit fees are on our website. Click on 'Classes' and follow the link to 'October'.

Monday Inspiration: Batty for Halloween

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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Batty for Halloween
by: Rochelle Kilmer
Are you Batty for Halloween? Are you cackling with glee at the thought of the upcoming holiday? Planning spooky yard decorations and ghoulishly delightful Halloween dishes like Mud Pie with Gummy Worms and CupCakes with Chocolate Spiders?

If so - you'll love this Statement Bat Necklace!

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Sunday Inspiration: October Star

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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October Star
by: Dwyn Tomlinson
This Carnelian is so glorious - such a wonderful, yummy, candy look to it. I wanted to use some of it - but wanted to try a different colour combination - something non-obvious - well - to me, anyway. Obvious to me is combining it with black or blue. (Blue is the complementary colour, Black - well - everything looks great with black.)

The ivory beads looked really nice with the Carnelian, so I grabbed some of the carved bone and some of the Swarovski gemstone pearls and started designing.

Halfway through, I decided that it needed a focal, so I wired a bone bead onto a filigree star as a pendant.

Go to our project page for the full instructions and component list.

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Fish Leather: Fading

We got a call from a customer that the tilapia fish leather that she bought from us appears to have faded. We compare some of the in-store samples to current stock, and there does appear to be some fading going on.

Allowing for dye-lot differences - that still seems pretty extreme - especially as our samples have not been sitting in direct sunlight. 

So this is a heads up. This leather may fade. We are talking to our supplier, and will see what they have to say about this.

We're pretty disappointed. If this is what it going to do - we will be discontinuing it.

Just wanted to let you know.

On the road with beadFX

We're heading down the 401 to Guelph this weekend to participate in the 12th Annual Grand River Bead Society Bead Show and Sale. 

Show Dates:  Oct 5 & 6      10am - 5pm 

Show Location:  Guelph Place Banquet Hall, 

492 Michener Rd, Guelph

Admission: $3

Pam and Vanessa will be there to enable your bead addiction. Pam is excellent at choosing which products to bring to shows. She really takes care to pack the hottest new items and the staple ones that you need. And sometimes she has little treasures that are ONLY available at the show. Sneaky sneaky!!

Some of your favourite beadFX instructors will also be there at their own booths. 

Marilyn Gardiner

Maria Rypan

Angela Peace

Roxann Blazetovich Ozols

Stephanie Dixon (yes, that's me!)

For those of you who can't make the drive to Toronto to visit us in person, we hope you can visit us at the show to see a selection of what we do have in store. 

On sale this week! 30% off Czech Firepolish!!!!

On Sale
this
Week

30% off

Czech Firepolish

Woohoo!

30% off!

Asteroid

Bicones

Briolettes

Cathedral / Lantern

Chevron Nugget

Cut Cubes

Donut

Drops

Faceted Round

Fancy Shapes

Ovals

Rich Cut Round

TwoWay Cut

All our Sales start on Wed Midnight.
and run to the following Wed midnight.

New This Week!

It's October - are you afraid ...

... of goblins and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night?

How about a morbid fear of boring jewelry that everyone else is wearing? We banish that fear with brilliant beads, fabulous findings, captivating components, scintillating supplies and inspirational inspirations!

Did you know that all our inspirations are designed in-house by our fabulously creative staff? In fact - we have all been so inspired lately - that we are now publishing two new projects every week! So check us out on Sunday and Monday for the new InspirationFX!

October is a fabulous month - full of colour, days that start foggy and grey, turn warm and lanquid, and end frosty and brilliant again. Every day feels like a gift - wrapped in a changing symphony of colour as the trees throw on cloaks of yellow, scarves of orange and paint their leaves red.

If orange is your colour - then this new stock of Carnelian will make your heart sing. And if you don't like orange - this is so yummy - you may well change your mind! Beautifully glossy, translucent, and richly coloured - what's not to love about this!


On a different note, and speaking of colour - how about some fruit cake? Simply labeled "Inlay cut" - this colourful mix of agate in matrix bears a strong resemblance to holiday fruit cake. Novel, if nothing else. ;-)



Calling all Kumihimo fans! We have some giant-ass beads with holes you can drive a semi through. These monster-truck-tire-sized stone beads are the perfect complement for your hand-made braided cords - but if you chose to use them some other way - we won't judge!
As always, you can click on a link above or start with our new products page! Get out there and bead up something!




On sale this week* - 30% off Czech Firepolish beads! Czech it out!

*(Sale runs Wed midnight to Wed midnight.)

Captivating Cupchain

If there's one thing I love, it's Swarovski crystal. The cut, the colour, the sparkle. Nobody does it like Swarovski. And here at beadFX, there are so many different Swarovski products, from round stones and fancy stones, beads, pendants and pearls, to flat back and hotfix rhinestones and my latest favourite, Cupchain!

So what can you do with the cup chain?

I bought some preexisting bangles from a store that caters to women who are a little.... Fluffy shall we say. At least my hand span is larger than most. 

I measured the outside diameter of the bangle: 10 inches, and bought 10 inches of cupchain in Crystal AB and Fucshia. Using a wing span of 22 gauge Parawire, I wrapped the wire around the bangle a few times to secure it in place. Then I wrapped the cupchain to the bangle with the wire. To end the wire neatly so that it doesn't poke, I used my round nose pliers to create spirals. 

Easy peasy!! A sensational, million dollar bracelet for less than $15!!!!

Here are some images I pulled from the Pinterest board I created called Cupchain. You do follow us on Pinterest, don't you?

http://www.pinterest.com/beadfx/

There are lots more images on our Cupchain board to explore. 

Here's the link to available Swarovski cupchain:

http://www.beadfx.com/catalogue/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=347

Last Day of Sale - 25% off Swarovski Elephants er, Elements

25% off - ends tomorrow night at midnight!

Swarovski Crystal Elements



Classic Shapes
(Bicones, Rounds, Cubes, etc.)


Drops

Fancy Stones
Pearls
& etc! 
Here's a Power Shopper Tip. Go to our Site Map Page, press control + f, and search for Swarovski - that's the fastest way to find them!

25% off!

All our Sales start on Wed Midnight.
and run to the following Wed midnight.

Come out and play at Metal Clay Play Days!

You've taken an introductory class for one of metal clays such as Art Clay Silver and have caught the excitement in working with this versatile medium - now what?! Well, come on out to a monthly Metal Clay Play Day!

Jennifer Tough, a certified Silver Metal Clay Instructor, facilitates the sessions and will happily share tips and techniques with you. "This session is a perfect opportunity to spend time with fellow metal clay enthusiasts, share techniques, your newest projects, and a chance to refine your skills in our comfortable, and well-stocked studio", says Jennifer.

The sessions are open to all who have taken an introductory course in working with Metal Clays. "We have participants with a range of skill levels. Whether you have only taken one class, or you've been working with metal clay for years - you'll find a day spent playing in the studio a refreshing change of pace. Share, create, and be inspired", Jennifer adds.

Metal Clay Play Days run from 11:00am to 4:00pm and cost a nominal  $15. It includes the use of BeadFX's tools, texture sheets, stamps, torch firing, and more. You're welcome to come for the full session or drop in for part of the day.

Kiln firing of Art Clay Silver, Art Clay Original and Metal Adventures Fast Fire Bronze and tumbling of finished pieces are not included in the session cost, but is available. At this time, we are not firing Hadar's Clays.

Upcoming scheduled Metal Clay Play Days:
Sunday, October 20; 11:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday, November 17; 11:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday, December 15; 11:00am - 4:00pm

Upcoming Art Clay Silver classes:
Saturday, October 26: Charmed, I'm Sure Intro to Art Clay Silver; with Heather Bell Denison
Friday, November 22: Introduction to Art Clay Silver Express; with Jenn Jevons
Saturday, November 23: Silver Clay Ornaments and Embellishments; with Jenn Jevons

Upcoming Hadar's Clay classes:
Sunday, October 20: Getting started with Hadar's Clay, with Liz Reynolds
Sunday, November 3: Getting started with Hadar's Clay, with Liz Reynolds
Sunday, November 24: Getting started with Hadar's Clay, with Liz Reynolds

To see complete details and descriptions of Metal Clay Play Days and classes, please refer to our website. To register for any sessions or classes, please call BeadFX at (416) 751-1911.