New Product Launch at John Bead

One of our suppliers did a big to do with a new product launch today. Reps from Tierra Cast, Jablonex, Softflex, and Unicorne Beads were there to show off all of the new goodies coming down the line. Each manufacturer had a variety of Make and Takes available. Unfortunately, we couldn't spend all day to take advantage of that, but Marg and I had a chance to chat with each of the reps.

Softflex had a fabulous display of designs featuring their new coloured softflex. I'll be working up some of the designs to showcase in our inspirations next week. Fun stuff!

Tierra Cast was featuring the findings that you can glue paper, beads, swarovski's into. Some really neat ideas! Some of the findings will accept a 12mm Swarovski Rivoli...these were stunning, and we'll be adding those to our line as well.

Here's a few pics that I snapped on my cell phone - please excuse the quality!

Samples from Tierra Cast
Linda from John Bead at the Tierra Cast Booth


This bracelet was made by one of the reps from Jablonex. Unfortunately, of course the picture is beyond awful, and you can't see it - But it was stunning. She used the metal links/separator/coupling bar that can be found here - Cut down to size for the bracelet.


Beth from Unicorne Beads
Laurie-Ann from Unicorne teaching a Make and Take.


Samples from Softflex.


Sara Harding from SoftFlex! Hey Sara - see you look great on no sleep :-)

More samples from Tierra Cast.

I hope I didn't miss anyone. Oohhh, I did get to listen in on a talk from Douglas Ho, the owner of Unicorne Beads. Douglas gave a speech on best practices for the bead industry. Very informative, and of course nothing that Marg and I didn't already know, but you tend to forget things over time. Well worth the time!

Lampwork Finally

Yeeesh, I never thought I'd have so much trouble posting the beads this week. Let's hope that next week is better!

How to Buy: Send an email to info@beadfx.com with code of the bead you would like. We can either, and let us know how you would prefer to pay for it. We've got lots of options for you!

Without further ado....

Up first, we have a 30mm diameter puffy tab bead from Erin of Airwynn Glass - Code Lampwork2-8 $29.00


Next up, a nice big Dwyn sized focal tab. Lots going on in this one. You'll be staring into it for hours...(no that's why it took me a week to put these up) 45mm x 30mm Code: lampwork2-7 $25.00




And we have another lovely by Dwyn, and my fave by far...you gotta love cobalt and silver ;-) 35mm x 30mm Code: lampwork2-6 $ 20.00


Cranberries! A 9 bead set from Amy Waldman - the biggest measures 20mm x 23mm - Code: Lampwork2-5 $ 34.00


Hmmm, the pic didn't come up quite right on this one It's far more ivory and mauve than is showing. Lovely!! - Andria 29mm x 25mm Thin flat tab. Code: lampwork2-4 $19


Next up, an impressionist floral with lots of vines and flowers in this bicone. Elly Peters 34mm x 15mm code: Lampwork2-3 $18.00

Ribbons! Very funky focal by Amy Waldman - 30mm x 30mm Code: lampwork2-2 $36.00


Last up...Dichro ...Wowsers, this one is brilliant. Made by Dwyn 32mm x 40mm Code: lampwork2-1 $20.00

You can't call it that!

So - I'm behind a minivan in an intersection - typical minivan - and it has the model name on the side. "Montana" it says. And the van is a dark green.

And I thinks to myself, thinks I: "They can't call it that and paint it that colour. If its Montana - it has to be blue. And a dark blue at that."

I've spent so much time living with beads that Montana is a shade of dark blue - and woe to anyone who tries to tell me otherwise.

Oddly enough, I didn't have a problem with Don Cherry having a white dog called Blue. Go figure.

The Most Valuable Jewelry Making Resource on the Internet

If you want to make jewelry - seriously want to make jewelry - and you listen to nothing else I ever say - listen to this. The most comprehensive and complete jewelry making reference and forum is Ganoksin - known to participants of the mailing list as the "orchid list."

The reference material, articles, videos - are a huge help to those who want to learn - or are just curious.

And the mailing list, although very high volume - has a huge amount of information on it. If you can take the time to read it - you will learn lots from people making a living being goldsmiths and jewelers.

I highly recommend it!

And if you agree with me - send them some money - they have a donate via paypal button. They have been serving up this information free of charge for years - their website says since '96 - and I think I've been reading it on and off since about '98. They deserve your support. ;-)

New lampwork!

My blog post is going to be a little late today. I've got a wonderful new selection of lampwork beads for you today. Unfortunately, the photography gods were not smiling on me last night. Stay tuned late tonight for an update!


Speaking of lampwork, we have our Trunk Show coming up on Saturday May 30th. Join us from 10 to 5 to meet 12 bead artists and their awesome work. Lot's of yummy goodies to eat too!

Mother's Day Weekend at Beadfx!

Mother's Day is fast approaching and we have some great classes this weekend, all of them would make great gifts for mom or are the perfect way to spend the day together!

Stephanie Dixon's Bling Ring on Saturday May 9th would make a lovely gift for any mom.



Amy Waldman-Smith has a Glass Bead Making Weekend on May 9th and 10th.



Robert Burton has 2 new classes on Sunday May 10th:

Wire Wrapped Beaded Bracelet



Simple Wire Wrapping Techniques



Both of these classes are beginner classes. They are a project based class which will introduce you to working with wire, but are not as thorough as the Wire Wrapping 101, but are a great start!

Heather Bell Denison's Charmed I'm Sure is on Tuesday May 12th.



Don't forget that we have Happy Hour Torching again this Thursday! Buy one hour get one free. Be sure to reserve your torch in advance.

Happy Beading and a Happy Mother's Day too!

Update on the Corsage Project

Just got an email from the organizers at the Corsage Project. The distribution event was this past weekend. The email says in part:

Our event went well and we helped about 270 girls. It was crazy busy, but we did it thanks to the caring and generosity of people like yourselves. I hope one day you will come to the event as a guest just so you can see what your work does for the girls.

Nice to know we all are making a difference!

Hanging Around

Necessity is the mother of invention - there is probably no truer an axiom on the planet. Mostly, we invent new things and new ways of doing things because we need to. ;-)

So - I was out of bails one day ... and had already wired up the pendant, and the loop was too small for the chain. I didn't have a jumpring big enough or sturdy enough - but I did have some of these "S" shaped clasps.

So I used that to attach the pendant to the chain. And it works really well - and now it's a device that I use on purpose, instead of as an act of desperation!

And, as a added bonus, you can use it if you want to swap pendants on and off a chain. Remember to bend the wire to the side - just like jumprings - to open it. Don't pull straight out - doing that repeatedly will fatigue the metal and it will break.

And, we have some of these "S" hooks in copper coming live on the site on Wed!

Eye Candy - Hemmerle

Clean lines and a gentle musical interlude. This German jewelry firm, Hemmerle, doesn't do frou-frou and fussy. But I like their work anyway. ;-)

Sneak Peek at Next Week

New colours of Softflex! Your favourite stringing material - in a whack of new colours. From 24k gold (my fave) to Champagne to Gemstone inspired colours, such as Pink Tourmaline and ... You'll have to wait to see them all!

More copper beads, findings, clasps, bead caps and chains. It's a copper-copia!

So much for working from home

Today was my work from day, planned to get a few blog posts done...catch up on emails, and some paperwork. The kind of stuff it's almost impossible to get done at the store some days.

We ended up having to keep my youngest home today. She's three, full of beans, and certainly not sick. However, she's got a cough. And the paranoia in the schools is forcing me to keep her home with me today. In any case, I'm not getting too much done in between Isla, and the dog.

On Sunday, we'll post our lampwork selection for the week. Sorry for the delay, but we just had too much going on this week.

For those of you going to the bead fair tomorrow - enjoy!

Happy Thursday

So I woke up this morning to discover that our website was supposedly down. Dwyn called to let us know, and I couldn't connect at all. I could get email though, and since it's all on the same server I found that a little strange. I called the store to let them know I was running late as I was trying to get the website back up and running. Of course their response was 'huh?' The website is fine here.

More strangeness. Turns out one of the major pipes (bandwidth) in Toronto was having problems. If you had trouble getting to the site this morning - that's why. It should be all fixed now.

In other news, we're super busy getting ready for the bead fair this weekend! The Spring Fair is on Saturday from 10-5 details here.

Have fun at the show! Our store will be open, and I'll be working at the store so that Rosemary can go to the show. She's never been able to go, as our store is always open. We thought we'd give her a chance to check out the show.

April Showers Brings May Bling!

Ok, so with the Bead Fair coming up this weekend we do not have too much going on this week-except for Nadine's fabulous Dancing Dahlia Brooch Class!!



And of we have our second Happy Hour Torching Night!! Buy 1 hour get 1 hour free!!

The rest of May looks pretty darn fantastic though. Stephanie Dixon's new class the Bling Ring is on Saturday May 9th.



Learn to Make Glass Beads Weekend with Amy Waldman-Smith on Saturday May 9th and 10th.



On May 10th we also have 2 NEW Robert Burton classes:
Wire Wrapped Beaded Bracelet and Earrings



And Simple Wire Wrapping Techniques




Charmed I'm Sure with Heather Bell-Denison on Tuesday May 12th.



Saturday May 16th we have two Marilyn Gardiner Classes:
Shaggy Drops Bracelet



And another new chain mail class, the Captive Round Necklace or Bracelet.




May 19th to the 23rd Kate McKinnon is here! Most classes are booked solid, but there are one or two spots still available in the following classes:

Fine Silver Metal Clay Chain on Wednesday May 20th has one more spot! This is a beginner class.



Buildings, Boxes and Birdhouses on Saturday May 23rd has 2 spots left!! This class is an intermediate level class.



Wire Crochet Earrings for Beginners with Stephanie Dixon on Sunday May 24th



May 26th Introduction to Chinese Knotting: Button Knots with Angela Peace.



And on May 29th we have Snake Knot and Phoenix Knot Cords with Angela Peace.



Dwyn has a 4 Hour Introduction to Lampworking class on Wednesday May 27th.
The Lampwork Trunk Show is on Saturday May 30th-stay tuned for details.



And we end off the month with Charmed I'm Sure, with Heather Bell-Denison.




Don't forget that we have Happy Hour Torching every Thursday in May from 5pm to 9pm, except for May 21st when Kate McKinnon is here.

Hope to see you at the Bead Fair this Saturday. Show runs from 10am to 5pm.

Happy Beading!!

Our love affair with etsy

I can't help it. I really can't... I adore handmade goodies, and even if I can't actually buy all of the things that I covet.. I do love to look. One day, while browsing around it came to me that since I spend too much time there as it is. Some work, but mostly not. It would be a natural extension to offer up some of our goodies on etsy. I ran it by Dwyn, as she is my voice of reason most of the time. I don't always listen... In this case, she agreed with me.

We have set up a sister site on Etsy. We've hand selected a few (ok, a little more than a few) items that we are offering up for sale on our etsy site.

Things are of course a little different there, one of which being that etsy is all in US dollars. As a Canadian, I prefer to sell in Canadian currency - no choice here.

This will of course work out for all of our American friends and customers who will find it much easier to purchase in their own currency. No surprises.

Also, you cannot combine your purchases on etsy with purchases on beadfx.com. The inventory, order processing, and shipping is being handled completely differently.

More goodies will be added to the etsy site all the time. It won't be updated any where near as extensively as our main site, and you may find items on etsy that we have limited quantities on, or no ability to restock. It's easier to list those items there. We hope you enjoy the new beadfx etsy site!

Dwyn has also set up a new etsy site for the inspirations that she designs for us. This is in addition to her lampwork site as well.....See, we're feeling the etsy love!

Multi-Strand Bracelet

I love this style of bracelet - I made a bunch of them in different colours. This goes back a ways, but sometimes, when sorting through older items - you find they are fresh and new again!

The only key thing with making these is to make sure all the strands are the same length - otherwise, one sticks up or flops over and looks goofy. If you did it deliberately, I suppose, with different sized beads and whatnot, it would look ok - but I was going for smooth river of colour look myself.

The other slight awkwardness was that I could never find 5-strand clasps to go with the 5-strand spacer bars - so I would use a 4-strand and attach 2 strands to one loop. Slight potential there for getting the tension wrong and having one strand stick up - but it just takes a little fiddling. I find that no one notices once it's done.

Make sure your beads aren't too wide for the spacing on the separator too. That will cause bunching as well! I find that 4 mm Swarovski rounds or Bicones work best.

Why is the separator even necessary? Well, it is functioning as a connector in this case, and if you don't use it - the strands will flop apart and again, ruin that smooth illusion.



The easiest way to get everything smooth and lined up is to do all the stringing first, then secure the strands with crimps.

Start with 3 separators, and start threading and laying out your design. Use some tape or bead stoppers to prevent frustrating unstringing accidents!



















Secure one end with the crimps, and then slide up the beads and do the other end.





















And the finished bracelet! I used 3 separator connector bars - which you can use either sterling or silver-plated. The silver-plated is way less expensive! The clasp is a magnetic tube clasp. You'll need crimps and Softflex (I used the Extreme silver.) The space between the loops on the clasp is fairly small - so you might need to get in there with the micro-tipped pliers or smaller style crimpers to get those crimps properly squeezed.

This one was inspired by some turmaline gemstones that I had. The colours I used are (2 of each):

• Indian Sapphire
• Turmaline
• Khaki
• Olivine
• Lime
• Lt Topaz
• Indian Red
• Fuchsia
• Burgundy

I used 20 beads per section (between the connectors), per strand, so it was 20 x 2 x 5 (which includes the Sterling Stardust beads - adjust if you are not using those.)











It also rocks when made with 4 mm crystal bicones, in which case, I used some small sterling rounds as well. In this case the number of crystals was also 40 x 5 + 10 x 5 2mm rounds. Adjust as required for your preferred length.



If you click on this Siam AB (red) one - you can get an image large enough to count the beads and see them clearly.














And this last one is the Jet AB crystals. Is this awesome or what?