Historical Recreations w Beads

A friend of mine likes to make historical recreations of jewellery that she sees in paintings. Being confined largely to bed, learning metalsmithing was out of the question, and so she has reproduced what she sees using beads. Her techniques are all self-taught - she "makes it up as she goes along."

Thanks, Sue B., for these fabulous pieces!

I don't pretend to understand the construction of them - I've included lots of close up pics. ;-)

Raw Enthusiasm

There is something wonderfully infectious about a beginner's enthusiasm - reminding us of all the things we take for granted. Like discovering beads for the first time! You might not remember your first beading adventure - or you might be still trying to figure out why the heck you should care about whether your seedbeads are made in Czech or Japan.

Check out this new beader's blog of her journey of discovery and feel the rush again! Beau Dangles!

Sneak Peek at Next Week

New Stone of the Month - Snake Skin Jasper! And some sterling stuff too!

Bronze Clay

Ohhh, so sorry for no post yesterday - but we're just having way too much fun! Yesterday was day 1 of a 2 day class in mixed metals (fine silver, and bronze clay). The kit for the class included two packs of pmc, and 1 pack of bronze. The bronze comes in 100g packages. Believe me, you can make A LOT of goodies with a 100 gram package. We made so much stuff, we had a really hard time fitting everything in the two firing chambers. You are supposed to leave at least a half inch in between each piece that you fire, and the pieces are surrounded by coconut carbon. With the sheer number of items made - we did not have that luxury.

We were very careful to keep everything at least a little bit separated, and all pieces survived the firing with no major issues. We did notice a wee bit of oxidation on the ones that were too close together, but the slight oxidation does seem to be coming off with an extended tumbling session. We'll see once it's all done.

The class is now making up their silver pieces, and this afternoon we should see some finished works!

Ohh, and we do now carry the bronze - It's not up on the site yet, but we'll have it up soon.

Happy Hour Torching Conflict

I'm going to the Lampworker's dinner tonight - which means that I won't be at the Happy Hour torching tonight. (Happy Hour torching is for lampworkers - torch one hour, get the second hour free.) Usually it is on Thursday nights.

Anyhoo - the Happy Hour Torching is still in effect - if anyone does want to come in, please accept my apologies that I won't be there. If you want to join us downtown at the Mill St Pub (Distillery district) - you are more than welcome! (Starting at 7 pm)

The Lampworker's Dinner is an informal get-together where you can talk about beads and glass and torching to people who's eyes won't glaze over after 30 seconds. ;-)

Exciting Times Here at Beadfx!

As many of you know Kate McKinnon is here this week. Yesterday's findings class was a huge success. All of Kate's classes are full, except for the Saturday class--Buildings, Boxes and Birdhouses. There are two spots available in Saturday's class, experience with metal required.



Next week also looks great. We have Wire Crochet Earrings on Sunday May 24th with Stephanie Dixon.


Tuesday May 26th Angela Peace is here teaching Introduction to Chinese Knotting: Button Knots.


Wednesday May 27th is An Introduction to Lampworking with Dwyn Tomlinson from 12-4pm.


Thursday May 28th Angela Peace is back again with Snake Knot and Phoenix Knot Cords.


Saturday May 30th is our Lampwork Trunk Show

Sunday May 31st is Charmed I'm Sure with Heather Bell-Denison.


Happy Hour Torching will resume next Thursday, May 28th from 5-9pm, buy one hour get one free!!

Happy Beading!

Kate McKinnon is here!

Kate here for her first day of teaching. Today's class is on Fine silver findings. We've got 10 totally enthused students. The class has just started a few minutes ago. I'll post more once everyone starts working on their findings.

Victoria Day

What a gorgeous morning it is out there - just stunning. Get outside and enjoy it! Instead of sitting down to make jewelry or write up a technique - which, by the way - what do you all need to know? - cuz I've covered a lot of the basics. Anyway, grab a coffee and join me in my morning meander around the garden.

Say - do you remember my buying a Chinese Tree Peony last year? Well - it survived the winter and has a single, big, fat bud on it! Look at how fat that bud is!

And how about this awesome, juicy shade of green as the ferns unfold! They have a little sun now, but as the foliage around them fills in - they will be in a perfect, shady spot!


The Crab Apple has exploded in it spring time riot of colour. Say - have you thought of using turquoise and tourmaline together? How about that pink! Or is it red?


The Uncrabby Apple is similarly covered in flowers - promising a branch-bending load of fruit, that will slowly sweeten from August through November - and provide months of happy do-it-yourself desserts for my dogs who love to eat the windfalls.

Lots of Irises out, and they seem early this year. I think all the rain made them feel like they were growing in a swamp! All my irises have been gifts from friends as they thinned their own iris patches out. In a few years, I'll be doing the same myself!


This strange bush puzzles me - I've seen it in nurseries labeled "Bush Cherry" - but it never produces fruit. It's a rather scraggly shrub with red leaves - and it's spring time bloom is pretty much its redeeming feature. Especially as it is oddly located smack in the middle of the lawn.


And this is one of the apple-snacking dogs. This is Abby - who is standing in the backyard. Standing may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but on Good Friday, she collapsed with a herniated disc and her hindquarters were completely paralyzed. One surgery and a lot of truly amazing and excellent veterinary care later from the good folks at VEC, (especially Dr. Cochrane!) and also at the Animal Rehab Centre - and she is now getting up, walking and even running a little. Every day she gets better and better, stronger and more able. (And a huge thank you to Paul of K9-Solutions - who has been boarding the young dog for me so Abby can recover in peace, without the puppy jumping on her and knocking her down.)


And finally - here's a picture of the other dog - Bones - so he doesn't feel left out. Apparently - he doesn't much like the Bush Cherry either!

Have a great Victoria Day.

More Tips for Online Sellers

If you are selling online, and especially if you have an etsy.com shop, then you should know about "Sellers Assisting Sellers" - a blog with lots of useful tips for online selling.

From Time Management to The Effectiveness of Banner Advertising to useful browser add-ins (which are little pieces of software which get added to your browser to make it more useful. If you are still confused, a browser is what you are using to read this article. Probably. )

Check it out, it is definitely worth it!

Oops - sorry - link fixed now!

Sneak Peek at Next Week

Pearls! Funky, lumpy, chunky, bumpy!

We are still here :-)

I just realized of course that I haven't yet made my blog post for yesterday or today. Of course, I'm not having the greatest week. My computer died on Monday, and I've been fighting for computer time ever since. We're also crazy busy getting the studio and the classroom ready for Kate Mckinnon's classes next week.

Kate is teaching 4 classes starting on Tuesday. If you have no idea who she is, check out her blog here. Kate is one of the most prolific metal clay artists out there. And of course, she's the best kind of instructor you could hope to have. Kate is known for sharing pretty much everything she knows. Every student comes out of her classes brimming with knowledge and ideas. It's a huge amount of fun, and well worth every penny!

I'll be blogging the classes next week, and I'll make sure I have my proper camera here. Lots of pics!

Not Going Away this Weekend, Take a Class!

I am sure that many of you are heading out for the long weekend, but if you're not it is a great weekend to come by and take some classes with Marilyn Gardiner. She is offering two great classes this Saturday, May 16th:

Shaggy Drops Bracelet



And her new Captive Round Necklace or Bracelet. This is a beginner level chain mail class, it is also absolutely beautiful!



Next week the fabulous Kate McKinnon is here. Most of the classes are full with long waiting lists, but there are 3 spots available in Saturday's Buildings, Boxes and Birdhouses class. Experience with metal clay is required.




Sunday May 24th is Stephanie Dixon's Wire Crochet Earrings




Tuesday May 26th is Angela Peace's Introduction to Chinese Knotting: Buttons Knots



Wednesday May 27th is An Introduction to Lampworking with Dwyn Tomlinson



Thursday May 28th is Angela Peace's Snake Knot and Phoenix Knot Cords. Please note the major typo here(which I will get fixed asap), this class is posted on Friday May 29th, but it should be Thursday May 28th. Sorry about that!



And of course the Lampwork Trunk Show is on Saturday May 30th. Details to come, stay tuned!

Just a reminder about Happy Hour Torching this Thursday from 5-9pm, buy one hour get one free! Call to reserve your torch.

Hope that everyone enjoys the first long weekend of the summer. Please note that we will be closed on Victoria Day, Monday May 18th.

Happy Beading!

Playing with copper

Last night, we had our monthly Ontario Art Clay Addicts meeting. The topic this week was copper, specfically Hadar Jacobsen's Copper clay in powder form. You can get a 100gm tub of powder for $20 US. Big price difference from the silver!

There were 9 of us last night, and we mixed up 2 100 gram tubs. Mixing the copper powder was no big deal, and probably only took about 10 minutes total. The powder is nice to work with in that getting the texture you need is pretty easy to do. The first batch was drying out a bit, but I suspect that I didn't mix it quite well enough. The second batch was a dream to work with. Very much like ceramic clays.

Here are some pics of the finished pieces. I'll post more once I've got them fired.


This is how the clay powder comes packaged. It's awesome that you can mix up exactly how much you need, and not have to worry about it drying out.


Sandra perusing the pdf's from Hadar Jacobsens website


Heather, Iris, and Mona - just being silly.








Some of our test pieces. We can't wait to see how they turn out! I'll post pics of the fired work.

Fixing an Oops!

Yes - oopses happen to all of us. I was making this rather handsome necklace, and I secured the final crimp, added the crimp cover, trimmed the line, and all seemed well. I went to try it on, and the crimp let go on one side. It had gone on sort of crooked - but resisted my tugging - so I thought it was okay. The clasp slid off - leaving me with a short, short end that there was no way I going to get back through the clasp and into a replacement crimp. OK - how to fix this without restringing the entire piece?

Fortunately, there were some beads in the pattern that have really big holes, and one not too far away from the clasp (about 2 inches) - perfect!

I unstrung back to the big-hole bead, and removed it as well.










I then took a new length of bead wire and slid a crimp over it and the new wire, and slid it the crimp right up to the last strung bead on the necklace. I left a tail on the new piece of wire.








I then crimped that into position. And to be extra sure of the connection, I tied the tail of the new wire over the crimp to the tail of the old wire.













Then I put the big holed bead back on - sliding it over the crimp with the knot over it (it needed a little encouragement) and I had 3 wires sticking out - one long one and and two short ends. I trimmed the two shorts ends, and then restrung the rest of the necklace, reattaching the clasp at the end - more carefully this time.







Voila - all better now and who could tell!

My copper turquoise necklace with dragon and phoenix beads has risen from the ashes of disaster!

The upside of failures like this is that I get a blog post out of it.

I live to be a bad example to you all!

I'll post this as an inspiration shortly if you want to make your own!

Do you blog?

Do you blog? Ever get stuck for ideas? Check out plinky.com - which has a daily suggested topic question - answering the question can get you going on your post.

Here's a sample of some of their questions:

• Name a book that changed your mind or opened your eyes.


• What's the least fun you've ever had at a place specifically tailored for fun?


• What's the most useless thing in your house right now?

And if you do have a blog - tell us about it in the comments! We'd love to see what you have to say! Especially if you talk about us! ;-)

Sneak Peek at Next Week

A jaunt to the Orient, with cloisonne tree peonies and cinnabar dragons.