Handmade Beads

by Patti Vanderbloemen

Boy...it has been quite some time since I have blogged here! It feels good to be back! :)

Personally, I have an affinity towards handmade beads - all mediums. I don't know about you, but I cannot count the number of "subscribed lists" I have signed up for to arrive in my email inbox, but I do at least glance at each and every "blog type" email that pops up in my mailbox feed -- always on the lookout for inspiration.. One of my favorite's is the Interweave Blog.

A couple of weeks ago, Tammy Jones had a post related to 1-hour rings.  In this post was a quick, down and dirty tutorial to make a sterling silver ring that resembled bamboo (if interested, here is the link to that blog post). The tutorial (by artist Elizabeth Ann Tokoly) starts with a sterling silver ring already soldered and formed. After reading through the steps involved, I felt a thick gauge wire would work best - so I grabbed 6 gauge.

I will say, the making of this ring took me 1 hour and 45 minutes - but that included forming the ring from such heavy stock - I had to anneal the metal several times just to get it formed for soldering. And then anneal several more times AFTER the soldering to get it round and to the correct size (why didn't I just grab 8 gauge?) :) Also, it is a bit cumbersome to saw the score lines around the ring - but it can be done.

 Anyway, it is a COOL ring, which I have gifted to a friend. (Forgive the picture quality - I just took a quick picture for reference purposes only).

This technique would be AWESOME for a bangle - which I will try in the future. In the meantime, I thought I would try making a little bead using this technique. For this bead, I grabbed some thick-walled sterling tubing.

I roughly measured the bead length to 3/4".

Cut the tubing to size using my tube cutting jig and jeweler's saw.

I made two little "end caps" for the bead by using my disc cutter and some scrap silver sheet - it's 18 gauge sheet, so it is thick.

I used medium silver solder paste to attach the first end cap to the tube - this is my set up.

After pickling - you can see that the excess overhang of the disc needs filing.

I used my ring clamp to stabilize the bead against my bench pin while I quickly filed away the excess silver.

The picture below is a bit blurry, but I filed the disc / end cap to be flush with the tubing.

Never EVER solder a hollow bead without first making a hole to allow steam to escape when soldering. Though I have not done it myself, I have read where nasty accidents can happen if the escape hole is not in place before closing up this hollow form. I simply put my bead in my vice and drilled a hole.

Second disc/end cap solder set up.

Pickled, then filed the second end cap / disc flush to the tubing/bead, and drilled the final hole.

Really hard to see in this picture, but I scored two parallel lines close to the ends of each bead, using my jeweler's saw - again using my ring clamp to hold the bead while sawing.

Now - this next step is the reason I used thick walled tubing. I used my tiny half round file to make four slight indentations around the middle of the bead.

I cleaned up the the bead with a pumice wheel on my flex shaft. (These are the pumice wheels I use).

Patina added (I use Midas Black Max - link here), buffed with steel wool, and tumbled. Liver of Sulfur works just as well, but Black Max is quicker and does not stink.  :) Always a plus!

One more tiny tip  (and of course, I forgot to take a picture). Before you tumble the bead, add the bead to a piece of wire (copper - it's cheap) and loop the ends. This will keep the shards of shot from getting stuck inside the bead while tumbling (this I have done...takes forever to release that shot!)

Now, this is not a perfect bead, but I rather like the organic look to this shape - would look great as a single bead on a bracelet, two beads for earrings, or even an entire chain if you have lots of time on your hands to create! Total time to make this bead for me (not including tumbling) was about 30 minutes.  So, while this technique is a bit time consuming, it is handmade and definitely not made in China! 

Anyway, the making of this bead was the bit of inspiration I need to kick off this brand new year. I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Thanks for stopping by!

I Love Artisan Beads!

by Patti Vanderbloemen

While I thoroughly enjoy using gemstones in my jewelry designs, I get so much satisfaction when I use an artisan bead or component!  Carol is an amazing metalsmith, but as she showed us a few weeks ago, she (and her husband) makes fabulous porcelain beads and components. I could not resist! This is my recent haul from her shop:

Yummy, right?! I am thrilled --- THRILLED -- to have received a few porcelain cabochons, in addition to beads and components.  I mean, look at that crescent moon!!!!

Anyway, I just received this package late Friday. One of my nieces decided to have her baby two weeks early, so I spent this morning and early afternoon visiting the newest addition to my family.

That is my beautiful Mother and her 4th Great Grandchild, Vivienne Rose. Niece and baby are doing just wonderful! (Sorry for the shameless plug...but this picture brings me so much joy!)

Anyway, I did not get to complete as many of the projects that I wanted to before this blog post. I could very easily have simply attached an ear wire to those gorgeous charms, called them earrings, and been done with it.  But I have other ideas!

Lately, I seem to be completely enamored with tube settings. They are appearing on more and more of my designs. 

The glaze on these charms is the softest of lavender, so I used faceted lavender Cubic Zirconia.  I soldered on a post to the back, and half a jump ring to the bottom so that the porcelain charms dangle freely.

I nearly fell over when Carol first posted pictures of her Cherry Blossom charms. I live very close to Washington DC and the annual Cherry Blossom Festival downtown is a Big Deal around these parts!

Photo courtesy of Carol Dekle-Foss / TerraRusticaStudio

While I have made "flower" style earrings from sterling silver before, I wanted to replicate the cherry blossoms as much as possible.

Carol's cherry blossoms have five petals - with a "notch" on each petal.  How does one divide up a circle accurately into 5 sections? I don't know about you, but 9th grade geometry for me was 1976...yeah...a while ago. And I vividly remember that I did not get an A, or even a B in that class .... ('nuff said).

So, I used my GO-TO book, The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight.

This book is not new, and I am sure that most - or at least many of our readers - have this book on their bench. It is truly one of the best references for a plethora of information. In this case, specifically, page 286.

There is a Circle Divider template (covered up in my photo - don't want to get in trouble for posting the whole image!).  Just slap your piece (in my case, a little disc of silver) in the center, and follow the guidelines on the template to perfectly divide your circle into 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 equal slices.  I love this template, and refer to it often when making bangles that require divided sections with different textures or twists within its circle. With my OCD comes a need for symmetry!

Anyway, much work to be done to use the rest of these gorgeous pieces!  Thank you so much Carol for sharing your art!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Enjoy!

Patti

Just a Thought....by Karen McGovern

If you are at all keyed in to the online arts and crafts world, either as a creator or a collector, you know the epic, fit for the big screen story of the rise of Etsy.  Etsy, in a very short time, exploded online as the ultimate source for handmade crafts.  Artisans from around the WORLD became Etsy-ites, including myself, opening online shops to sell our handmade goods including fine art, jewelry, gourmet foods, textiles, pottery and SO MUCH MORE. For many of us who opened shops, Etsy gave us a wonderful platform to sell our stuff, and they MARKETED THE CRAP out of themselves.  Since launching in 2005, Etsy has become a household name, the go-to online source for endless shops filled with GUARANTEED HAND MADE ITEMS.  It was great—while it lasted.  Slowly but surely mass produced goods popped up in shops all over Etsy.  The hipster staff we all imagined running the ship could not, and would not police itself.  Founding shops discovered their goods, and ideas copied, sold for half price, and the site became a quagmire of garbage.  HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SHOPS. Those of us that jumped on the Etsy boat from the beginning were capsized under a wave of Chinese imports and resellers.  THAT WAS A GREAT METAPHOR!

Many, many founding artists jumped ship, myself included. There are chat rooms, blogs, forums and endless articles filled with angry artists voicing how betrayed we all feel and how DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED we are that Etsy sold out.  THEY SOLD OUT.  There are websites dedicated to the subject, like the over-the-top How Etsy Raped America. The millions and millions of dollars they make from all the shops; good, bad or indifferent, far outweigh any losses from artists who left Etsy because WE ACTUALLY HAVE ETHICS AND GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE HANDMADE COMMUNITY. I suspended my Etsy shop well over a year ago, and have moved on to sell through Facebook and my own online website.

Notice I said I “suspended” my shop.  Did I close it?  No.  I wrote a huge, heartfelt message on my home page explaining why I thought Etsy was betraying its original artists and suspended all my listings.  Why didn’t I close my shop?  BECAUSE, THE SAD TRUTH IS I SHOP ON ETSY ALL THE TIME, and you have to be an active member to use the site. So, does that make me the biggest hypocrite of all time?  Maybe. I’ve been thinking a lot about this.

Not every great, original artist left Etsy when they went to the dark side.  If you are an artist with a big following, are well known, and have an active client base, you had no reason to leave Etsy.  The resellers and crap shops don't affect you.  The ruined small artists just starting out, artists that didn’t and don’t have a recognizable name, artists that aren’t blessed with a huge following.  There are MANY, MANY WONDERFUL artists on Etsy—some of my all-time favorite artists have successful shops there.  Some of my favorite suppliers sell on Etsy, and many sell ONLY ON ETSY.  So I shop there.  And, I’m considering re-opening my shop. WHAT? GASP? HAVE I LOST MY MIND? DO I NOT CARE ABOUT THE ETHICS ANYMORE?  Damn right I do.

Here’s what I am thinking.  Original artists who really want to make a living selling their ORIGINAL work need to take back Etsy. I will suggest a scenario here….Love My Art Jewelry is made up of a group of really talented and amazing artists. All of us struggle with the Etsy dilemma, and some have shops there and some have closed shops there. What if we all re-opened our shops, with a “Handmade Manifesto” of sorts on our homepages? What if we used the LMAJ blog and our personal blogs to support each other and other original artists that need Etsy as a selling platform?  Let’s face it, no other online retail portal has been able to get the same attention Etsy has. Whether you love or hate them, they are well known and HUGELY SUCCESSFUL. Even the recent bad press Etsy has gotten hasn’t done any real damage. Etsy, I believe, is here to stay. So, let’s USE IT and USE IT WISELY. Be vocal, say what you feel in your shop.  Call out the resellers. Name names and make a fuss. SELL YOUR WORK. Blog, post on Facebook, join forums and start your own handmade support groups online to direct traffic to Etsy shops that are run by independent artists creating and selling original handmade goods. What if other arts groups did this, over and over all over the WORLD? WHAT IF WE TAKE BACK THE SITE WE HELPED BUILD AND MAKE FAMOUS?!?

It’s just a thought, and I may change my mind….but I’d love to hear what you think.

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!