HELLO VISITORS

Hello: My name is Jacqueline Marchant. I am a Jewelry designer /creator and book reviewer for some very famous crafting publishing companies. When you check out my book reviews you will learn who they are. In these reviews you will receive loads of information and my feelings about the publication. I have learned an extraodinary amount about all the many facets and mediums in designing and creating jewelry from these books and I am over the moon that I have them to refer to , they have been a god send to me. IN THIS BLOG YOU WILL FIND TONS OF INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS I HAVE FOUND IN MY SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE,THESE VIDEOS HAVE BEEN GRACIOUSLY SUPPLIED ONLINE FOR US ALL TO LEARN FROM BY SOME VERY TALENTED, BRILLIANT ARTIST. i HAVE LEARNED FROM THESE VARIOUS VIDEOS FROM YOU TUBE AND OTHER PLACES ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND PLACE THEM ON MY BLOG SO I CAN READLY REFER TO THEM FROM TIME TO TIME AND I HOPE YOU FIND THEM HELPFUL ALSO, I HOPE TO ONE DAY BE AS BRILLIANT AS THESE VIDEO TEACHERS.To learn more from these various artist just click on title of videos to link to all their other tutorials...thank you ... YOU WILL ALSO SEE SOME PICS OF MY WORK, AND SOME OF MY ADVENTURES. I ALSO LIKE INCLUDING OTHER ARTISANS SITES FOR YOU TO EXPLORE. I FIND THE MORE YOU EXPLORE THE MORE YOU LEARN AND BY DOING THIS YOU GET INSPIRATION TO CREATE YOUR VERY OWN ONE OF A KIND MASTERPIECE. HOPE YOU ENJOY MY BLOG AND COME BACK AGAIN . WHILE HERE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO JOIN MY BLOG.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY......BYE FOR NOW, JACQUELINE MARCHANT

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Me, Myself and I Versus Soldering ( Simple Soldered Jewelry & Accessories by Lisa Bluhm )

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all having a very beadful day. Today I want to talk about Soldering. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to Soldering at all...So I try to read as much as I can and watch millions of you tube videos in order to better my techniques... Well I have learned a lot about what I nor my hubby were doing when Soldering....I was going through a stack of books I have here to review and am way behind on....I have so many irons in the fire, it is sometimes hard to get them all taken care of totally, if you know what I mean...Oops I think that was a run on sentence...so sorry bare with me people...lol...Anyway while going through all the books, I came across one that really screamed read me...The title is "Simple Soldered Jewlry & Accessories by Lisa Bluhm. It has like 40 plus brilliant projects in it.

I have been designing and creating jewelry for over 15 years now and yes I am an infant when it comes to Soldering correctly as you will learn...When I start a new project I get all excited and discombobulated...(is that even a word?)...I get my cart before the horse...Then when it doesn't turn out perfect I want to chunk it at the wall... Can any of you relate to this ??? So I decide to breath deep and really study this technique of Soldering ...

This Book by Lisa Bluhm really showed me all my mistakes and how to correct them ...I learned I was missing several of the essential tools to do the job properly. I mean who knew what Grozing Pliers were, right , well not me... It is also vital that you have the perfect enviroment and set up for soldering. So work Space is very important. Then don't get me started on flux...There are so many different fluxes that I didn't know which one to flux with. Of course I chose the wrong one. Oh and let me tell you, files girls and boys are very important also... Then knowing the right width of foil tape to use is a must. Oh and don't get me started on the glass , wire, findings, embellishments, etc etc....

Then there are the safety issues. Let me tell you first hand that tip on the soldering gun thingy gets beyond super hot people and the fumes are not pleasant...So safety glasses and dust mask are a must.
Now for me I am not a glass cutter so glass slides are the way to go for me...Amazon and ebay to just name a couple can help ya there. I learned that I was foiling the glass all kinda wrong. Oh and skipping a step or two is my down fall. I learned I was supposed to trim and neaten up the tape after applying it and why I should do so. Burnishing the foil was a good idea also , who would of thunk it right...lol

Applying the jump ring at the top was a dilly for me to accomplish. By the time I was finsihed it looked like A giant snowball had melted all around the darn thing. But thanks to Lisa I learned a lot about that...

My finishing techniques were boring for sure but Lisa showed me just a few simple tweeks and wala.....Beautiful if I must say...lol

Sanding and Polishing, was a hard thing to do for me because I was so anxious for the finished product....This is where the deep slow breathing came in for me...I had to slow myself down , take the extra time ...go that extra mile and I would be rewarded in the end with something spectacular..

There is a mountain of more amazing knowledge to be gleamed from this publication. Lisa Bluhm you rock girl, I have to give you your Props on this one for sure because you saved my little soldering pea pickin heart honey...You really know your stuff , well duh right, after over 20 years of soldering and teaching you are the master solderer for sure. Thank you Lark / Chapelle for publishing this brilliant book...It gets two thumbs up and ten stars from me for sure...
And thats all I got to say about that....lol...Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my little review...bye for now Jackie!

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Beadphoria: Spring Cleaning Bulletin Board Redux

by Beadphoria

Happy (almost) Spring, Beadphoria friends! With this being the first Monday of the month, it is time for the Designer Crafts Blog Hop! The theme this month is March, and what it means to you. For me, March means the arrival of spring. A time for renewal. What was once barren is now brought back to life.

With the feeling of being renewed, we often want to bring beauty into our surroundings. One way we can do this is by doing some spring cleaning. This simple project will bring new life to a boring bulletin board and it will help organize your jewelry!

The bulletin board pictured above had been on the wall of the Beadphoria, Inc. for quite awhile. It became one of those things that you see, but didn't look at every day. As you can see, it was in desperate need of a makeover.

Materials for the spring cleaning makeover

Here are the materials we used:

-Bulletin Board

-Fabric Remnant

-Brown Velvet Ribbon

-Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

-Picture Hangers

The fabric was spread out onto the floor and the bulletin board placed in the middle.

Next, hot glue was put onto the frame on the back of the bulletin board to hold the fabric in place. From there, we flipped the bulletin board over. Using the glue gun, we tacked the brown ribbon in place around the edge of the frame.

How much prettier is that!

Of course the work had to be inspected by our quality control manager and customer service rep, Lola.

We placed the bulletin board back on the wall, and started putting the picture hooks in.

Close up of the picture hooks.

Only thing left was to add the jewelry!

We now have a beautiful showcase for our jewelry with a little bit of spring cleaning effort!

How to cover a bead with peyote stitch

How Do I Cover a Bead with Peyote Stitch?

Nov 20, 2011 by Vanbeads


This spectacular peyote stitch Bloomin' Bead was designed by Carol Dean Sharpe of Sand Fibers.

Beaded beads are fascinating for so many reasons. It's more of that Zen-like quality of beadweaving for me: imagine making a bead out of beads! Where does one bead stop and the next bead begin?

Before I get completely off topic, let's talk about covering a bead with beadweaving to make a beaded bead. It's a fabulous way to turn ordinary wood beads into something spectacular, and these little peyote-stitch beading projects usually don't take a lot of time to finish.

To make your own peyote-stitch-covered beaded bead, you'll need the following tools and materials:

Round wood beads. Start with round beads at first, since their shape makes it easy to shape peyote stitch around them. For this tutorial, I used a 20mm round wood bead that I found in an assortment from my local craft supply store.
A small strip of double-sided tape, also available at your local craft supply store.
2 grams of Japanese cylinder beads, size 11^o in color to match or contrast with your wood bead.
1 gram of size 15^o seed beads in a color to match or contrast with your cylinder beads.
Beading thread of your choice (6 lb Fireline recommended).
Size 12 beading needle.
Scissors or thread cutter.
Additional beads for embellishment, if desired: fringe beads, drops, daggers, bugle beads, or larger seed beads.

Let's get started! Here's how to cover your wood bead with peyote stitch in ten easy steps:

		1. Take a small strip of double-sided tape and wrap it around the center of your wood bead. This will hold your first few rows of peyote stitch securely in place and will also provide an anchor for your finished peyote-stitched beaded bead.

		2. Pick up an even number of cylinder beads. Always make sure you have an even number of beads before stitching so that your rows are even as you go. Tubular even-count peyote stitch requires that little "step up" at the end of each round! 3. Pass through the first bead picked up again and pull snugly so that you form a tight ring around your wood bead on the double-sided tape.

		4. Start working in tubular even-count peyote stitch until the beadwork starts to pull away a bit from the wood bead. You can flip the bead over and work some peyote stitch on the other side to keep your tension even and tight.

		5. Stitch a size 15^o seed bead in the first stitch and then alternate cylinder beads and size 15^o seed beads for one round. 6. Add a size 15^o in every stitch for two rounds. 7. Stitch a size 15^o in the first stitch and then make a decrease. (Pass through the next 2 beads and pull snugly.) Repeat around.

		8. Pick up beads for netting: 1 size 15^o, 1 cylinder bead, and 1 size 15^o. Pass through the next "up" bead in the round.

		9. Pass through the first two beads added at the beginning of the previous round. Work peyote stitch through the cylinder beads from the previous step until the opening begins to close up a little. Work peyote stitch for a total of three rounds.

		10. To secure the last row, pass through all the beads in the round just added and pull. Weave your thread into the beadweaving, tie a few knots, weave in a bit more, and trim. Repeat for the other side of the beaded bead.

		You can either leave your beaded bead as it is or add some fancy beaded embellishment. Try covering your beaded bead with beaded netting, stitching a pattern of bugle beads around the center of the bead, or adding fringe beads or daggers to the ends of your beaded bead. The sky is the limit when it comes to embellishing these little beauties!

A tip for maintaining even tension when working peyote stitch around this kind of beaded bead: when you pass through the first bead in Step 3, leave a thread tail that is approximately one-half the length of your beading thread. This way, you can flip the bead over and work peyote stitch on the other side of the bead without having to add a new thread!