Beading with Hye on Beads

I live near many senior communities, and usually have older people in my classes.  Quite often, they want to make jewelry for their granddaughters.  But what size bracelet do you make for  9 year old? What should the necklace length be?   Here is a useful chart for determining your necklace and bracelet lengths, for adults as well as children.

Larger seed beads, such as 6/os and 5/os are often referred to as “E” Beads. An E Bead is approximately 4mm in size.

This is a safe, non-toxic way to provide clay for your children to make their own beads. Remember when your children have finished forming the beads: ALL BEADS ARE BEAUTIFUL.

You will need:

1 slice white bread
1 tsp white glue
1 tbsp water
food coloring
clear glaze or nail polish

How to make the clay:
Cut or tear crusts from bread. Discard crusts. Pour glue, then water, onto the center of the slice of bread. Knead until dough doesn’t stick to your fingers. Divide dough into several parts and add a few drops of food coloring to each. Knead until color is well blended. Place each color in a separate plastic bag. Makes enough clay for several small objects and many beads!

Making the Beads:
Work with only a small portion of clay at a time. Shape beads, pierce with a bamboo skewer and allow them to dry overnight. When dry, spray with clear glaze or paint with clear nail polish. Bread dough clay can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

I often need to use a micro drill bit set like the one shown below. The main thing I use it for is to open the holes in pearls a little bit. Pearls have such tiny holes, and sometimes even a 24 gauge headpin will not go through. By starting with the smallest bit in a micro drill bit set, I can gradually work my way up to a larger size bit and enlarge the hole very easily.

The drill bit sets such as this and the 20 piece replacement set have confusing numbers - the 12 drill bits in the set are sizes “52 - 74″. Some sets say, “.0635 - 0225.”   But what does that mean to you?

There is a very handy website at http://bobmay.astronomy.net/misc/drillchart.htm

This is a drill bit size chart - and it will tell you in millimeters, inches, and the number designation, as well as a few suggestions as to how to use different drill bit sizes. I have found this extremely useful!

One thing you might like to know about me and my beading habits is that knotting is my specialty.  I learned to bead from Henrietta Verchick, author of Pearl and Beadstringing with Henrietta, so the first technique I ever learned was knotting between the beads.  I still teach knotting lessons using Henrietta’s techniques, and one of the questions I am asked most often in these classes is, how do you know when to knot, and why do you knot?

The only real hard and fast rule is that you ALWAYS knot good pearls.  The reason is two-fold:  The first is, if the strand breaks, you won’t lose your pearls.  Secondly, the substance that makes pearls so beautiful is the nacre, the beautiful coating on the pearls.  If your pearls rub together (or against another bead,) the nacre will wear off and your pearls will lose their value and their luster.  The organic nature of pearls is also why we use silk to knot pearls - you want the natural pearl against the natural silk, not a synthetic.   That being said, I don’t always knot the more inexpensive freshwater pearls.

Another reason to knot is that knotting gives a soft, drapey look to your necklace that you will not get with straight stringing.

I also like to knot because silk comes in an amazing array of colors that can enhance the look of your necklace.   Because the knots show, you have the opportunity to use the beautiful colors of the silk thread to add to your design.  For instance, you can use a soft green with Fancy Jasper, and it will just fade into the background, which is fine.  But if you choose a lilac or tanzanite-colored silk you will see the lovely lavender colors of the stone “pop.”  You can even use two colors of silk for extra zing - I once used an olive-green thread and a peach thread when I was knotting Unakite beads.  Fantastic!

You will see a lot of these abbreviations used in the jewelry world. You are probably already familiar with “mm” (millimeter), but have you ever run across “id?” Recently when shopping online for chain, I ran across this abbreviation, which I learned meant “inside diameter.” They were telling me the diameter within the links of the chain, something important to know if you plan to use headpins to make dangles, for instance. In addition to this list, I want to share with you one of my favorite online resources, the metric conversion website located at http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html.

I use this frequently because many of the items I sell come in either yards or meters, and I want my American customers to know how many yards on a 5 meter spool (5.47) and my European customers to know how many meters on a 100 foot spool (30.48.)

So here are a few abbreviations:

cc - cubic centimeter

cm - centimeter

dwt - pennyweight

ft (or ‘ ) - foot

in (or ” ) - inch

g - gram

id - inside diameter

kg - kilogram

m - meter

mg - milligram

mm - millimeter

od - outside diameter

oz - ounce

Have you ever been surprised to see that a strand of 2mm or 3mm beads were more costly than the same length strand of 8mm? There is a reason that smaller beads are sometimes more expensive than larger.

For one thing, when the stone cutter is forming smaller beads, more rough material goes to waste. Larger beads take up more room on the rough material so there is more finished yield. And don’t forget - you get almost twice as many beads on a strand of 2mm than you do on a strand of 4mm!

Another reason is that making smaller beads is more labor-intensive. Cutting, finishing and stringing tiny beads takes much more time.

One of the nice things about smaller gemstone beads is that they can be used sparingly to great effect. Tiny gemstone beads can be used to pick up the colors of larger cloissone beads, or used for fringe, or for a loop around a decorative button to form a clasp. In the picture below, although you can’t see it very well, I used some 3mm hematite on either side of the Bali beads surrounding the garnets, and they gave just enough of a space and echoed the marcasite so that I was perfectly happy with my design!

I have in my “personal stash” some 2 and 3mm rosequartz and hematite I can’t wait to use!

Ever hear anyone talk about a “matinee length pearl necklace”? Wondered what the heck was? Well, here is a handy chart to help you know whether you are making a choker or a “princess” length necklace!

Upon looking at this, although the official “lariat” necklace size is 48″ or more, I consider a lariat to be any long necklace without a clasp, which is intended to be worn by looping the necklace over itself like a scarf.  I’d like to hear my readers weigh in on this!

Choker – 14” – 16”

Princess - 18”

Matinee – 20” – 24”

Opera – 28” – 32”

Rope – 40” – 45”

Lariat – 48” or more

With some of my beading projects, I actually work over a ruler.  An example would be when I make an illusion-style necklace.  I like to start from the middle and work from side to side.  In order to keep my intervals between beads nice and even, I set the beads in place right over a regular plastic school ruler.

Here are a few ideas for keeping a measuring instrument at hand!

At the hardware store, you can purchase self-sticking measuring tape for around $2. Use a strip on your bead table, another on your bead tray, or even on your traveling bead case.

Keep a measuring tape in your traveling bead box. You don’t need a 6′ measuring tape, so you will be able to find one that is compact and fits easily with your gear.

Beadsmith came out with a little job called “The Ultimate Folding Ruler.” I ordered some and will be listing them in my eBay store. It is very clever - it folds out into the length of a regular ruler, with both inches and centimeters, but then it folds up into a little compact cube about the size of a Chunky candy bar! (actual measurements 1.5″x 1.5″x 1″.) It will retail for about $1.75 and is cute as a bug!

In a later post I will address the tools you can use to measure your beads.

My friend Patti Whiteley, who is a fused glass beadmaker and jewelry designer (you can see her work in the book 1000 Glass Beads) has been using a lot of the Patti Cahill’s lampworked beads in her designs.

Patti Cahill’s company, Dyed in the Fire Designs, produces the most wonderful beads. I have been admiring Patti Cahill’s beads since I first met her many years ago at an Intergalactic Bead Show. I can always recognize a Patti Cahill bead - she has the most amazing color sense. I own a few of her beads - in fact, I have some “brewing” until everything falls together…the beads I own are a soft minty green with fuschia and periwinkle. Delicious.

Patti Whiteley recently sent me a picture of some earrings designed with Patti Cahill’s beads. Take a look!  (You can click on the image to enlarge it.)