Posts filed under 'Beads'
Antiqueing or Coloring Bone Beads
Make your bone beads go from bland and boring to colorful. Bone beads are lightweight and can add a lot to your design without adding weight, but they are usually a plain white color.
Bone beads or pendants can be antiqued in hot tea or coffee, or sauteed in oil Sauteeing produces a rich, golden color, but the smell of the oil will be retained in beads. The tea or coffee method can produce gray areas where the bone is not entirely white.
You can use Rit dyes for adding color to bone beads: Use a teacup and boiling water, add grains of dye until the desired strength has been reached. Leave your bone beads in there until they are the color you wish, then rinse well.
Add comment September 27, 2009
Gem Lore: Black Onyx
Black Onyx
Onyx is a type of opaque chalcedony that comes in various colors. Black onyx is one of the most popular stones in bead designing. Although it does occur naturally in black, it is generally dyed to achieve a more uniform color.
As to the lore of black onyx, among those who assign special powers to gemstones, it is believed that black onyx defends against negativity, boosts confidence, and sharpens your senses.
Black Onyx and Cinnabar Knotted Necklace
Add comment August 14, 2009
Swarovski Crystal Birthstone Equivalent Chart
Let’s face it – you can’t ALWAYS use diamonds in your work, but you want to do something with a birthstone theme. Here is a chart of Austrian crystal equivalents to use in place of real gemstones.
January – Garnet
February – Amethyst
March – Aqua
April – Clear Crystal
May – Emerald
June – Light Amethyst
July – Ruby
August – Peridot
September – Sapphire
October – Rose
November – Topaz
December – Blue Zircon or Light Sapphire or Montana
Add comment February 10, 2009
How Many Beads Are In That Tube?
So…your directions say, “approximately 1500 size 11 seed beads.” But your bead store sells them by the tube, and can’t tell you how many are in the there – what now? This handy dandy list will help you find the right number of beads.
In a 6″ tube:
Size 8/0 – approximately 1120
Size 6/0 – approximately 315
Size 11/0 – approximately 3080
Size 10/0 Twisted Hex Cut – approximately 2319
#1 Bugles – approximately 2500
#2 Bugles – approximately 1000
10/0 Triangles – approximately 1680
8/0 Triangles – approximately 1100
5/0 Triangles – approximately 390
11/0 triangles – apprx 29.5 grams (about 2105 beads)
8/0 triangles – apprx 28.0 grams (about 714 beads)
4mm Cubes – approximately 336
3mm Cubes – approximately 440
Magatamas – approximately 308
Mini Fringe Drops – approximately 560
3 inch tube:
15/0 approximately 3500
10 Gram Tube:
11/0 Delicas – approximately 1900 delica beads in a 10 gram tube.
2 comments October 8, 2008
Rose Petal Clay for Interesting, Fragrant Beads
Did you know you can actually make beads out of rose petals? Rose petals have been used for centuries to make beautiful, fragrant beads. Collect the most fragrant petals, follow the recipe below and once they are formed into a paste and made into beads, you will have beads that will release their fragrance when worn or handled. For this reason, rose petal beads have traditionally been used in rosaries.
A great webpage with pictures can be found at http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/cathy/rosebeads/
Rose Petal Clay |
|
|---|---|
Ingredients:
|
Method: Mix flour, salt, and water to make a stiff dough. Cut rose petals into tiny pieces and then crush by rolling them between your palms. Knead enough petals to the dough without making it crumbly. |
Rose Petal Bead Rosary
Add comment October 7, 2008
What’s an “E Bead?”
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.
Add comment March 31, 2008
Bread Dough Clay – Beads for Kids!
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.
Add comment March 27, 2008
Why Do Some Small Beads Cost More Than Larger Beads?
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!
Add comment February 22, 2008
Birthstones
Here’s a handy list for your design book. Birthstone jewelry is always popular, and don’t forget that you needn’t be strict about this – crystals in these colors will work just as well!
Birthstones:
January – Garnet
February – Amethyst
March – Aquamarine
April – Diamond
May – Emerald
June – Pearl or Alexandrite
July – Ruby
August – Peridot
September – Sapphire
October – Opal or Pink Tourmaline
November – Topaz
December – Turquoise or Blue Zircon
3 comments February 3, 2008
Stone Shape Beads Per Inch
It’s easy to find a list of number of beads per 16″ strand for ROUND beads – but not for shape beads! I’ve had this list a long time, and I think it came from South Pacific Beads. It does start out with round beads, but includes all the great shapes, too – lentils, stars, twists.
Round: 2mm = 203 / 3mm = 136 / 4mm = 100 / 6mm = 67 / 8mm = 50
10mm = 41 / 12 mm = 34
Hearts: 6mm = 90
Thick Hearts: 12 mm = 36 / 20mm = 20
Stars: 6mm = 70
Twists: 8 x 20mm = 20
Lentils: 12mm = 40 / 20mm = 22
Leaves: 14 x 18mm = 20
Shells: 18 x 20mm = 20
Triangles: 16mm = 24
Rice: 5 x 12mm = 36
Melons: 4 x 6mm = 64
Rondelles: 3 x 5mm = 175
Cubes: 4 x 4mm = 102
Tubes: 3 x 5 = 80 / 4 x 13 = 30
Rectangles: 4 x 13mm = 30
Teardrops: 6 x16mm = 25 / 9 x 22mm = 19 (strung lengthwise)
Donuts: 20mm = 20 / 25mm = 15 / 30mm = 13 / 40mm = 10 / 45mm = 8
Discs: 3 x 5mm = 25
Cylinders: 13 x 4mm = 16
Pears: 16 x 7mm = 24
1 comment January 30, 2008
