Book Spotlight: Decorative Wire Findings

Making custom components and findings is an invaluable skill for any jewelry maker. By learning just a few basic techniques, you gain the advantage of having exactly the right pieces to make your dream designs, every time. Whether you like to string, weave, or wrap, custom findings allow you to personalize all of your designs, make perfectly matched sets - and of course, save money for more of your favorite materials.

In her new book Decorative Wire Findings, jewelry artist and instructor Melody MacDuffee shares her favorite techniques for making one of a kind findings and components for amazing jewelry designs. The book includes instructions for more than 20 versatile essentials such as earring posts and backs, bezels for cabochons, and spacer bars for gorgeous multi-strand pieces. For inspiration and an in-depth look at how each component is used, there are 26 complete projects for earrings, bracelets and necklaces – plus ideas for unique rings and brooches.

Many of the projects feature gorgeous beads from around the world, including Krobo beads created by artists at Soul of Somanya – an amazing non-profit co-founded and directed by Melody in Ghana, West Africa. There are also projects for fans of crystals, pearls and druzy stones – all of them a delight to new and experienced wire-wrappers alike. My personal favorite is an eleven strand bracelet made with stunning teal Krobo beads and golden spirals.

With expert care, Melody guides readers through each of the projects; full color, step-by-step photos provide a look at how each design will progress. The materials lists include everything you need to complete a project, including page numbers for each of the components and findings that you’ll need to make ahead before completing a piece. Several projects offer instant gratification with just a few wraps and tweaks, while others provide an exciting challenge in gorgeous wire wrapping techniques. Never again find yourself without the right components for a project with the easy, professional-looking techniques in Decorative Wire Findings!

Want to check it out for yourself? Melody and the kind folks at Kalmbach Books are giving away one copy of Decorative Wire Findings to an Inspirational Beading reader. For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post letting us know what your favorite jewelry components are! One lucky winner will be drawn on Tuesday, April 28th.

Good luck and happy beading!

Update: This giveaway draw has closed.

I would like to thank Meloday MacDuffee and Kalmbach Books for giving me the opportunity to enjoy Decorative Wire Findings. Inspirational Beading has not received compensation for including products or publications in this post.

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
Melody MacDuffee and Kalmbach Books
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

Bead Shops: Jen’s Findings

Wherever the inspiration for a new piece of jewelry begins, chances are it will end with findings – those components that turn a bit of beading into a finished and functional design. Today’s guest is Jen of the online shop Jen’s Findings, which specializes in high quality clasps, earwires, jump rings, headpins and more.

Inspirational Beading: How did you get into the business of jewelry supplies?

Jen: Beading started out as a hobby when I was in high school. When I was in college I started selling necklaces, bracelets and earrings at craft shows for some extra spending money. During this time, a bead shop opened up just a couple of blocks away from where I lived in San Mateo. I was really excited because before it opened I drove to a neighboring town to buy my beading supplies.

It turned out the bead store was started by a young man fresh out of college himself. To make the story short, we eventually got married and had a family. Over the years, my husband has gotten into other types of businesses and I've continued to bead as a hobby and sell beading supplies to supplement our family's income.

Inspirational Beading: Do you have a favorite material, color, or style to keep in stock?

Jen: Well, Jen's Findings is a specialty site in that we only sell jewelry findings and are currently only selling sterling silver and 14k gold filled findings. While I do love the elegant simplicity of the findings, I also love having a pretty filigree clasp at the end of a multi-strand necklace made with beautiful glass or semi-precious beads.

To me, a perfect jewelry finding is one that will complement the art that it becoming a part of. Most of the time, the finding is not the focal point, but adds some harmony to the piece, as well as serving a functional aspect of binding components together.

Inspirational Beading: What kind of criteria do you use when selecting new products to carry?

Jen: There are staples that beaders seem to always need, such as head pins or lobster claw clasps, but I like to carry with some personality of their own, like our heart clasps or an oval filigree pearl clasp.

Inspirational Beading: What makes your bead selection stand out from other craft supplies shops?

Jen: What sets Jen's Findings apart is that we only sell jewelry findings. We love beads, but we do not sell them. Instead we are striving to be the place beaders go to fulfill their needs for quality jewelry findings.

Inspirational Beading: Many beaders are familiar with the emotion that comes from selling a
finished design. How does it feel when you sell something that will become
part of a beautiful work of art?

Jen: It truly is a wonderful thing. I love that we are able to help people make art. We are a family of beaders (since my daughters and mother-in-law also make jewelry), and we get a thrill seeing our components in finished works.

Inspirational Beading: What is your favorite thing to make (or see others make) with your supplies?

Jen: I am really into making multi-string necklaces these days. I also like to do wire work and pearl knotting. I am not a talented peyote stitch person, but I do admire what people accomplish with seed beads these days--there are so many creative folks out there!

Inspirational Beading: In your opinion, what's the best thing about small supplies shops vs.
the big bead retailers?

Jen: We are nicer! Actually, I think that big retailers provide a good service, but I also think that small suppliers can be competitive to them. Also, we are real jewelry makers and know what beaders' needs are. We got started the business because we genuinely love beads and jewelry making. Also, we are small enough that we can carry limited runs of unique jewelry components made by local artists.

Inspirational Beading: Do you have any plans for new products this year?

Jen: Yes, we are going to expand our inventory to carry more unique jewelry findings, as well as many handmade items like one-of-a-kind clasps. I want to showcase beautiful and unique items. We are also planning to expand our sterling silver and gold-filled findings this year.

You can find more beautiful clasps, findings and more at Jen’s Findings, or follow along on Jen’s blog for jewelry ideas and inspirations.

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Jen's Findings
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

How to Cap and Finish Herringbone Ropes

When it comes to creating beadwork jewelry, it’s the little details that can make or break a piece. Finishing designs - adding fringe, clasps, and other components - is just as important as the main beadwork stitches, color choices, and focal elements that make up a whole piece.

Recently a reader asked about my finishing technique for herringbone ropes. I use tubular herringbone for necklace and bracelets quite often, and with a metal-free approach, adding clasps requires a little extra stitching. This is the most common technique that I use to finish a rope with a smooth transition to a button or toggle clasp.

How to Cap a Herringbone Rope with a Round Bead

Druks are my favorite beads to use at the ends of a rope, but you can use other beads that match the rest of your design, so long as they can handle multiple thread passes. Freshwater pearls and crystals aren’t recommended, but just about anything else goes. You could also skip the picot embellishment and use disks or other bead shapes that cover the ends of the rope.

Start by weaving a dummy round at the end of your herringbone rope to connect the final stitches together - weave through the top row as usual, without picking up any beads. Exit from the top of the rope, and pick up 3 seed beads in the same size as your main beadwork. They can be matching, or use contrasting colors for extra interest.

Stitch down through the next bead in the rope end, and pull snug to form a picot. Repeat all the way around the tube until each pair of herringbone columns is covered with a picot.

Stitch down about a centimeter into the rope and exit through a bead. Pull your thread snug, then needle into the rope, under the beadwork threads, and exit from the center of the tube. Do not pass through any beads, and be sure not to snag any threads with your needle.

Pick up your cap bead, and slide it down to the beadwork, testing the fit. It should not be small enough to slip inside the rope, and not so large that it doesn’t fit neatly into the picots.

Add your clasp beads as desired, and pass back through the cap bead, and into the center of the rope. Exit between two herringbone beads, a few rows down. Pull snug, then check the fit and length of your clasp to make sure you’re happy with the work before you continue.

Stitch down through a few beads in one herringbone column to secure the thread. Stitch up through the following column, leaving a little space between your stitch and the end of the rope, then pull snug. Pass through the center of the rope and stitch around your clasp again to strengthen. Stitch down into the rope, and secure the thread within the herringbone rope again.

Stitch up through the beadwork, and exit from the picot ring at the end of the rope. Weave through the picots again with a dummy herringbone stitch to tighten them around your cap bead. Add a single seed bead between each picot if desired - this gives a pretty crown shape to the embellishment.

When you’re happy with the cap, weave in your thread and trim, then embellish the other end of the rope.

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

Beading Tutorials: Beaded Jewelry Cones

Today’s necklace-a-day design features a favorite color combination - amber and dark blue. I have nearly half a pound of these fantastic metallic orange bugle beads, and decided to make a dent in the stash by creating a multi-strand necklace with them.

Since giving up on metal findings like eye-pins, I’ve had to take a different approach to multi-strand, and usually finish designs with herringbone tubes that make way to beaded clasps. It’s a lengthy process, and although the results are worth it, I’m not often up to the challenge of making these pieces.

Apart from quick beading, the thing I miss most about the traditional multi-strand technique is making my own jewelry cones to cap the strands. Because I was once limited to the small selection of findings at my LBS - which was actually a hobby/model train shop with a modest beading section - I came up with these little beaded cones to better match my designs.

To create a beadwork jewelry cone:

Begin by making a two-bead ladder ring as if you were starting a herringbone tube. You will need to make sure that it is long enough to wrap around the ends of your project, so it’s best to make these cones when you’re ready to assemble all the components of your design.

Weave through the tube to secure the thread and exit from the top. Add two beads using brick stitch: pick up 2 seed beads, and bring the needle under the nearest bridge of thread, moving towards you. Pull the thread snug so that the new beads click into place along the top of the ring.

Stitch up through the last bead added, being careful not to pass under the bridge thread. When you pull the thread snug, the beads should remain secure on the beadwork.

Pick up one bead, and bring the thread under the next bridge thread in the ring. Pull tight.

Continue adding beads using brick stitch until you reach the first bead added in the round. Use ladder stitch to weave the first and last beads together, then exit from the top of the ring and add the next round of brick stitch.

To make the tube into a cone, you will need to occasionally decrease the number of beads in each round. To do this, simply skip adding the final bead, and use ladder stitch to fill in the gap as before.

You’ll usually want to make sure that the cone has a nice, smooth shape, so stagger the decrease rounds, with at least one "full" row between each. Keep track of how many beads you add in each round - sometimes rounds will get shorter on their own due to bead size or tension. The more rows you add, the taller the cone will be.

The cone is finished when the top ring is small enough to fit underneath a spacer bead, which will sit between the cone and the eye pin loop. Four beads in the top row is a good place to stop if you're using small beads, and works great with matching 6/o seed beads.

The best thing about making your own jewelry cones is that you have a nearly endless supply of components that can exactly match some of the beads used in your projects. I like to make them in an accent color, and use a spacer bead in the main color for a fun contrast.

If you like the idea of having a colorful finish to multi-strand necklaces, but want to skip the bead weaving, you can get crystal cones in lots of different colors. The Artemis Bead by Swarovski Elements has a small dome at the bottom, so it can easily cup a round bead. Use a large-hole bead and you can hide your threads and eye-pin in style. They're so pretty, they almost make me want to go back to eye-pins.

Happy beading!

Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading and Rings & Things