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Showing posts with label mini jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mini jewelry. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Baubles, Bangles and Beads.....

I think that I have most of the decorations back in their boxes, finally. Between that and cooking and other cleaning, I had a full day's work by 1:00PM.

Things were very quiet around here today. Tessie and Zar were nowhere to be seen while I was working. They seem to have a knack for disappearing when I am doing something that seems anything like work to them.

After Walter got home from golf and we finished lunch, I went searching. I never did find Zar. I suspect that he sneaked off to the bathtub to work in his cottage. It will be out of there soon, but he is not happy, not being able to carry on his experiments.

I remembered that I had left a tray of beads in the bedroom, where I last worked on mini jewelry. I found Tessie sorting mini beads and selecting some that she liked.

There she was. Not in her usual lamp lounge. She was sprawled out in the bead tray. She was impossibly tangled in the beads and totally discombobulated!

I pulled back and took another photo so that you could see the mess that she made. She had about half of the mini mini beads scattered on the tray. I am probably going to be picking beads out of the sheets for days. Oh well. They need washing anyway.
She proceeded to sweet talk me into making her a turquoise necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring. "I absolutely must have everything matching.", she declared. When she is in this kind of mood, it is much easier to spend a half hour stringing beads than spending three hours trying to talk her out of it.

You saw the method for making the necklace and the earrings the other day, so I won't repeat that. I did however, make her a ring and bracelet to match. I will give you a short tutorial on those.

The bracelet was on one strand of wire. I started with the loop end this time. I twisted a loop in one end and then started threading beads. The first three or four were threaded on both wire ends. Then I cut one end off and simply kept threading on the longer wire until I had enough and a little more to fit around her wrist. I then made a loop in that end of the wire and threaded the end back through a few beads and cut it off. I scrunched the loop together and formed it into a hook....Bracelet finished, just like that!

The ring was even simpler. I threaded 3 beads on the wire. I twisted it into a loop and made sure it fit. I bent the wire to the backside of the ring and cut it short. Then I bent it to follow the curvature of the wire and cut the tails off. Theoretically, no one will ever see the underside of the ring. If they do, they are just too nosey!

If you look closely, you will see that the necklace is twisted and rope like. I simply twisted it several times before I put it on her neck. BTW, one nice thing about the jewelry made with wire is, it can be "draped" over the edge of a table or be falling out of the jewelry box quite realistically. You just bend it the way you want it before placing it. I do bend the necklace to drape down the front of Tessie's neck.

It is hard to see the earring. I stuck the hook in her hair right by her ear.....No....She wouldn't let me pierce her ears.

She is calling to me from the bead tray. I think she has another bunch of beads picked out for the next set. I am going to try to talk her into non matching. Those are more fun to make.

See you tomorrow.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sparkles and Shines.....

This morning Walter and I went to see Sherlock Holmes and had lunch at Applebee's. Both were good, but it is my excuse for this being so late.

I told you that I would show you how to make mini jewelry. Here you go. For today, I am just going to show you the necklace that Tessie is holding in the first photo and the earrings that are laying on her arm and hand with it.

First of all, you need #32 brass beading wire. It is very inexpensive and comes on a spool like thread. Then you need the smallest beads that you can find. The ones in the photo are between #18 and #22.
In this photo the medallion in the foreground is made of # 15. They are the ones that I use for purses and mini bead knitting. They are really too big for jewelry, but if that is all you can find, go for it. I try not to use them for necklaces unless they are a focal bead among the smaller ones. They would be about the size of a large gumball in real life.

The green ones in the bag are # 18 and are the most common ones that can be purchased for mini jewelry. I usually get them at mini shows.

The tools that you need are wire cutters and either needle nose pliers or pointed tweezers.


This sketch shows you where we are going with the wire. First you cut a piece about 8" long. Don't skimp. You need something to hang onto. First you fold the wire in half and with the pliers, crimp the fold into itself as close as you can get it.

Put a bend in the end with your pliers for a hook. The holding the base of the hook with your pliers, wrap one length around the other about 3 times. Start threading beads on both wires in a pattern that you like. You can hold it around a doll's neck once in a while to see if it is long enough. When you are happy with it, loop one of the wires back through 4 or 5 of the beads and pull it down with your pliers or tweezers. Make sure you have the beads pushed down as far as they will go to the hook end. Then wrap the second wire three times around the base of the loop. Snip off the excess wire and curve the two ends up to meet. If you did it right, you have a hook and loop fastener so that you can put it on your mini person.

For the earrings, simply thread 3 to 5 beads on a 2" piece of wire. Twist one end around the other. With the wire that you didn't twist, form a hook. Then trim off both ends.

You just made earrings!

I have to stop writing now. Tessie has seen how easy it is and wants more NOW! I need to fill a jewelery box or two.

See you tomorrow. Have fun!