Bead Soup: The Big Reveal

The day has finally arrived to reveal what I have made with the beautiful beads I was sent by Ana of Acbeads. I found myself struggling a little bit at first as there was such a variety of beads that I honestly didn't know where I was going to start but finally I decided to break up the beads into different sections and ended up making four different pieces. 

As a reminder of what Ana sent to me click here to see all of the photos. And click here to see the soup that I sent to Ana.

So my first piece is a pair of earrings. I made these using the Irish Linen Cord and Labradorite Chips. I love the simplicity of them. I didn't want to loose the beauty of the Linen Cord or the Labradorite. 

My Second piece is a bracelet made using the large glass bead, blue mother of pearl discs and blue wooden beads along with the clasp from Ana's packet. I used my own seed beads and freshwater pearls along with some rose quartz that I still had from last years packet form the Bead Soup Swap. (I knew I would find something special to use the last few in eventually.) I love that this bracelet is so neutral coloured with just a pop of strong blue.

My third piece is another bracelet. I made this piece using the Labradorite Chips, Shell and clasp from Ana's packet. (If you haven't noticed I'm a little bit in love with the Labradorite now). I finished off this bracelet by just adding some seed beads that I already had in my stash. The colour is perfect with the Labradorite I think. This is my favourite of the 2 bracelets. 

My fourth and final piece is a necklace. I started by using the beautiful Focal pieces that Ana sent along with (again) the Labradorite Chips on the beautiful blue Linen Cord. I added a small copper bead on either end to tie in the copper chain and clasp from my own stash. I knew as soon as I seen these focal pieces that I would be using them with copper somehow. It is my favourite metal and I knew the colours would all suit each other. I would never normally use cord and chain like this but I'm so happy I tried it out. I think the Linen Cord is soft next to the beautiful clay beads before the harsh metal. 

I think the necklace is by far my favourite of all four pieces I have made and I cant wait to wear it over the summer. Its a nice new piece to add to my collection. 

So that's all the pieces that I have made. Please click here to see what Ana has made using the beads I sent to her. Also click here to see the list of all the participants of the Bead Soup Blog Party. I can't wait to get around all the blogs and see what everyone has made. 

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment below.

If you want to win the earrings above then click here to enter. 

Ah Thank You!

I only this week noticed that the Jewelry From Home blog featured my necklaces on their Makers Gallery section twice over the last few months. They said lovely things about them all so I'm really happy. 

My Jigsaw, Heart and Star pendants where featured on their March Makers Gallery Post (which you can see here). 

My Copper Spike Necklace (which you can see here) was featured as part of their April Makers gallery post. You can see my tutorial for that piece here.

My Jewellery in Bead and Jewellery Magazine

The wedding special of Bead and Jewellery Magazine is out which I have been waiting for for a long while. I applied to be part of the issues Bead Soup pages and made and sent off the pieces a long while ago. I made a bracelet, earrings and a necklace using the beautiful beads I was sent from Bead Stampede.

I'm not entirely sure why the necklace and earrings where photographed the way they are (the magazine does their own photos) but the necklace and earrings look very odd. All of those strands in the middle of the photo of the necklace should be with the bottom strand as it is a mulistrand necklace. The earrings should have the chain hanging down behind the beaded looped drop. The jewellery really isn't shown great in these photos which is such a shame because I am quite proud of the pieces I made. I guess I am a bit biased on how the jewellery looks in the pictures so hopefully others understand how they should look.

Tutorial: Copper Spike Necklace

I made this necklace a little while ago and put together a tutorial to show how I made it after a lot of interest when I showed it off on pinterest and other places. Let me know if you try it out in the comments below, I love seeing peoples takes on my tutorials.

What you need: 

1: Heavy Gauge Copper Wire (I've used 3mm Here)

2: Glass Beads (Choose your colour)

3: A Ruler

4: Hammer and Metal Block

Measure out one piece of wire to 1.5 inches, two pieces to 1 1/4 inches & two final pieces to 1 inch in length. 

Cut the pieces of wire to the required lengths.

Hammer flat about a third of the way up each length of wire.

Add a bead onto each length of wire deciding which pieces you want where. If the bead falls too far over the hammered piece then extend the hammering slightly higher.

Make a loop at the top of each piece of wire and slide all five pieces onto another piece of copper wire about 1.5 inches long. Loop the ends of this piece also. You can now attach chain to either side of the pendant and your done. 

My Wire Heart Necklace in Making Jewellery Magazine

I sent a picture of the wire heart necklace I made a while back into Making Jewellery Magazine. I had made it after seeing the tutorial by Sian Hamilton and it was printed in May's issue which came out today.

So if your visiting my blog for the first time after seeing the piece welcome and don't forget to follow the blog to keep up to date with everything I'm doing.

How To: Metal Stamping Tutorial

I have made quite a few pieces using metal stamping over the last few years so I wanted to put together a simple little how to for anyone thinking of giving it a try. The piece above shows the names of someones three children and a Swarovski Crystal to represent each of their birthstones.


What You Need:

A set of metal stamps (available in various types from many differen online shops)

A heavy hammer

A Sharpie (I use black most of the time but you can try any colour)

Metal blanks (available in different metals shapes and sizes on the internet)

A Metal block for hammering on





1: After selecting out the letter or number stamps you need lay them out in order on the table so that you don't mix up the order. I'm showing the stamping here on the wooden bench but you should be using a metal block.


 Start with the middle letter or number you need and position it in the middle on the piece. I find it easier to work out wards then which keeps the word or name centered.

2: Strike the top of the stamp with the hammer directly down first then slightly tip the stamp to the top and then then bottom striking each time. This makes sure the letter is more indented. Removing the stamp after the first strike will make it harder to get a clean letter imprint as you  may not line it up exactly right again. 

3: Using the sharpie cover across the letters making sure it goes into the groves of the imprints.

4: Quickly wipe away the excess marker using a damp tissue is needed. The letters are now more visible.







These pendants make a great gift or can be added to bookmarks, keychains, etc. Let me know in the comments below if you have tried this out and ho you got on.

Some New Pieces From The Workshop

I cut out a butterfly and heart pendant on Monday and today I got back to the workshop to finish them both. They are both made from copper sheet and finished with a high polish and then a hammered finish. I had wanted to make a butterfly for a while but kept putting it off when I had other things I wanted to make. I'm really glad I got back to make it now because it turned out better than I thought it would. The heart is a plain and simple heart shaped piece but has a lovely pattern with the hammered finish. Again I love a hammered finish and I'm using it a lot at the moment, I'm sure I will move on from it at some point but right now I really think it is suiting the pieces I am making. They are plain pieces and the hammered finish just adds that little extra.

 I then decided to make another heart shaped piece. (It must be all the valentines related things I'm seeing online at the moment.) I made an aluminium heart and a copper heart outline of the exact same size. They are only connected with the jump ring so they move about independently of each other. I really love this piece and for once I'm also really happy with how the pictures turned out, I think they show it off really well.

Today in the Workshop: Brass Heart

Today I went to the workshop with absolutely no plan on what I wanted to do. I just started sketching simple little shapes and decided on a heart. I haven't made any heart shaped pendants yet and I haven't used my brass sheet metal either. So a brass heart it was.


I drew a basic heart shape and pierced it out sanded, polished and hammered the surface to give it a nice finish. (I love hammered finishes if you haven't noticed yet.) I'm happy with the finished piece. I'm getting better with piercing straight lines and round without having to go back and fix it a bit with a file. I have again no plans for tomorrow in the workshop so I guess we will just have to wait and see what I come up with.

Copper Flower Pendant and Cross

So far this week I have made two pieces in the workshop. The first piece is a cross pendant made using Aluminium and Copper. I used a high shine polish and hammered finish. The Aluminium cross to the back is curved and the copper cross is flat. I liked the way they sat using this method.  I love mixing copper and silver coloured metals together so I love the look of this pendant.

The second piece Ive made this week is a copper flower pendant. It is a project featured in the February issue of Beads and Beyond magazine to be made from silver sheet. I made the flower pendant in copper instead and also used a hammered finish. I also added a drill hole to take a jump ring to suspend the chain. The project is called Daisy Daisy by Joanne Tinley. Thank you Joanne I loved trying this piece. Im going to have a go at the smaller flower tomorrow.

Today in The Workshop

I spent all evening wanting to get into the workshop yesterday to try out a few ideas I had so this morning I started and got two of the ideas running around in my head done. I am actually pretty happy with how they have turned out. As I'm still only getting used to my tools and being back at the bench Im expecting a few problems but until today I still hadn't broken a single saw blade (which is amazing for me I used to go through so many). I know I have to work a bit on my polishing still as I was used to using a huge polishing machine and doing it with a dremel is very different. But I'm getting there.

The first piece I made was a horseshoe. Its basic and simple but gave me a challenge with the saw to see how I would get on. The major problem I came across here is I drew the horseshoe freehand which looked ok until I had it cut out. I kept the lines pretty well but my drawing was a tad bit off but what horseshoe is perfectly symetrical? This piece is made of aluminium.

The second piece I made is actually made up of two different pendants both musical notes one in aluminium and one in copper. I love the look of aluminium (or silver) and copper together so this gave me  chance to make something using both. I love how it turned out. I love this piece now so I'm going to stick to the theme and try a few more pieces this week. As soon as it was finished I had so many ideas.

I am currently using aluminium instead of silver for the cost aspect. As these are just practice pieces and I'm just playing around in the workshop trying to find my style again it seems like the most cost effective thing to do. The last thing I need is to be worrying about having too much unusable scrap silver lying around. My next purchase will be some melting equipment so I will be able to reuse the scrap metal when I need it but right now I don't have this option.

Busy Friday

I had a busy day again today working on some more pieces. I managed to get a few necklaces, rosary beads and a bracelet done. I think I have just about enough to fill up my table this weekend at the craft fair. And if Im really lucky I have too much.

A 5 Year Olds Style

My little cousin is 5 now and has been asking me for a while to make her own necklace so I decided to bring her to the bead shop this week and let her pick her own beads. I was really suprised by her sense of style. She knew exactly what she was after and was describing how she was going to make it as she walked around picking out her beads.

Somwhere along the way a bracelet design was being talked about as well so she wanted to make sure she had enough beads to make her set. As soon as she had the beads in her backpack she was wanting to go straight home to make her pieces.

I set her up at the table and gave her my bead mat to stop everything rolling away and was about to start helping her but I wasn't exactly needed. She laid her beads out in the order she wanted to string them and I cut her elastic and away she went. I was only there to tell her when the pieces where long enough I think. When she was done she put them straight on and hasn't taken them off since. She is so proud of herself and so am I. It had never occured to me that she was watching me as closely as she was that she was so capable to make her pieces by herself.

I've now been told about our next trip to the bead shop and what she will be adding to the left over beads she has in her pink box to make her next few pieces. I think I have created a monster. Now I just have to decide what techniques to teach her next.

Jewellery For A Ball

My sister is currently competing to be the Dublin Rose (and hopefully the Rose of Tralee later this summer) and last night they had a ball for all of the perspective Dublin Roses. So My sister, her boyfriend and my other two sisters all got dressed up and went to the Ball! This of course meant that jewellery was needed to go with the dresses that they had bought, so thats where I come in. I gave my opinion on what they should have and they gave theirs and after a quick trip to buy supplies I had a few hours to get everything ready on Friday afternoon for the Ball on Saturday Night.

The first piece I made was a necklace. We wanted to keep the jewellery simple but sparkly! So I used three 8mm pave set crystal beads on a dainty silver chain. With the beautiful weather we are having at the moment it sparkled just lovely but most importantly was not the main focus!


I also made a matching set of earrings to go with this necklace using the same chain and beads. The main aim here was to have a bit of sparkle and not overshadow the dress or anything else. There is a time and place for statement jewellery but this was not it!




So one sister done now onto the next. Again we where going for simple but sparkly so I used 15 Swarovski Crystals simply strung with a dainty silver chain to finish. The crystals are mirrored on one side so pick up colour and shine beautifully!

So to the final piece - THE RING! I can honestly say I don't think I will be doing one of these again for a while. I used mainly 4mm Swarovski Bicones (in crystal Ab with a few light blue) and about six 6mm Swarovski Bicones. I just wasn't too happy with the final result. It didn't look full enough in the end but my sister was really happy with it so thats all that matters really. I would have liked to add a few more Bicones but I had run out at this stage. It is growing on me the more I see it! So maybe I will make a few more and get a bit better at it. After all this is my first ever beady ring!

So that was two out of the three sisters covered. My other sister's dress was fancy and included its own necklace of sorts so I didn't have to make anything else. There are a few more events coming up in this round of the competition so I'm sure I will be working away making more over the coming weeks.

Off to the Ball

Chainmaille Byzantine Weave Tutorial

This is one of the first weaves I learned and is quite simple as it is very repetitive so once you learn the few steps required you will fly through it. I used black and gold coloured rings in the bracelet above but you can use so many different colours the bracelet will look different every time.

What you need:

 4mm Jump Rings (made using 0.8mm wire) I have used Silver Plated here and you can see how to make them by clicking here. 

A Piece of Scrap Wire This gives you something to grip while you get the first few rings worked.

A Toggle Clasp Any closure will do but I prefer toggles.







Two Pairs of Flat Nosed Pliers I use a long and a short just because its what I have and am now used to but any will do as long as they are smooth so as not to mark the metal. 












1: Secure the scrap of wire through two closed jump rings.

2: Now add two sets of two jump rings so it looks like this.

3: Holding onto the loops and wire fold down the top two jump rings and open the two apart that are now at the top.

4: Open a new jump ring and capture the two rings that you had folded down and pull them up.

5: Now do this again with a second ring and you can see you pattern starting to form.

6: You now need to add two sets of two jump rings
again like you did at the start.


















7: Again fold the top two jump rings down and and split the next two apart.

8: Using an open jump ring capture the two folded down jump rings and pull them up.

9: And do this again with a second jump ring. You now have your pattern. Just follow the same steps over and over until you have your desired lenght for your bracelet or necklace. Simply attach your toggle clasp using jump rings and your done!

Enjoy!