5 Minute Earring Tutorial: Tagua Beads

I wanted to put together a quick tutorial to show you how to make the Tagua Bead earrings I made recently. They are so quick and simple and can be made in 5 minutes. Let me know in the comment section blow if you have tried them out. 

What You Need:

Tagua Flat Slices

Tagua Coins

2x Ball Head Pins

2x 4mm Jump Rings

2x 1.25inch Length of Small Silver Chain

Earring Findings

Slide one of the coin shaped beads onto a head pin.

Make a loop on top of the bead.

Attach the head pin, leaf slice and chain together using the jump ring.

Attach the top of the chain to the earring finding. Now make the second one exactly the same and enjoy wearing your new earrings. 

I got the Tagua Beads for these earrings from Ecuadorian Hands. They have a great vast range of shapes and sizes available. See my post about Tagua Beads here. 

Loom Bands Tutorial: Fishtail Bracelet

I have had a go at making a few bracelets today using the loom and loom bands and I'm kind of hooked now. My favorite bracelet so far has been the fishtail bracelet so I have put together a tutorial to show you how to make one. Out of the few colour combinations I tried out today I love the black and white one so that's the one I'm going to show you. 

What You Need:

A Loom
A Loom Hook
About 60 Loom Bands (in two colours)
An S Hook

Take the first loom band in your first colour and loop it like shown in the photo making sure to twist the band.

Now add a band in your second colour. this should be put straight onto the loom and now crossed in the middle.

Add another loop of the first colour straight onto the loom.

Using the loom hook, take the bottom band from the left side over the loom pin and into the middle.

Now to the same with the bottom loop on the right hand side.

Add another band of the second colour straight onto the loom.

And continue the pattern along adding a new band each time.

After a while the pattern will begin to emerge. Keep going until you reach the length you need.








To finish the Bracelet remove it from the loom and remove the 2 unused bands.

Add an S hook linking either end together and your bracelet is now ready to wear.

     I have also put together a video tutorial that you can watch by clicking here. 

Labradorite and Irish Linen Cord Earring Tutorial

I put up a tutorial on how to make my Labradorite and Irish Linen Cord earrings a while ago (that you can see here) but I decided to make a little video tutorial as well. I love these earrings they are just so simple and pretty. I hope you enjoy making them and wearing them.

Earring Tutorial: Gemstone and Linen Cord

I have been receiving a lot of compliments and questions about the earrings I made recently for the Bead Soup Swap so I wanted to put up a simple tutorial showing how I made my Labradorite earrings. For these ones I have used Labradorite and Rhodochrosite chips. 

What you Need:



Irish Linen Cord (2 x 5 inch lengths)
2 x Labradorite Chips
2 x Rhodochrosite Chips
A pair of silver plated studs

Step 1: Take a length of the Linen Cord and loop into the the stud earring making sure to keep one side of the cord shorter than the other. Secure with a knot.

Step 2:

Slide a Labradorite chip onto one end of the cord and secure with a knot. Now slide a Rhodochrosite chip onto the other side and secure with knot. Trim off any excess cord below the chips and secure with a dab of glue if needed. As I'm using waxed cord there is no need for glue here. 

And now enjoy wearing them. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have made a pair. Have you used a different cord or gemstone chip? All pictures and words in this tutorial belong to me so please ask before you use them anywhere else. 

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. 

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.

Featured Project

Today I logged onto Cut Out & Keep where I submit all of my tutorials that I do have on the blog and I noticed my tutorial for the Rosary Beads was featured on the front page. I've never had a project featured on their site before so I was really happy.

So welcome to the blog anyone who has clicked through from Cut Out & Keep hopefully you like it enough to subscribe (on the right hand side there is a button to subscribe.) You can click here to see all of my other tutorials there too.

Rosary Bead Tutorial

I make a lot of Rosary Beads and I have been asked to make a tutorial a few times (and I'm long over due a new tutorial) so here it is.

What You Need:
6x    6mm White Glass Pearls
53x  4mm White Glass Pearls
0.8mm Silver Plated Wire
4x 4mm Silver Plated Jump Rings
Fine Silver Plated Chain
Rosary Connector
Cross
Charm

Step 1:

Make a simple loop of either side of all 59 beads. (Click Here to see how to make a simple loop)

Step 2:

Working with the 4mm pearls, open the loop and join to another pearl and close the loop until you have 5 strands of 10 beads and 1 strand of 3 beads.

Step 3:

You need 14 short lengths of chain. I usually count out a certain number of links (5 in this case depending on the size of the beads Im working with).









Step 4:

Using 12 of the pieces of chain, attach a piece to each side of a 6mm pearl by opening the loop and securing it closed again. You have now 2 pieces of chain left.

Step 5:

Attach the final 2 pieces of chain to the rosary connector using jump rings.

Step 6:

Using a jump ring attach the chain connected to one of the 6mm pearls to the bottom of the connector. Attach the strand of 3 4mm pearls to the end of the chain and again another 6mm pearl.

Step 7:

Next join a strand of 10 4mm pearls to the chain of the 6mm pearl and continue around until all of the beads are connected together. Attach this to either side of the connector.

Step 8:

Using a jump ring attach the cross and charm to he chain.














Rosary Beads can make a great gift and can be made using any beads in any colour. I have made them using Swarovski Crystals in birthstone colours and changed the charm around to something suitable. Let me know how you have made yours.

Have You Used My Tutorials?

I have had quite a lot of feedback from people on my tutorials and have been dying to see what you have made using them. So have you used one of my tutorials to make something? If so, why not share with my what you have made. Leave a link to your picture in the comments below.

And if you haven't tried any of them yet click here to go to my tutorial page and see what you can make. I can't wait to see what you have made.

Diamond Pattern Friendship Bracelet Tutorial

I can't remember where I got the pattern for this bracelet I've tried out quite a few and then tweaked them a little to make them easier to remember and explain in this tutorial. The tutorial is broken down into three parts - the left triangle, the right triangle and the diamond.

I would recommend you try my tutorials for the Simple Friendship Bracelet or the Chevron Pattern Friendship Bracelet before trying this one to get a bit of practice doing the forward and backwards knots.

Always remember a forward knot always ends up to the left of the string you are knotting over and a backwards knot always ends up to the right of the string you are knotting over.

What You Need:

3 x different colours of emboirdery thread

A clasp

2 x fold-over type cord ends

2 x 4mm jump rings (not pictured)

To start you need to cut 4 lengths of each colour measuring 35 inches each. Tie a knot close to the top to hold all the strings together.

Now you need to lay out the colours in the right order. There will be 6 to the left and 6 to the right. In this order the white is the surround of the diamond, the black is the background colour and the green is the diamond colour.

Working with the left 6 stands first take the first (white) strand on the left and knot across until it ends up in the middle. Remember each knot is actually a double knot.

Now working with the right 6 strands take the first (white) strand on the far right and knot across until you reach the middle. Now you knot the two white strands in the middle together to join the sides. You have a chevron now as a start to the pattern.

Left Triangle:

Working with only the left 6 strings take the first strand (black) and double knot across the row. On the final string (white) do one forward knot and one backwards knot so you now have the order from left to right seen in the picture.

You now take the first (black) string  and double knot over the next 2 strands and on the 3rd strand (green) do a forward knot and a backwards knot. You now have this order of strings.

Taking the first strand (white) make a forward and backwards knot over the green string next to it. All the strings are still in the same order now.

Take the 3rd string (black) and do backwards knots towards the left so your order is now black, white, green, green, black and white.

Take the 5th string (black) and do backwards knots towards the left. You should now have the order that is shown in the photo on the right. This is your left triangle done.

Right Triangle:
The right triangle is a mirror image of the left.

Take the first string (black) double knot across doing a backwards and forwards knot on the last string.

Take the first string (black) and knot across the next 2 strings and on the third do a backwards and forwards knot.

Take the first string (white) and make a backwards and forwards knot over the next string.

Take the 3rd string (black) and forward knot to the right.

Take the 5th string (black) and forward knot to the right.

Now join the middle two strings (white).

Take the middle string to the left side and working left knot across until the last string (black) and do a backwards forwards knot.

Take the middle string to the right (white) and knot across to the right until the last string (black) and do a forwards backwards knot.

This is now the start of the surround of the diamond.

Join the two middle strings (green) together.

Take the middle string (green) to the left and knot towards the left over the next 2 strings and on the third make a backwards forwards knot.

Take the middle string (green) to the right and knot towards the right over the next 2 strings and on the third make forwards  backwards knot.

Join the middle strings (green) together.

Take the middle string (green) to the left and knot across the next string to the left.

Take the middle string (green) to the right and knot across the next string to the right.

Join the middle two strings (green).

Take the 4th string in from the left and knot over the next 2 strings towards the middle.

Take the 4th string in from the right and knot over the next 2 strings towards the middle.

Join the middle two strings (green).

Take the second string (white) from the left and knot over each string towards the middle.

Take the second string (white) from the right and knot over each string towards the middle.

Join the middle two strings together (white).






The pattern now continues from the Left Triangle heading above until you have the desired length. Remove the knot at the top of the bracelet and attach the fold over cord ends to either end of the bracelet. See my tutorial for the Diamond Knotted Cord Bracelet for how to attach the fold over cord ends.

Attach your clasp using a jump ring on either end and you are done!

As always I would love to hear if you have found this tutorial helpful and if you have made this bracelet.