A Little Bit of Shopping

I went into town today and did a little bit of shopping. I wasn't particularly looking for anything so I just picked up little bits and a few magazines! I got the new issues of Making Jewellery Magazine and Bead Design Studio. I'm looking forward to try a few of the new tutorials in the magazines.

I also picked up some 100% cotton crochet wool for making a few bracelets. I loved the neutral colours and could imagine a bracelet set as soon as I saw them so thats something I think I will be working on over the coming bank holiday weekend!

I bought some metal tubes in different sizes and colours for the same bracelets and also more fold over style cord ends because as you have seen I tend to use a lot of these in my bracelets! I love getting mystery scoops and today's was various sizes of glass round beads in different colours with a few random shaped beads thrown in! You never know what your going to get and you never know what your going to use them in but they always get used! 

I also picked up some oval silver metal shapes, a few multi-strand clasps and some chain that has the links wrapped in cotton thread. Again I have no use for this right now but its going in the box and I'm sure it wot be there for very long!

Easy Crystal Stitching by Nikia Angel

I entered a competition in the May issue of Beads & Beyond Magazine to win a copy of Nikia Angels book Easy Crystal Stitching Sophisticated Jewelry and I won! It arrived in the post this morning and was such a surprise!

Its a beautifully laid out book explaining everything in beautiful detail with very simple to read diagrams and points. The pieces are so beautiful I can't wait to get started with this new avenue in beading that I have only just dabbled in a few times! Hopefully my pieces will turn out looking somewhere near he pictures in the book!

So thank you to Beads & Beyond Magazine!

More Kumihimo

I had been wanting to try a twisted style of a Kumihimo bracelet I had seen in a magazine a while ago but as I am still very new to this technique the written instructions had be a little confused so today I found a tutorial video on youtube which really helped!



And this is how it turned out. I'm really happy with it. Again I have used the fold over cord ends to finish this bracelet. Its just something I have and am comfortable using at the moment but will be hopefully getting a whole lot of new Kumihimo supplies soon now that I have grasped the basics and like it so much!








I can't wait to try even more colour styles and soon I'm going to even try a beaded Kumihimo bracelet! But for now I have added this onto the same clasp with a few of my other bracelets to wear together!








I have loved trying this new technique and can see myself continuing to use it in my jewellery making. If its something you haven't tried before I would recommend a try at it and see how you get on. There are plenty of youtube videos and instructions online to help you and once you grasp the basics your away! Let me know below if you have tried Kumihimo and weather its a technique you like or not!

Kumihimo

I bought a kumihimo braiding disc and plate a little while ago and just hadn't had the time to try it out until this weekend. It is a technique that I had wanted to try for ages and knew as soon as I did I would love it. I've been working on a lot of friendship and cord bracelets lately so this is just the next step.

I have only tried using the disc so far and made a simple bracelet just to see how I would get on. Its a great repetitive pattern so after no time at all I was trying to decide how to finish it off. When I ordered the disc and plate I forgot to order some kumihimo cord ends. So instead I used the fold over cord ends that I have been using in all of my friendship bracelets.

Im not entirely happy with the ending of the bracelet but I was more just trying to get the hang of making the braid which I did so all in all I think its been a success.

Hopefully I will have a whole heap of these hanging on my arms over the summer in all different colours and patterns. I think its become another of my favourite techniques!





I decided I wanted to wear it with my diamond patterned friendship bracelet so I have attached the two bracelets onto the same toggle clasp. I prefer to attach bracelets like this onto one clasp. I just don't like having a whole heap of clasps on my arm so I try keep it as minimal as possible.

10,000 Hits

I've hit 10,000 views on the blog! I can't believe how quickly this has happened I only started the blog on January 1st this year and already I have so many subscribers and people commenting on the blog on a daily basis. So thank you to everyone who has stopped by, commented and followed me along. Hopefully you will stick around and see what else I have coming over the next while!

I was taking requests for tutorials recently so if you still have any suggestions let me know. And the suggestions that have already made will be available soon! (I release new tutorials on a Saturday). But in the meantime enjoy the previous tutorials and let me know if you have tried them and how it worked for you!

Thank you all again!

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.

I've Been Shopping

I have wanted to pick up a few new things for the last while but I just hadn't gotten around to ordering them until last week and they finally arrived on Friday so I thought I would share what I had bought!

First I bought a Kumihimo Plate and Mini Kumihimo Disk. This is a technique I have been wanting to try for a long time but have never learned. I have been working with a lot of cords and threads for bracelets lately so this seemed like a natural thing to move onto.

I also bought myself Basics of Chain Maille and Advanced Chain Maille both by Lauren Andersen. I have been working with Chain Maille quite a bit over the last while as well but thought it would be good to get the books and see the other weaves that are possible. I love the layout of these books are they are so well explained.

Check back with me over the next while and I will be posting my progress using the Kumihimo supplies and the Chain Maille books.

As always if you have any questions or requests for things to be featured on the blog let me know in the comments below. Feel free to just leave a comment as well. I love getting comments and feedback from readers!

What Would You Like To See Next?

I'm taking suggestions at the moment so that I can plan out the posts for the blog over the summer. Are there any pieces you have seen here or on my Pinterest boards that you would like to see a tutorial for?

I'm planning on doing a few reviews from books to popular jewellery making materials that are around so if theres any suggestions or you have anything you would like for me to review please comment below and let me know!

So all in all I have a fun summer of posts already planned so don't forget to follow this blog by clicking the blogger follower or the email option on the right hand side.

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

I'm In Another Magazine!

I picked up the June 2013 issue of Make Jewellery Magazine today and flipping through the pages I see my tassel bracelet I made a while back. I had completely forgotten about sending it in to them so it was a great surprise to see it printed! 

I made the bracelet inspired by the Star Style tutorial in issue 48 of Make Jewellery and I love it so much I had to share my results with them. And I think they liked it too given the lovely comment they gave me "Such a stunning make, we like the contrast of the delicate bead cones and the chunky chain". 

Bead Soup Reveal!

It is time for the 3rd reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party. Unfortunately we are slightly behind but its finally here and has made the reveal more exciting having had to wait a little longer! I can't wait to reveal what I have made so keep reading!

My partner is Natascha from Switzerland. Please visit her website here where you can she what she has made using the beads I sent to her and also visit her shop and see the wonderful gemstone jewellery she makes.

Natascha sent me a beautiful Sardonyx Pendant, Rhodochrosite,  Moonstone, Larimar, Fresh Water Pearls, a Sterling Silver clasp, Rose Quartz, Rhodonite and Sodalith.

And I sent Natascha a mixed bag of glass beads including pearls, squares, large seed beads, copper beads, a large copper focal bead and a spiral three strand copper clasp.

So now to my first piece using the Sterling Silver clasp, Sodalith beads, Rhodonite beads and the Sardonyx pendant. I also used copper wire I recycled from old electrical wires to make the large copper chain. I have used silver plated wire, silver plated chain, copper and silver plated bead caps and of course some glass pearls. I use these is so many of my pieces that I couldn't leave them out of this one!

I added two beads to the end of the extension chain at the back to keep the colour scheme when seen from the back. This was the first time I had tried to use a pendant like this and it was so beautiful I didnt want to cover it up with wire wrapping so I made a very simple wire bail.

The second piece I made was a bracelet. For this I decided I would use the same copper beads, copper focal bead and copper spiral clasp as the ones that I sent to Natascha because I loved them so much and I thought this would add another little challenge for me to try and work with the same findings.

I made a five stranded bracelet and tried to use some of every bead that Natascha had sent. I worked on the theme of a stacked bracelet that is so popular and trendy right now. I wanted each strand to be like a different bracelet but complimentary of each other. And I'm so happy with how it turned out I have only taken it off a few times since making it! I have come to call it my Morrocan Bracelet because of the colour scheme and I cant wait to were it through the summer!

Here is what I used to make up each strand:
Strand 1: Rhodonite and Champagne Coloured Glass Pearls.
Strand 2: Rose Quartz and Rhodochrosite.
Strand 3: Sodalith, A Large Copper Focal Bead, Silver Glass Pearls and Copper Findings.
Strand 4: Moonstone and Fresh Water Pearls.
Strand 5: Larimar and Copper Beads.

So I hope you have enjoyed looking through what I have made and I hope you will visit Natascha now and see what she has made. And thank you to Lori for all the work that has gone into organising this entire swap. I have really enjoyed working with new materials and challenging myself to make something different using someone else's choice in materials.

Click here to see all the people taking part in the swap and see what they have made! Or if you would rather just have a look at the finished pieces from all 541 participants over the three reveals you can find them on Pinterest.