Craftside: Two different styles of jewelry using the same technique-bead dangles on chunky chain

Two different styles of jewelry using the same technique-bead dangles on chunky chain

Major BLING-ola! Sometimes photographing things in full sun just makes them sparkle like nobody's business. This necklace could not be any easier and was really relaxing to make. I forced myself not to think while I was making it.

Every once and a while I would start to angst over where the next bauble would go and then I would catch myself and just link it on. The page from Bead Jewelry 101 below was my inspiration. I know it looks totally different but I swear the technique is the same as the earrings.

A bead dangle on each side of a link. I will say I did start by placing my biggest beads first then medium and then the smallest. But that was my only guideline here. I did weigh this necklace and I had never weighed any of my other jewelry before but it is heavy. Odd, it weighs under a pound but I guess almost a pound of beads feels heavy. Oh and I didn't go out and buy any of them specifically for this project; it was all in the stash. Often times these are called "bead soup" projects. When you go through your stash, it can point out what you buy regularly and how well what you buy works in the designs you make.

So my suggestion for the day, the "design challenge" as it were.....pick a technique or style you like and mix it up by playing with the proportions some how. You might like the direction it takes you!

Click on the images to enlarge and read about these jewelry designs.

Bead Jewelry 101

By:

Karen Mitchell and Ann Mitchell

In the style of Sewing 101, Quilting 101, and Home Décor Sewing 101, this workshop-style book teaches all the popular craft techniques used to make jewelry. Techniques are learned by doing projects, and the projects are organized to build skills cumulatively, beginning with the easier techniques and progressing to more difficult.

Karen and Ann Mitchell (Altadena, CA) are a dynamic sister team with a costume jewelry company called AnKara Designs. They make and sell jewelry, teach classes nationwide, and have appeared regularly on the Carol Duvall Show. They publish articles in Jewelry Crafts and other magazines and participate in 18 large arts and crafts shows annually.