Handmade Monday: More poppies and Autumn colour

As it gets closer to remembrance day, I keep getting new ideas for poppy jewellery.  This week it's chain maille again.  The little poppies that make up the links take a while to do, so getting seven together for the length of the bracelet and earrings was quite a challenge.  In a way, it's a good job it was quiet in the shop this week, despite me listing a few new bag charms.

Apart from that, we've had this stunning Autumn weather, with the colours so fabulous and the sun shining on them like the middle of the summer. The park looked amazing the other day.

 Christmas themes are starting to creep in to my makes:

Isn't he cool?  I added the little daisies because the contrast between his size and theirs just seemed right!

and the stars always remind me of singing children's carols at school.

I've been working on my website too.  All will be revealed soon...

Here's the link to see what others have been making this week.

Have a great week,
Alison x

Handmade Monday: Chain maille flowers tutorial

What a lovely week it's been since the weather got over itself on Monday.  We had a great walk yesterday at Wixford, followed by a delicious lunch at The Fish pub there.  It's been a good week for sales in the shop too, especially for bag charms, and I've made some progress updating my web site so people can design their own charm bracelets and necklaces.  The wild flower strips in the Coventry parks make you think you're in Italy!

They are actually not sunflowers but loads of these lovely flowers. Do you know what they are called?

They've inspired a tutorial this week.  Partly because I've not done one for a while and partly because I find it so easy for me to forget how to do things these days, it's handy to write them down on my blog. Also, unlike the other chain maille designs I've done, I'm not sure if anyone has done this particular flower design this way before. You usually find there is nothing new in the world of craft, so apologies if I am unwittingly copying!  Here's a daisy version of the watch style bracelet.

You'll need 11 beads and 51 jump rings for this design.  The tutorial is just for the flower - if you want to turn it into a watch style bracelet you'll need a few more jump rings in different sizes and to learn the butterfly chain maille weave.  I can cover that in another tutorial if you want. I'm using 6mm beads and 50 5mm jump rings, and one large 12mm jump ring for the centre. You need a bit of fine gauge wire too (0.4mm is good) and some beading thread. I like to use very strong jump rings, the ones I'm using here are 1.2mm gauge - Fabfifi50 on EBay is my favourite supplier for these.

Start with the 12mm jump ring. Close it and use the fine wire to wrap one of the 6mm beads in the centre, then add 10 of the 5mm jump rings to either side of the bead. 

It looks a bit messy at the moment and the centre bead will be quite loose. Don't worry about that - it will all tighten up soon.  

Next add 10 jump rings to link up in pairs the jump rings you've just put on. 

This is a very easy design but the next bit is where you could do with counting out 10 of the remaining jump rings and making sure you keep stopping to check that you're adding the jump rings on the same side of the flower.  This time you link two of the original jump rings again, but alternate ones from last time so that the next layer of jump rings lays on top of the last one. It's hard to explain, but hopefully clearer in the photo. 

The design will be really loose at the this point, so watch out for naughty jump rings trying to flip over and confuse the pattern!  The next step is to tighten the whole thing up with jump rings linking the last two layers:

Use 10 again and make sure you always link two jump rings but never go through the same jump ring twice. 

Now it's time to add the beads. Put one as a stopper bead on a long length of beading thread and then begin to sew them on, picking up one jump ring from the last layer between each bead as you go:

I find I need to go around with the thread several times to get the flower really rigid. The advantage is that you then don't need to tie or crimp the ends of the beading thread, they can just be cut.  You can see the beading thread a little but I don't think it detracts too much from the flower.

Once finished, you can add further connector jump rings as you need them.

There you go. 

Here's a link to what other crafty folk have been doing this week. 

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Right angle weave

It's been a lovely day here - the first day of the year I've been sitting out in the garden to bead which is always a treat. I've been experimenting with bead stitching and had a go at a simple right angle weave (or RAW) bracelet. 

The bracelet is made of crackle glass beads which are half purple and half brown, and the beads pivot on the string so it never quite looks the same twice!  It's actually the second version because rather-clumsy me dropped the bracelet on the floor and smashed quite a few of the delicate glass beads in the process!

Being challenged in not being able to tell left from right, it was quite a task to find a tutorial I could follow. So I'm recording some pictures here of how I constructed the weave, using different coloured beads to record the steps. 

I found that if you remember you are always making a diamond of four beads, that helps in knowing how many beads to add and what direction to weave in.  

The needle here is getting ready to form the next diamond, this time adding two beads...

...and going through two existing beads. 

One more diamond takes me to the end of the row....

Then it's starting again with another three beads. 

Will I ever go beyond basic bead weaving?  Not sure, it's a bit fiddly and I need more sunny weekend days when there's plenty of natural light to work by. Here's hoping!

Look, I've made the dog yawn!  He would rather I was paying him attention than working with beads. 

Here's a link to what other crafty folks have been doing this week: http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/handmade-monday-158.html

 Alison x

Handmade Monday: Jewellery for the coming season

I love that it's November, so I can start showing some Christmas makes. Only a couple, then I promise to shut up about it!

The snowman charm is quite big and looks so cool with the white beads and crystals. 

And this charm is double sided with the tree on one side...

...and the deer on the other side. Bag charms were popular in the shop last Christmas and I think they are good presents for people who love jewellery but just have too much!

Apart from that, I've been in an amber and brown mood

This is a memory wire bracelet and here's a lariat

And some simple glass bead earrings

So which do you like best?

Here's a link to what other crafty folk have been up to this week.  

Handmade Monday: Simple stud earrings from wire

Bea, one of the lovely guest designer on Jewellery Maker, showed this method of using wire to make stud earrings a few days ago.  I always like to have a go, and a couple of folks who missed the programme asked for a tutorial, so here it is.  This would work best and was demonstrated with a flat backed bead or gemstone but does work with the rounds I've used here - Brazilian jade beads. Similarly, I've used 0.8mm wire (20 gauge) but the original demo used 0.6mm I think.  You just need to check whether the thickness of wire will go through the butterfly backs you're using.

You will need:
A length of wire about 6 inches or so
Wire cutters
Chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers (optional)
Cup burr or file
2 beads
2 butterfly backs

Step 1: Pop your bead on the wire and bend the wire around the bead.  One side will form the stud back and the other will circle the bead twice, so leave a short end for the stud and a longer one for the circling.

 Step 2: Work the longer end of the wire around the circumference of the bead, pushing the wire gently and keeping close to the edge, going in front of the shorter end of the wire.  You might want to push this shorter end out of the way as you go past it.

Step 3: Keep pushing the wire around until you have gone round the whole bead twice.  The wire will be just at the hole of the bead where you started winding.  At this point, you can choose to simply snip the wire and push it gently with the chain nose pliers so that it lies flat to the bead. 

Step 4: I've chosen to add a loop for a small bead dangle.  You need to snip the wire, leaving just enough for the loop....

Step 5: ... and gently form the loop with the round nose pliers.

Step 6: Go back to the other shorter tail of the wire now and bend it gently round the back of the bead to half way down the bead.  A bit fiddly now with a round bead, must easier if you are using a flat back bead.

Step 7: Use the chain nose pliers to make a right angle bend in the wire as shown and you've made the stud post.

Step 8: Tidy up the end of the stud post - you can use a nail file if you wish.  A cup burr like the one shown is a very useful little tool and will give you a nice rounded end and won't remove the plating on the wire either.

Add your butterfly backs and additional bead drop if required.

You need to be quite careful putting the backs on and off not to pull the stud post away from the bead.  You could try using a spot of glue on the post. 

The finished earrings, with a little faceted red jade bead added. The others are faceted peridot with pearl drops.






Enjoy making!  And don't forget to sign up to follow the blog for more tutorials, crafty stuff and photos of my dog!

Handmade Monday: Viking weave

Just because it's nearly Christmas doesn't mean I don't keep having mad ideas.  So this week, while everyone else was getting sorted wrapping presents and decorating trees, I decided to learn Viking weave!  Luckily it's very easy to do, but it is quite time consuming, leading me to reflect that the Viking folk must have had plenty of long, dark evenings to fill with no TV distractions!


Fragments of the chain have apparently been found in Viking graves and were sometimes used as currency.  This little bracelet in copper wire is the only finished piece so far. The findings were all hand made too, so don't look too closely!

It's great fun because as you weave the wire looks quite messy and you think you've made a mess of it, but once you start pulling it through the drawplate, a bit of magic happens and it all comes together quite nicely.  Hoping to post a tutorial in the New Year when I've had more practice.  Currently having a go at double knit which is going well considering how awful I was at real knitting ;-)

A couple more makes from this week picture here too.  Hope you like them.  The watermelon tourmaline is a new gemstone for me and I love the range of colours.

So now I'm off to catch up on some of those non-crafty Christmas tasks.  Merry Christmas everyone!

And here's the link to find out what other crafty people have been up to this week.

Handmade Monday: Beaded stars and flowers

This week I decided it was time to take on board the fact that it will soon be Christmas - I've been in denial for a while!  This star or flower could be a little bit festive, so I thought I'd post a little tutorial in case you want to make your own.

You will need:

• 25 beads for each star or flower
• Monofilament or beading thread
• Jewellery glue (optional)

I used 6mm beads which make quite a chunky star about 4.5cm across.  I've used two colours of beads in this example just to show how you are basically creating a circle and five little triangles and to make the explanation easier.  The two colours could be an interesting effect though!

1. To start, thread 3 beads on a long strand of monofilament.

2. Cross the two ends of the monofilament across a fourth bead...

3. ...pull the ends of the monofilament so the beads form a diamond shape

4. Add 5 more beads to one end of the monofilament (keep using the same end of the mono to thread the beads on from now on, but you will need to keep pulling the other end tight as you continue beading)

5.  Put the end of the thread that you added the 5 beads onto back through the second of those 5 beads

6.  Pull the monofilament so that it forms another diamond shape next to the first one, separated by one extra bead as shown in the diagram

7. Repeat steps 4-6 again to form another point of the star

8. Repeat steps 4-6 again twice to form the last two points of the star

9. You can see that the purple beads will form the inner circle, and you need one more to complete the design so thread on that additional bead by crossing the two end of the monofilament through it

10. When you pull the threads through, you'll see the star shape forming - nearly done!

11. The first thing you'll notice is that the star is quite floppy (!) and the two ends of the monofilament are not in the same place.  Start to rectify this by threading one end of the monofilament through all the inner circle beads, then threading through each of the points of the star in order.

12.  Once you've done all the extra threading, the monofilament ends should be in the same place and now you can knot them and glue the knot.

Your star or flower is now ready to use as you wish.  Perhaps a necklace, bracelet or Christmas decoration?  They look nice in neutral colours as well as the brights.







This one I've made into a simple necklace

Here's the link to see what others handmade crafters have been doing this week.