Book Review - Beading Inspiration: How to use colour in jewellery design

TITLE: Beading Inspiration
How to use colour in jewellery design
AUTHOR: Bead & Button Magazine,Beadstyle Magazine
PUBLISHER: Kalmbach Pub Co
PUBLICATION YEAR:2007
FORMAT: Softcover




Well this is my book which arrived from the states not long a go. I read a review for it in one of my Australian Beading magazines and thought it looked really good and sometimes I do struggle knowing what colours to put together and if 'this' goes with 'that'.

It is approximately 96 pages and the reading is easy and the instructions are simple to follow.

The book begins off with giving some ways of where we can get inspiration from such as nature for example and also explains how a colour wheel works, which I found to be very very helpful. It also has a couple of pages on basic techniques which is good for beginners and it also taught me a few things.

From them on in it has over 30 different projects incorporating colours and showing which colours go with what. I found it really good for the main fact is I struggle with colours that I don't use very often like reds or browns. At the end it also shows how to use metallics in jewellery like silver, bronze and gold. I have found it hard sometimes to make a piece which is majority gold or silver yet finding a colour which won't stand out so bright when used.

All of the projects have a step by step guide with photos showing you exactly how to create each piece. I LOVE instructions which come with photos because I am more of a visual person, sometimes words just don't cut it for me or I talk myself around in circles. I haven't made anything as such from the book yet but I am loving some of the designs and definitely have got some inspiration and ideas from it.

I'm not too sure on the price of this item, as I did buy it from Amazon and all the prices were in American currency. I haven't checked the credit card bill either hehe to see how much it was. I think it is worth it though for anyone who wants some inspiration or wants to learn how to use colours.

New Necklace

EDIT:: Completed piece with an added bead and chain. Also just a overall better photo.


This necklace is for a friend for her birthday. I was gonna use one of my raspberry and black pendants with the silver leafing but couldn't decide which one to use so made something completely different.

The black tear drop shape is made from polymer clay with glaze. Where I inserted the headpins I actually some cute little bali spacers just to dress it up a little bit. The dangles are made with random glass beads and some czech faceted beads too.

Close up of polymer clay piece

I thought I had some chain but don't, so this is just the focal bit of the necklace, it's not actually in its finished form. Its going to be one of those long necklaces which hang bust and below, although when taking the photos on the black wire it does look good at a choker length too.


I also made one for myself using different bali spacers on the headpins and putting a crystal on either side up the top. This isn't glazed or anything and I might think about what I will do with mine. The crystal looks sort of green/yellow but it's really just got a double coating of AB.


I really like this idea. Next I want to try one with some silver leafing.

Excitement!

I just got my Beading Inspiration book from the US! It had gone to the wrong house and some nice man brought it down to us. Haven't had a chance to flick through it yet but I think I will in bed tonight.

YAY!

Baby Blues

Seems I have something for making blue jewellery lately. I have no idea what it is!

Anyway here are some earrings that I made. They having Faceted glass beads, Bali beads and some crystals. I'm thinking of adding some more crystals to the loops not used on the dangly bits but have to see what I have in my stash.



This is a bookmark, or a book thong as I like the call them. It has a lampwork bead and some glass dangles with a butterfly charm on one side and the other end has a fairy carrying a Swarovski crystals.

The photos aren't that good, for some reason the natural sunlight was too bright.

Close up of the fairy with her hair blowing in the wind

This is a book thong which I had made for a friend last year. This is just one way you can use them. I prefer to lay mine so one end hangs out the top and one hangs out the bottom.

Something Old and Something New

Well I took advantage today of the lovely sunshine in the afternoon and took some snaps. This first necklace isn't new but I didn't have decent photos of it before. Its made from Swarovski Crystals AB, Czech Glass Beads and some lovely Flower Lampwork beads.

I still haven't found anywhere to wear it yet.

Sparkle Sparkle

This is my new necklace. I had to re-string it a couple of times mainly because I didn't like the way the beads sat or they just weren't working for me. I ended up coming up with this. I was gonna go something chunkier for the necklace bit but thought it might take away from the glass pendant so I'm gonna leave it like this.

Made with Czech and just plain glass beads.

Back of the necklace. I made the stringing of beads a little thinner so it's not too chunky on the back of my neck.

Finished pendant

I finished off the pendant. Well actually I still need to clean up some parts and then glaze it but this is with the background. It is has a slight change from purple to blue which is a little hard to see. The eyeshadow actually came out of the oven a lot brighter and more silver then when it went in so the flower part looks quite metallic but that doesn't matter it still looks good.



These are just some beads I made with the leftover clay. One is a tad smaller than the others which sucks but I'll use them somehow. Once I figure out what I am going to do with this pendant.

Lots of new stuff

Well haven't I been a bit slack with updating this blog. I can't believe it has been a week almost! Well I do have some new things to show off so thats my excuse. Kinda outta the blue me and my boyfriend got invited to our friends daughters 3rd birthday and well I have no idea what to buy her so I made her something instead!!

This is my first piece of clay (let alone pendant) that has been used in my jewellery making. Yay! It's just a little girl with a halo strung on some seed beads (evil), acrylic pearls and some other acrylic pink beads. I couldn't get the best photos due to it being night and my light isn't the best. I think it'll be a bit long on her but she can grow into it! hehe

Close up of pendant

Tah Dah!

Finally all of my wine glass charms done and dusted. Well they had to be finished considering we had to use them last night for a party. They seemed to go down well and people didn't loose their glasses!

I have been so busy lately and have a busy week at work coming but I should hopefully get some photos up and some pieces finished off!

Amazing

I was just on the Aussie polymer clayers forum having a bit of a browse since the beading one is down (grrrr) and I found this link for this woman's blog and some of the things she does with clay.

Wow!! I am amazed at her pendants. I will definitely have to have a try of some of them when I find some time to really take care and also when I find some stamps deep enough!

Here is the link if you want to take a gander:

http://polymerclaybeads.blogspot.com/

There is so much out there to learn! I am a sponge! haha

Fimo Soft vs Sculpty III

Well when I first started using clay I was using Fimo Soft and found it hard to condition to begin with because the clay is so firm but once it is warmed up it is fine. I would say 805 of my clays which I have a the moment is Fimo Soft.

The art shop in the main shops where I live generally only stocks Sculpty III or Premo. So I decided to try out the sculpty one day to see how it was and I know you're not supposed to mix different clay brands but I needed to at the time.

So what do I think of these two brands??

Well I find the Sculpty really hard to work with, it is way too soft for my liking and very hard to use in shaping or sculpting. I can use it but because it is soft and very sticky it distorts too easily. It's really good for mixing with other colours and generally doesn't need that much conditioning even thought I probably should do some more to get any air bubbles out.

Like I said earlier the only problem I find with Fimo Soft is that is it hard to get pliable and also I find that it cracks easily and more frequently than the Sculpty. I did buy one block of Aqua Fimo Soft once and it just crumbles when I try and use it, which I was disappointed in. I have to really warm it up first if I want to use it but even then it is difficult to work with.

However I think I will try and stick to Fimo Soft for the time being because I know it is good to work with once it softens up and it does hold its shape a lot better then the Sculpty. I mean I could just put the sculpty in the fridge or something to let it harden up but that can be a bit of a hindrance sometimes when I'm trying to get my work done with limited time.

Of course this is just my experience with these two brands. I would recommend either one but depending on what you want to use them for then thats up to you.

Busy Night

Well tonight has been a busy night for me making and making stuff!! Yet again most of it is polymer clay. By the time I finished actually making my beads and pens then I didn't feel like doing the necklace I want to make.

I made the black tile into a pendant. I tried my hand at doing a skinner blend for the first time but forgot the instructions and was folding the clay the wrong way. I think it turned out alright though and looks good behind the black tile.

No photos as of yet of anything but will hopefully have some up tomorrow.

Christmas Angel

I know that Christmas is over but I saw my cute little christmas angel sitting here near my computer and thought I have to post her up.

I made these little decos for all my friends and family members. I had elves, santa, christmas tree, wreaths, bears, reindeer etc but I've only got a good photo of my one at the moment.

Her hair and wings are made from Sculpty III and the rest is made from Fimo Soft. I really like this design. Think she is just gorgeous! Not too bad for my first attempt.

Adding Eyeshadow

OK since I am cheap and didn't want to lay out for pearlex or anything I tried some of the eyeshadow which you can buy from a cheap or discount shop.

I rolled out some black clay because I thought it would show up best on black and I did an imprint with this new stamp that I bought.

I think used the purple, blue and silver eye shadows and used my finger to apply them to the pendant. The photo below shows the colours and where they are on the pendant but on the front on picture it looks like just one colour. The second photo is probably more life like even though if you look hard enough it you can actually see the colours.


Not sure what I am going to do with it yet. Probably turn it into a pendant or something like that. Might actually do some trim around the edges to make the pattern stand out a little more.

Wine Charms

Finally got my wine charms on their rings. There is one set of lady birds and one set of other mixed things I felt like making at the time. I may have to make some more for the party we're having because there is only 12.

Lady Bird set

Mixed Set

These are the rings that I used. I found them in one of the discount shops and they are used for charms or something at weddings because they are labeled wedding rings but I thought they were really pretty.

Pendants update: They have two coast of glaze on them and I'm waiting to see who that turns out before I string them.

Copyright

I didn't think I would have to post about this but I have been thinking about it and I always forget to put marks on my photos.

I know 99.9% of people are trustworthy and I know they wouldn't steal my photos but please if you do decide to use any of my photos anywhere give credit where credits due. Nothing big but a simple name credit/reference or a link back to my blog.

Thank You

Stuck Like Glue

These are the pendants which I was working on yesterday. They aren't fully finished yet, I just stuck the two pieces together which I am sort of regretting now because I should have buffed the black part first so it's shiny and then only had to glaze the pink silver foil. Oh well, never mind.

Triangle Pendant measures 3cm by 3cm

Diamond Pendant measures 4cm(H) and 3cm(W)

These still have to be glazed. I might try glazing just the pink part and see how it looks first.
Pendants made with Fimo Soft in Raspberry and Black with Old World Art Silver Foil.

Here is a sneak peak at some of my wine charms. They aren't on their rings yet so they can't be shown!

Welcome one and alll!

Well I would like to welcome you to my new blog!!

I won't bore you with the usual, "hi my name is" stuff. Basically this blog is going to be used to show all my jewellery creations that I make, want to make, have ideas to make and am in the process of making. I also plan on doing reviews of books I have read, websites, types of beads, clay, whatever I use, read or source as my inspiration.

To get the ball rolling I have some news on something I have made! Woo Hoo!! I've only just started really getting into Polymer Clay lately and today made some cute little charms for some wine glass charm sets, however they aren't finished so you can't see them but I did have my first go at using metal leaf with my clay.

WOW can I say how much I love this stuff??!!

I have baked pieces to put together for some pendants so I can't show you them yet because they aren't finished however I didn't want to waste the left over metal leaf clay so I decided to cover a pen! I really think it looks funky.



And a close up!



Pen is made with Fimo Soft in Raspberry and Old World Art Silver Leaf.

I haven't covered it with anything to protect the silver leaf. I didn't want to put my glaze over it and don't think sanding and buffing will do much good but I could be wrong. So anyone who can give me a tip as what to do drop me a line!