Monday Miscellany - Rings & Things June Blog Partner Review Continues: Three Soft Flex Trios Necklace Experiments

Over the weekend I experimented with my Soft Flex Trios which were my choice for the June Rings & Things blog partner's review. The first one used Amethyst colored wire and an assortment of purple beads I got from a bead of the month club run by Elise Matthesen. I curled a couple of the wires using my round nosed pliers to add a bit of a sculptural look. I also figured out the Figure-8 knot, thanks to the SoftFlex website.

The next one I did using Quartz (white) Soft Flex from the Romance Trio and a number of Swarovski drops, beads and briolettes as well as some glass roundel spacers. I used an Opaline bead in the center, from a strand I got at the Rings & Things bead tour plus clear, translucent white, and opalescent beads I've collected from various sources (including a great Etsy shop, Prolifique) for this one.

The final one uses two shades of green from the Renewal Trio - Emerald and Chrysoprase. I used some sea-green pressed glass and Czech Druk beads, as well as a silver plated shell charm that came with May's The Beadin' Path bead club. I wanted an 'under the ocean' look to this one, so I again used the round nose pliers to curl the wires. I thought that would give the impression of a bed of seaweed and I thought the circles of Chrysoprase Soft Flex, with the Jonquil Druk beads looked rather like bubbles.

As always, I'm very interested in your thoughts about these ideas.

Don't forget to write reviews of products on Rings & Things
to be entered in their June-July contest.
Deadline is July 31.

Thursday Feature: Reviews & Interviews - Soft Flex Trios from Rings & Things

This month Rings & Things provided their blog partners with the opportunity to select what product(s) we wanted to review. I've been reading about the Soft Flex Trios on the Soft Flex Girl's blog as well as at the Flex Your Creativity Contest and the free patterns on the Soft Flex site. So my selection was a variety of Soft Flex .019" diameter, 49 strand Trios. Each Trio has three coordinating colors on 10' rolls.

The wire is color coated stainless steel with a test strength of 26 lbs. They say it can be knotted, which I tried with some light yellow quartz beads and the bone color from the Harmony Trio (Bone, Lemon Quartz and Copper)

The beads curved instead of lying along a straight line when I tie simple knots between them, so I went to the site to see what they recommend, which is a figure 8 knot. I couldn't figure out how to get the knot tight to the bead, however, and until I learn how, I won't be using this for knotting.

The pricing at Rings & Things is lower than the list price, but you do have to meet their minimum purchase requirements and there's a small additional cost for purchases under $50. The plus side is a full selection of trios, quantity discounts, and great customer service (plus a candy treat in the package).

By the way, if you do get a product from Rings & Things, there's a contest on this month - you only need to submit a review to enter.

There are several things I want to try, but first I decided to make a quick and fun necklace using some glass beads I'd gotten from various bead mixes. I used three strands, quartz (white) and Rhodocrosite (light pink) from the Romance set and Pink Tourmaline (a bit darker pink) from the Mystical set. I used a large sized tube crimp that all 6 strands fit into (unfortunately, I don't know the exact size) to form the loops for jump rings at the ends so I could add a clasp.

I also knotted the strands as tightly as I could against the last beads on each side and then left the rest of them bare to show off the color. Unfortunately, I had to do some adjusting and one side got a bit kinked. I'm hoping that the weight of the beads might pull out the kink, but I'm not too optimistic. Next time, I'll forgo the knots. The small pink beads between the larger glass ones are strung on just one of the three wires, by the way, to allow some additional color to show.

(click to enlarge for detail)

I'm having fun thinking up new things to try with these colors and may even make something I feel good enough to enter in the contest (deadline is September 1, 2009).

Thursday Feature: Reviews & Interviews - Review of Rings & Things Gemstone Beads Index

(image courtesy of Rings & Things)

Rings & Things was kind enough to send me a review copy of their printed Gemstone Beads Index. The price is $12 and can be ordered online from Rings & Things. It's a 8 1/2" x 11", Spiral bound book, with a plastic cover (clear in front, heavier black in back) with full color pictures of gemstone beads on pages 3 - 7. The book is 70 pages long.

The Gemstone Beads Index gives "insight into the origins and uses of 275 gemstones." They include, when possible, information about the chemical make-up of the stone, where it's commonly found, what metaphysical properties are purported to it and many other helpful and interesting facts.

Included in the "gems" indexed are Swarovski crystal pearls, man-made (lab grown, glass marketed as 'quartz', etc.) or enhanced stones (irradiated, dyed) and shells, such as Mother of Pearl. The guide is a fascinating read and very helpful resource.

What I appreciate most is the bluntly honest information presented. Rings & Things talks about the garnet they carry, for example, "Our stock of garnet beads is a lower-grade variety, which has a lesser gleam but also a more affordable price tag. These garnets may be dyed to achieve their attractive color..."

How utterly refreshing to see this, especially after buying stone beads at retailers where there is no useful information on the packaging, and the store employees don't have any knowledge of the beading stock at all. When I was very new at this I wasn't as concerned about the details but as I've gotten experience and as I attempt to sell my work, it's very important to the customer that I can give them accurate information about their purchase and how to care for it - and for that, you have to know what you're using.

A real life example happened to me at the recent Bay Con show. A customer asked about the stones in a necklace I made. They were aventurine and she wanted to know the metaphysical properties of aventurine, so I was able to check the listing and let her know. Made the sale, too!

I've bought stones in retail places because I liked how they looked and then later, when asked what they were, I had no idea because the package had given them a name like "camoflauge stone" which at the time, I couldn't find a reference to anywhere online until recently, and now I know it's Kambaba Jasper (page 34 of the Gemstone Beads Index).

The Gemstone Beads Index is well worth the $12 investment, in my opinion.

And Off I Go to Bay Con 2009!

Here are two pieces I'm taking to BayCon today. Yes, I'll be there all weekend and I hope to live blog a bit from my table as I did last year, but I'm also taking some time to write up the weekend posts and schedule them.

This is a necklace I started ages ago (it seems) and bit by bit over time finally got to finishing up. Garnets, garnet Czech glass and a gunmetal chain with visually interesting links.

This next one is on the 18" gold plated serpentine chain and also uses the Dark Indigo Swarovski crystals from my last goodie package from Rings & Things (also got a silver plated one that I haven't used yet).

The gold plating is a bit bright for the design and I was worried that the kinks I found in it when I took it from the bag wouldn't smooth out, although with a little work they did did. Since the link to the component at the end that the clasp connects to (have no idea what it's called - it's a flat scale shaped thing with two holes, one for the jumpring to the chain and one for the clasp to go through) was attached with an open jumpring, I was able to take it off to attach the pendant. It's vintage looking without being entirely steampunk-ish, and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Well, I have a lot to do to get ready, so this one is short and sweet. I'm going to try to update again today from Bay Con, hope you'll check back!

Mid-Week Mutterings - Featuring Rings & Things Product Review

What can you do with 2mm (size 1) black satin like (40% cotton, 60% polyester) rat-tail cordage (about a yard of it) and a foot long section of gunmetal hammered oval links? I was stumped. Then I saw Margot Potter's post about how she used these items, together, to create a fabulous mixed media necklace. She is the Beading Inspiration Muse-person of the Universe. First it was the choker forms, now this one. Thank you, Margot!

I'd posted back in March about some gunmetal colored metalized beads I'd found at Michael's, and these good sized, plain cobalt blue glass beads I'd gotten as a gift but couldn't figure out what to do with except that I wanted to use them together somehow. I'd gotten as far as deciding I'd string them on black Gudebrod Champion silk braided pendant cord. Well, the other day I swapped out that cord and used the rat-tail, which, by the way, made much nicer looking knots.

I kind of wish I had done some step by step photos...but I didn't, because once I got the inspiration, I just dove in and beaded to the finish. So, you'll have to imagine the steps as I describe them. I knotted the rat-tail between each of the gunmetal spheres and cobalt glass tubes and didn't use a repeating pattern (this is unusual for me, as I like symmetry) since the piece was going to be asymmetrical by virtue of having one side made from the oval link chain.

I used a gunmetal pendant for a focal that I'd found at Michael's during a different shopping trip, to facilitate the connection between the knotted beads and the gunmetal links. The back has a tubular loop, so I threaded the cord through that, used a half hitch knot to attach the links and took the free end of cord through the hole in the center of the disk and added a large gunmetal bead and a glass bead to tie off the loose end and secure the whole thing.

To finish it off, I made a coil and bent up the last loop, fixed it between two knots and put a split ring with a large gunmetal lobster-claw fastener* on it. Then, to fasten, you just clip the lobster to which ever link you want for the length of necklace you prefer.

Large lobster claw from Rings & Things - this is the size I use to finish my badge lanyards, it's where I fasten the snap loop that holds the badge.

Minor drawback to using this cord, had to enlarge holes in the beads a bit, so the reaming of same with a round file took a bit more time. Well worth the effort though.

For two more looks at how you can use the chain see JustATish and ABeadADay's creations.

Way back when I first was trying to figure out how to make this necklace I offered free earrings if I used a suggestion left in my comments for a focal piece. Although I didn't use either suggestion, I'd love to give those earrings to RockCreekCreations and Wombat1138 just for being so wonderful and making great suggestions - please email me if you want them, we'll talk about what kind you'd like.

I'm trying out a new online storefront application - ToldYa! So here's today's message from our sponsor:

Tuesday Tidbits

I'm thinking about putting some structure around my week of posts - I'm already doing a Sunday link round up in Wandering Around the Beadosphere, yesterday I did a Monday Miscellany, which is whatever happened over the weekend that didn't get into my weekend posts.

Today, I just had some little things to show off - and I think what I'll do on Tuesdays is feature little tidbit things like earrings or other accessories - maybe I made 'em, maybe someone else did - like this little gem Smutopia sent me with the lovely rhodonite necklace I bought from her.

Could be used as a zipper pull, or could be added as a charm to a bracelet or necklace, maybe add a couple to a cell phone using one of these cell phone lariats (I call 'em lanyards, but lariat is ok, too). These came in my Rings & Things goodie package. They've got a split ring so you could secure a charm on a wrapped wire loop or through a hole in the charm. The assortment package has many colors, appears to be out of stock at the moment. Individual colors with silver tone metal are available as well as a gold plated cap with black lariot.

Here's a quick and easy cell phone charm I made using Czech pressed glass flowers in rainbow colors on the yellow lariat.

Simple headpin and loop design could be jazzed up with other beads or metal spacers. Here's what it looks like on my phone.

Of course there are endless things you can do with these lariats. Give as party favors, stocking stuffers, thank you gifts with purchase, sell them in craft show bargain baskets or give them as part of the packaging on sold items - and if you did that, I think you'd want to be sure to attach a little business card (a Moo mini-card would be a perfect size) or something with your online storefront URL on it.

I'm getting Moo-mini's, and if they arrive on time, I can put them and a little steampunk-ish charm on some lariats I already had in stock and hand them out. I'll try to remember to show an example here of what I'm thinking of when they come in.

Last little bit, working on some charms for Bay Con - not sure if they'll end up on something else or if I'll offer them as charms - sorry the picture is so big, any smaller and it would be very hard to see - the charms are only 5mm across. In addition to the bits and gears from watches, there are also some Swarovski flatbacked crystals. I hammered them flat because they came rather concave and on some of them I used a nail buffing board to give back a little shine to the finish, which I think makes them look even more like old, distressed metal.

Lava, Shells, Coral and Other Stuff, Too

Here's a journey through my work in progress using the Rings & Things goody: Lava Stone. I really loved the idea of using it with some red bamboo coral I had in my stash (Bead Gallery via Michaels). I started by just putting the stones with the coral, but decided it needed something else.

I ordered coral branch bits ( also from Rings & Things) and added them...nope, still not quite there.

Today I had to go to the Post Office to pick up a package from Melanie's Steampunk Supply store on Etsy (will share about those in a later post, when I start using them) and that's just a few blocks from the wonderful Global Beads in downtown Mountain View. I wasn't sure what I needed, just wanted something brown and organic looking and small.

When I found some tiny, brown beads, I scooped up a bunch. I learned they were Indian and made from the rudraksha seed. Also found some red, porus stone nuggets - not sure what they are (and forgot to ask) but they're like lava stone, and thought they'd be a good addition, so I bought a strand of those.

Here's where I am in the unfinished piece so far.

I never had any urge to buy lava stone before - but when I got my sample package, I rather fell in love with it. I ended up with so many ideas - I decided to stock up a bit.

In the picture below on the top left, are some sample bits using the lava stone that may grow into necklaces or bracelets later. I had some dark brown wire that I thought would look really interesting with the lava stones, so I made wrapped loops and a figure eight spacer with the wire. The other sample uses lava stones with drilled spiral shell points I found at Global Beads today, as well.

As for the rest of the pieces in the picture above, in the center are mother of pearl disks (they are thin, heishi-type beads) that I've linked together with 26 gauge Artistic Wire and brass bead. On the lower right is the start of a necklace (I think) using silver Beadalon Quick Links, gold plated 10mm jump rings and 15mm Botswana agate.

I also got some Swarovski beads in new colors that Rings & Things is carrying, and this is what I'm thinking of doing with the Indian Pink ones - they're strung on sterling bead chain between sterling seamless beads. The 4mm bicones are here and the larger 6mm is here:

Need Inspiration? Just Follow the Links!

Have you seen Just A Tish's gluable bracelet form ideas yet? Check out her Gluable Challenge 4&5 (collage, fabric!), Gluable Challenge 2 & 3 (a Yummy Candy Inspiration) and for a giggle (Oops!) - Gluable Challenge - FAIL! I love the picture of the squished clay...I get this flashback to SNL's claymation dude, remember Mr. Bill? "oh nooooooooooooo!"

Or how about Lampwork Diva's ideas? Copper Kisses for $4.00. and also Glue is not my BFF

Another fun one was A Bead A Day's Fun With Bracelet Blanks - has a very chainmaille look to it.


I'm still trying to figure out what to do to finish the one I showed yesterday - and I have two more bracelet blanks to do - one is gunmetal, and then work on the two frames, which I think I'm going to do some mixed media collages (Tish beat me to it, but GMTA!) with to use as pendants, so I need to buy resin.

Just Checkin' In

Hi - sorry I've been quiet for yet another week. I am still a bit blog-challenged and have not been in a very creative place lately. I appreciate all the great new connections I've made recently through your blogs and Twitter, and really want to keep the conversation going, so I'll try a bit harder!

I've started messing (and that word is quite appropriately descriptive) around with the gluable bracelet forms - here's one work in progress so far. White metal bracelet form with gluable discs and hammered links to which I have, so far, added 5, 14mm long by 10mm wide hemimorphite beads. there are 7 links in the bracelet, but the final link on one end is the clasp link and the other end is the loop link through which the clasp locks so I couldn't add the beads to them.

and here's how I did it

Supplies

• glueable bracelet form (Stock#: 40-337-1. 7.2" disk-and-loop bracelet forms for gluing. Hammered oval loops. Length may vary +/- ¼".)
  
• soft silver tone metal wire (used what I had for experimenting, an inexpensive 20 gauge from Michael's, no metal info on the spool, which I bought to practice wrapping and making loops),
  
• flush cutter,
  
• chain nose pliers,
  
• oval beads small enough to give some 'clearance' inside the link and the 14x10mm beads fit fine.

Snipped about 3" of wire and shaped a "t-pin" shape using the chain nose pliers (and flush cutter when I had excess to snip)

make a right angle bend about 3/4 inch long

bend back over itself about 1/4 inch from the center (long end of wire)

turn over, bend the other side the same way - there's a bit of overlap, trim with flush cutter

flatten the folds as much as possible

Now, for the assembly stuff

1. Open the connector bit on one of the gluable disk links
   
2. Remove the oval hammered link and thread wire through the vertical opening in the opened connector bit (I bet there's a technical term for that)
3. 
4. Put the oval link back in, making sure the bead and the wire are on "top" of the link, otherwise you have to thread the wire back through the link, and the less bending the better because (as I'm sure everyone knows but I tested the concept strenuously, and often, to the failure point...) soft wire gets brittle and breaks the more you work it
5. Close the connector bit (there I go with those highly technical terms again) over the wire pin and link - it's a tight fit and will make the bracelet a little less flexible, unfortunately.
6. Thread the wire through the open connector bit on the next disk.

This part is extra tricky. I had to do all the folding and bending and trimming of the wire that I was able to do easily when it was just holding and folding the wire, inside of the open connector and then close the connector over it and the oval link. After finishing, it sometimes stuck out too much so it showed on the right side of the piece, and I either had to try and squish it in, or open the whole thing up again and trim it then bend and squish a much smaller piece of wire, inside the tight confines of the connector.

Then I closed up the connector bit on the other side.


Finished work - so far.

Still need to decide what to do with the gluable disk part. I'm thinking about investing in some resin and molds and trying my hand at little round resin domes with something embedded in them - not sure what to embed (but edging closer to a vintage-y concept), nor what kind of resin to get. I have the MagicGlos stuff, but I need a cure light for that. Also thinking about polyclay, but I need a better working surface than I have right now, which would entail lots of re-arranging the office/beading room and purchases of things I need not be purchasing right now, like new shelving and a nice long worktable/bench (that I've been wanting for some time now).

Product Review: Choker Forms from Rings & Things

I've been meaning to get a post up on the choker forms sent by Rings & Things for days! I'd like to say, right off, thank you to Dave at Rings & Things for including me, it's fun to see new products, experiment with them and then share my thoughts.

I received a package of 6 choker forms - two black, one with a sliver tone magnetic fastener, one with gold tone; one red and silver tone twist fastener, one turquoise blue with silver tone twist fastener, a steel 16" choker form with magnetic fastener and a open ended steel choker form.

As you may have noted on an earlier post, I almost immediately thought of a way to embellish one of the choker forms with some glass beads that had just a large enough hole to go over one of the clasp ends and a pendant I made with sardonyx, sterling silver and glass spacer beads. I like the way it turned out and have gotten compliments (which gave me a chance to talk about my jewelry design and hand out cards, always a good thing!)

So, what do I think about the choker forms?

Pluses

Assorted Lengths - I have a long and thin neck so I prefer a length where the pendant hangs just at the collarbone. That means anything larger than 16" is too big and gives me a bit of a 'Saturn' look as the choker 'floats' in an orbit well away from my neck. The exception would be if I wanted something that would fit over a bulky turtleneck.

The choker form lengths available go from 15" to 20" on the magnetic clasp selection page, There is a silver plated 16" cable on the base metal choker selection page, the colored ones are 18". Sterling silver comes in 16" & 18" with a variety of fasteners and open ended choices. The unfinished end forms come in 16, 18 and 20 inches - and can be cut down to size with heavy duty flush cutters.

Assorted Colors - love that there is a good selection of colors. While the simple silver or gold tone works most of the time, it's fun to have more choice. Helps with the inspiration when it comes to designing something different or seasonal. Would love to see copper colored ones!

Clasps - also love that there are the screw-type or magnetic clasps. I think I like the magnetic ones best as my fingers are less flexible than they used to be. I also like that you can get unfinished ended ones and add beads with somewhat smaller holes.

Minuses

I'm mostly a 'stringer' - I like to have a lot of detail in my work, using small gemstone or glass beads and metal spacers and bead caps. I don't do much in the way of making pendants and these forms, due to the pre-attached clasps limit the kinds of beads you can get on them, unless you get the unfinished ended ones. Since I've not had a lot of experience in attaching a closure to a jewelry cable, I'm hesitant (for now) to invest in the open ended type and find that I can't get a good tight clasp attached. But that's a very tiny quibble and completely a factor of what I do, and where I'm at, in my current stage of learning.

I'd like to see more colors with magnetic clasps and in more sizes.

I am working on an idea (first pass, shown above - subject to a lot more tweaking) using the open ended choker form I got, which came with a magnetic clasp included. I was able to assemble with small, faceted, AB crystal saucer spacers and cathedral cut glass beads, so the 1mm dimension of the cable wasn't a problem. I needed to glue the one part of (there are assembly instructions and gluing recommendations on the listing details) the magnetic closure (I used Aleene's Jewelry and Metal Glue, which is not recommended at the link previously, but seems to be holding fine).

I would like to do two others, one with a black with a gold tone magnetic clasp (available with a 'white' clasp) and one in gold tone wire (not listed online), since I have some cloisonne and oxidized brass wire ball beads I really want to use, but the cloisonne is primarily black and gold.

All in all, I can easily recommend these choker forms, they got me thinking about new ideas and were fun to use.