beadalon Archives - Page 2 of 5

Now Watch Me Whip…This Wire Pendant Up

February 26, 2016 By candiecooper 6 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon.com–maker of jewelry findings in all types and metal colors.
Remember that pendant I made a couple weeks ago with the wire piece from the hardware store?

Meet it’s new BFF.

DIY bead wrapped horn pendant. The idea of wearing these chains together was a coincidence. I had the first two pendants on when we shot the tutorial. Naturally, I needed this statement horn piece to complete the look.

Can you say, power play?I’m using Beadalon’s new bail making pliers at in this tutorial. More on those later, plus:

Artistic Wire in bronze
Chain
Ergo tools
Flush cutters
Tierra Cast spacer beads
Jesse James Beads Horn pendant
a bead I got randomly in Tucson–it’s handpainted and been in my stash for.ever!

So first, make a loop using the bail making pliers. The thing I like about these pliers is that they are not conical like round nose pliers. This makes it easy to get consistent size loops every….single….time! And that makes me happy!
Loop in the horn pendant.Grab the chain nose pliers and hold the loop while you wrap the extra wire.
String some unique beads…
and make a 90-degree bend just above the last bead.
Use the large section on the bail making pliers and wrap the wire up and around.Now wrap the extra wire above the last bead.
So easy!
Cut away any extra wire with the flush cutters.
Have I ever told you that I think there should be no spacer beads left behind? That’s my philosophy–I think beads look so nice in a spacer bead frame.
Thread the chain through the wire loop.
Determine the length of the necklace that you want, open a link and connect the ends–No clasp needed.That’s all there is to it! Let me know if you decide to try those bail pliers!

Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Beads, Tutorials

Katie Hacker and Artistic Wire Braid and Flat Wire

September 30, 2015 By candiecooper 4 Comments

This post brought to you by the Beadalon crew!Welcome to day 3 of the party where we visit with Miss Kaaaatie Hacker! Good ol' Katie Hacker at the Beadalon tent sale If you’ve been in the DIY jewelry world for any length of time, I’m positive you know Katie. She’s a good egg and one of my favorite people. She also hosts the popular television show, Beads, Baubles, and Jewels on PBS. Katie is the author of many jewelry making books and has been on the Beadalon design team for years. Needless to say, she is a pillar in the DIY jewelry making community and I’m honored to call her a friend.For the tent sale, Katie was showing off Artistic Wire in braid (above) and flat versions (below).Both wires come in multiple metal finishes. The wire is super sturdy so it holds and shapes beautifully. I especially love hammering it. Didn’t I mention yesterday on the blog that I wanted to hammer some metal links? It might be my next favorite technique next to fringe….if fringe were a technique that is.The wire wraps easily and you can use regular round nose pliers to make loops at the end of it. But! Have you seen Beadalon’s large bail making pliers? They have a consistent cylinder tip vs conical. Handy.When you have your piece formed, you can wrap it with more wire and the like. This will make it even more sturdy and add a little texture to the smooth surface.

I love texture.This is the class that Katie taught at the tent sale. She is masterful at designing projects that look like it took hours to make, but you could make in an evening. I love that kind of instant gratification.Did I mention all the classes were $25 at the tent sale?!? And it included all the supplies and then some!Katie and I flew out to Pensylvania together and first stop…Michaels Craft store for some last minute supplies (and a few treats for ourselves).

Enter the giveaway below for some surprise Beadalon swag! I’m picking 4 winners this time. Best of luck!
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Filed Under: Beads, Jewelry, Tutorials

Beadalon Tent Sale Post Party

September 28, 2015 By candiecooper 3 Comments

This post brought to you by BEADALON!With so many trips, it seems I mention it over here and then said trip happens and that’s it…on to the next! Put one bag down, pick another one up.

That’s not going to be the case with the Beadalon Tent sale because tonight I’m kicking off a post party here on the blog. All this week I will share photos from the event held in West Chester, PA as well as tutorials from the Beadalon design team. Check back each day to see what’s new and enter to win Beadalon swag.The sale started at 9 sharp on Saturday morning. Us designers were setting up our demo tables and when I looked up at 8:30 there was already a line starting to form.

Man oh man, there were some crazy good deals! Especially the product manager $5 grab bags. A huge bin of bags SOLD OUT by 9:22 AM. Those ladies bead happy!Here’s a little picture of some of my faves behind the Beadalon brand. Yvette, Kelli, and Madeline worked their booties off getting this sale ready and checking customers out. Pretzels: a Philly tradition alive and well at the sale. I was in awe. Hello! I also got to have my very first Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I’ll save that photo for another day. Holy smokes. Cue Barry White.Team Beadalon at your service! From left to right that’s, Katie, Madeline, Wyatt, Sarah, Kelli, Yvette, and Sandra. We like to work hard and play hard!

So starting tomorrow, I’m going to post a new tutorial or product on the blog, featuring one of the Beadalon design team members. You don’t have to wait to enter the giveaway, though! See below for different ways to enter. I’ll be picking 4 winners. Post party is officially on all you party people!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Beads

Beadalon Tent Sale and Classes

September 10, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

Join me Pennsylvania friends at the Beadalon fest tent show and classes! I’m teaching this class that features Beadalon‘s tassel maker and findings on Sept. 19th at 2pm in Westchester, PA. Want to sign up?

Email salesATbeadalonDOTcom to sign up. Cost is $25 (amazing right?!?).

You’ll learn how to make fantastic tassels and basic stringing techniques and leave with a layered necklace and matching bracelet featuring Jesse James Beads!

It’s going to be a ton of fun as I am joined by Katie Hacker, Wyatt White, Sandra Lupo and Sarah Ellis. Let’s get this party started!!

I can’t wait. Here’s the skinny on the rest of the sale:

Filed Under: Bead Love

Geode Necklace Tutorial

July 29, 2015 By candiecooper 9 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon.The dog days of summer are here. Barefoot, I walked outside this evening to get something out of my car and the pavement was still plenty warm. Visits to the farmer’s market and dinners of garden veggies. Yes, this is summer.

Poking around on the internet, I’m still seeing plenty of boho style. That’s what I do–look at fall fashions, dreaming of scarves with fringe and ankle boots. In reality it’s so hot you want to sit around in your underpants. I like to layer clothing and the sweltering summer temps don’t care.
Today I’m serving up some boho pendants using agate slices. These go together in seconds. Let’s celebrate Beadalon’s new 21 g. flat Artistic wire.
Beadalon also has a new small hole punch tool (on the left). Hole punches make my heart flutter if you can’t tell from this last post.
You can eyeball the length you want your wire or you can measure. Either way this flat wire cuts easily with wire cutters.
Use a file to knock off the corners so it’s not sharp.
Hammer the wire piece on a steel block and the round end of the hammer to add a planished texture.
This is a cool jump ring mandrel. Use it for forming jump rings (not just a clever name), ear wires, wire wrapping or to bend this bail piece.
Punch a hole with the metal hole punch (psst…you can use it on leather too!). Again, I’m eye-balling all of this. Don’t tell my boss.
Use a micro bolt to hold the agate slice in the bail.
Twist the nut onto the bolt.
This is obviously too long so cut it, leaving about 1mm above the nut.
CAREFULLY hammer the cut end to create a rivet head so the nut can’t come off. Take care to protect your eyes should you accidently hit the agate slice. That would be bad. Real bad.
String it onto a leather strap. String it on a chain. With beads. Without beads.

Treats:

Artistic wire for bail

Hole punch tool

Jump ring mandrel

Filed Under: Crafting, Jewelry, Uncategorized

How to Make Tassels

April 15, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by Beadalon!I spent the last day of ~~Spring~~ Beadalon Break at Bead Fest in Oaks, PA!

Guess what? Beadalon was there too!

So I got an up close look at their new Tassel Making Tool! This thing is great for jewelry makers and crafters.

I put Madeline Roddy on the spot and asked her to walk me through tassel making basics with the tool. It was super easy! Watch and see…Suction the tool to your work surface. I think we all have a bead box (or 75 laying around) that we can stick this thing too like Meredith did.Wind the desired amount of cord (check out this twinkle thread from Beadalon) around the two mandrels. You can change the distance to make shorter fringed tassels (or make them long and custom cut the length). When you have enough cord wound, thread a short piece of cord through the wound threads and tie off next to the mandrel.

Cut the bottom cords open next to the mandrel.Now you can hook the tied piece to an eye pin and thread it through a bead cone to give it a nice finished look. This bead cone was made with the ConeTastic.Check out this fancy pants tassel piece I spotted in the Beadalon booth. So pretty with the metallic thread!

Here is a video of the Tassel Maker from Beadalon so you can see it fully in action!

Filed Under: Crafting, Tutorials

Beadalon Bracelet Jig Stretch Bracelet Part II

April 15, 2015 By candiecooper 4 Comments

Greetings Day Fivers!

Where has the time gone? So in the last post, I showed you Beadalon’s new bracelet jig tool. Now let’s turn that piece into a bracelet topper.
When you pull the piece from the bracelet jig, you’ll have something like this. Finish the ends with wrapped loops.For the back end of the bracelet, I strung a section of topaz colored glass beads with brass spacer beads (easy!) in an alternating order. By the way, I’m using Beadalon’s 1mm Elasticity, because I like the thickness, but they do have a smaller size just in case.
Don’t forget to pull and stretch your elastic to break it in a bit.
Knot one end of the Elasticity to the bracelet topper. I really love using the same color of Elasticity as the wire–blends right in! Trim the Elasticity from the spool, leaving a couple inches to tie the other side.
Trim the extra Elasticity away, leaving about an 1/8th inch and dot the knot with nail polish.
The loops from the bracelet jig make a perfect place to connect bead dangles and charms if you like. For me, I enjoyed the simplicity of this and the dainty flowers.