Conetastic Archives - Candie Cooper

How to Use the Conetastic Inverted Attachments

This post brought to you by BEADALON!Are you into wire working? Then you need to know Sandra Lupo!
She is the inventor of the Conetastic tool for Beadalon. The Conetastic is a fun tool that makes wrapping wire into well, a cone shape! I’ve gotten to know Sandra over the last year and she is one of the most delightful people in the DIY jewelry making industry. That makes using her tool that much nicer, doesn’t it?For the tent sale, Sandra showed off her new Inverted Conetastic attachment pieces. Now you can make two bead cones at once OR a cool bead piece like she did for this tutorial. Remember those Steampunk earrings I made about a year ago? Those were made with Conetastic 1.0 attachments.
Just like before, the inverted version comes in multiple sizes, so pick your size and attach one end to the Conetastic handle piece and the opposite cone piece threads onto the tip. It should look like an hour glass shape.

These are the days of our jewelry making lives….

Sorry, I couldn’t help it.
Anchor your wire in the hole at the base of the cone (see the arrow?) and start turning that wire! For this one, Sandra made a long coil in pink thin Artistic Wire using the Coiling Gizmo (also by Beadalon) and slid them onto the copper colored wire to add a second layer.Keep wrapping through the hourglass shape.
She pulled the coil out so you can see some of the metal underneath. I was loving all of this layering action!
Then she snipped the pink wire and finished wrapping how she started with only the copper wire.
The variation in copper and layered pink is really fun right? The possibilities! Now to free your coiled bead from the Conetastic tool, cut the anchor wire…
and unscrew the top cone attachment piece.
Shore up the wire ends and tuck them in with pliers. Ready to string. You guys, this thing took seconds to whip up! Amazing. Here are a few ideas from Sandra’s stash on her table.
Check out how she stacked the cones on top of each other? Also, how about that twisted Artistic wire in the bottom bracelet?? Hot.And for this one she used Artistic Flat wire. The beads nestled down in had me at helloooo.

Good stuff Sandra! Thanks for showing us how to use the Inverted Conetastic tool! Here’s a link to Sandra’s website so you can see more Conetastic inspiration!

How To Make Steampunk Jewelry

This post brought to you by Beadalon. Here we are with October knocking on the door! Already! This post is going to show you the basics of using Beadalon’s new Artistic Wire Conetastic tool designed by the lovely, Sandra Lupo. This is my first tutorial from my new home office.
So welcome! I had my work table downstairs for the summer because we don’t have air conditioning. Now that it’s cooling off, I’m back up in my nest and LOVIN’ IT!!! Do you like my Ikea task lamp? I’m still in the stage of trying to keep my desk really clean. Day 3: so far so good. By Christmas it will look like a tornado went through the craft store.
Back to the Conetastic! This jewelry making tool is designed to work with Artistic Wire so you can make your own coiled bead cones. It’s a really nifty little tool! This is my first time taking it for a test drive and after sleeping on it, I have some more ideas to try.
The first thing I really liked is how compact it is. For this tutorial, I’m using it with Artistic Wire 18g. in Tinned Copper (my fave).
When you open the packaging, you’ll find awesome instructions. To get rolling, you twist open the end cap and all the parts come out. Also, I liked how heavy the pieces are–definitely a tool made to last.
There are three different cone sizes and a little wrench. The wrench loosens the pin so you can set the desired cone size in the tool and then tighten it in place. Super easy! I practiced with the tiny cone first.
It took me about 30 seconds to make one coiled bead cone. Already I’m thinking I need some silver plated Artistic Wire so I can oxidize it with liver of sulphur and then distress it to highlight all those coils. I love the liver of sulphur patina.
Wrapping the 18g. wire really made for a heavy look. Depending on your project, you might want to play with wire gauges and cone sizes to get just what you want.

When you are finished coiling, all you have to do is snip the ends of wire away from the tool and spool.
For my next experiment, I used the largest cone to make some more playful and loose coiled bead cones. That’s when DIY steampunk jewelry popped into my head. Playing with layers in jewelry making is a love of mine so these Conetastic bead cones fit right in. Here’s my first attempt with brass bead cones under the coiled pieces with glass pearls. Fail. The glass pearls just weren’t cuttin’ it.
When you are settled with the bead stack, string everything onto a regular head pin and then finish the end with a simple loop using round nose pliers.
Grab some chain nose pliers and open the loop from side to side.
Connect the Modern ear wire and close the loop. I accidentally squashed one of the coils down too much, making it look a little wiggly, but I’m ok with it.