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Handmade Beaded Jewelry
I started making my own beaded jewelry a couple of months ago. I really enjoy it, whether it is to sell or for yourself it is a nice hobby. There is alot to learn, what looks so easy can be real simple just stringing beads, then as you learn you begin to a fasteners, and crimps and before you know it you have decided to really design your own jewelry and you look for wire to wind around the gemstones. Then you begin to learn the more complicated jewelry creations.
The first thing I had to learn was about wire. I quickly found all the brands here on Ebay are quality wire. Next, I learned 10-12 inch wires were great for Earrings. One reason is because it is much easier to work with. It is more pliable. The #10 wire I found would take the tiniest of crimp beads, 1.5mm which is really nice for earrings. The #12 wire is a better wire if you are making earrings that are very heavy, most beads even up to 8mm you can use the #10. The other reason I like the #10 is like I said you can buy the tiniest of crimps and they are much less noticeable then the bigger 2mm or etc. I found out it was easiest for me to just try it and learn as you go. But we do have alot of good beading books and how to bead books here on Ebay.
Acculon Beading Wire #12 I found that Acculon Beading wire is a little harder to find in #12 and #14 but I do like the way it bends and resists kinking. I found it was a very easy wire to work with.
Learn how to bead books If you intend to really start making beaded jewelry, and want to get into really elaborate jewelry making, then do buy the books we have on Ebay, there is a lot to learn and we have many different types of books. You can find books on basic beading, or elaborate ways of making your own jewelry. From wire wrapped jewelry to intricate peices with stones set in.
Lobster clasps The lobster clasps are one of our better clasps we have for sale here on Ebay. The toggle clasps are good but I think the lobster clasps are alot safer.
The dangle earrings are very popular, the one strand long earrings and the chandeleir earrings. A lot of the earrings I have made look really nice with Swarovski crystals, but I do like to use the Czech crystals and the Chinese crystals. 4mm beads are great for the smaller streamline earrings. I prefer the 6mm they are just a little bit bigger and a little more noticeable but still slim looking. I also use gemstones, I have tried the corals, which I really like the bold reds. They come in squares and in round beads. They have many different sizes in these beads too. I used a 8mm mountain Jade in a deep green with silver streamline beads to make dangle earrings and they have a pretty elegant look. The variety of beads and sizes are unlimited. You can just experiment. But remember for #10 and #12 wires stick to a 3mm-8mm. bead in size. Otherwise the wire will not hold the weight of the bead.
Handmade Beaded Bracelets and Earrings
I started out making my earrings with sterling silver quality earring wires and found out the wires were a little too long and knocked out of the ears a little too easy. Now I use hypoallergenic wires with shorter wires, to suit more people's taste. No one would want earrings that irritated their ears, or earrings you lose the first time you wear them.
Faceted Acrylic Beaded Bracelets
In making bracelets I prefer the #14 wire but #12 does work well too. #14 is suggested to hold the weight of the 3mm-8mm beads. Make sure the wire is at least a 3 ply wire or the 7 ply wire. I find that the lobster clasp work well and is prefer by most people. The new toggle clasp are nice too, but they are quite a bit more expensive. With bracelets you just remember #12 or #14 inch wire for the 3mm-8mm beads. You will also need crimp beads for the ends of the wire. The crimp beads help to end your bracelet or earrings to attach the clasp or to just hold the beads onto your earring or bracelet.
These earrings above are genuine turquoise from China. They are highly polished round 6mm beads with brillant silver plated spacer beads and bars, to keep the price down while still having genuine turquoise all around the bracelet. The turquoise is a beautiful blue turquoise color with thin webby lines running through it. Make sure when you buy your gemstone beads you check to see if it is the real gemstones or gemstones that have been reconstituted which means the powder of the gemstones mixed and formed into beads. They are beautiful beads too, but you would want to let a buyer know they are reconstituted beads not the real gemstones.
Memory wrap bracelets are nice and pretty easy to make. The choice of wire is copper, gold plated, silver plated, or sterling silver. They come in packages of 12 loops which will make 4 three wrap bracelets or a few more if you make the 1-1/2 wrap streamline bracelets. You can buy memory wrap wire here on Ebay in many different amounts. 70 loops, 20 loops or even 50 loops at many different prices depending on what kind of wire you want. All you need to finish off these bracelets are beads, I suggest only 3mm-6mm beads, otherwise they are too heavy and may not spring back to their original shape. Bead end caps, these are not so common on Ebay so you might have to type just that into search to find them, having a hard time still look up the stores with memory wire a few sell the end bead caps too. What these are : they look like a small 3mm round spacer bead but they are only half drilled, so they can be glued on the ends of the memory wire for a polished smooth end to your bracelet.
Memory wire Memory wire is sold in turns, one complete circle is called a turn. Often it is sold in one continuous peice of wire of 12 turns, for this you need a strong pair of wire cutters to cut the wire. I often make 1-1/2 turn bracelets but it is suggested to make 3 turn bracelets for the wrap around, they stay on much better. The 1-1/2 turns stay on also but you might not want to wear it swimming. Many people use multiples of 5-8 turns to make the cuff bracelets. These are very nice too.
Silver Memory Wire Most memory wire is silver plated, gold plated or copper. You can however get silver memory wire too, but it is more costly.
Memory wrap wire also comes in ring size. It is very hard to work with the small coiled wire at first. But eventually you get the hang of it and it gets much easier. I use the tiny 2mm round spacer beads on these wires. You make sure the extra half a loop wire ends wrap around at the top of the ring. Add two cute 3mm or 6mm crystals to the middle of the top of the ring and you have a cute ring, to match all those crystal earrings and bracelets. Remember these do take a 3mm end bead cap for memory wire. You can make these with different beads on top but I like the crystal rings, just don' t use over a 6mm bead.
Memory wire end bead caps A lot of beaders and sellers are complaining about bead caps they can't get to stay on. I haven't had that problem but once. Other ideas are to bend the wire ends back carefully and smoothly without damaging the wire, or using a round crimp bead. Make sure you use smooth pliers or crimp tool, so you do not mark the bead crimp.
I hope this will help the beginning beader. I noticed when I started beading we didn't have many guides to help. I found one with a little information. I know this isn't a lot of information there is a lot to learn in beading and a lot you can keep learning. But for a beginner it can be a lifesaver when you know what size wire and what size beads.
Spacer beads come in all different sizes shapes and textures so have fun experimenting. I can tell you the spacer beads help make the bracelet brillant so do try using them with all gemstones and crystals. A 3mm spacer bead is a good size spacer for 3mm-6mm bracelets. It gives is a more brillant look which compliments the beads. It makes an amazing difference.
This bracelet above is a turquoise bracelet made using 4mm and 6mm Chinese turquoise in round beads, which are highly polished. They have a beautiful blue turquoise color with thin webby black lines running through them. The bracelet is made with brillant silver plated spacer beads to keep the price low while still having genuine turquoise gemstone beads all around it. They are made with the new elastic floss, it appears to be a transparent rubber band but it is much stronger and flexiable. Make sure you square knot the ends and then taking both peices together tie another knot without making a square knot. They don't come untied this way. Believe it or not they do not break they come untie if not knotted really well.
Here on Ebay you can find almost any beads you want for your bracelets, from freshwater pearls, to beautiful cultured Pearls, they do come in different shades, like black and peachy colored. Some pearls are even dyed though they will tell you if they are not natural. That is a good keyword to keep in mind when shopping for cultured pearls, natural and genuine.
I found some highly polished dark green mountain jade beads, that were just gorgeous! These were a 8mm jade bead and well worth the money I paid for them. The Mountain Jades are beautiful and so well polished, they are from Kentucky. Just remember if you use just one or a few in your design you can buy small amounts on Ebay. Most beads come in 20's, 25's, 50's, 100's, but sometimes they are sold in strands. Strands can range usually in 50-100 beads depending on the size of the bead.
Freshwater Pearls I like the button Pearls the best they look more uniform they all the others and it makes a prettier peice of jewelry.
Mountain Jade This Jade is usually from Kentucky at least those I have ordered here on Ebay were. It is a beautiful finished bead, they look as nice as any jeweler would use for their jewelry.
The Swarovski and Czech crystal beads are very popular. They come in all different shapes, square, bicone, round, etc. Swarovski even has pearl beads. They have many different colors to choose from to light to dark shades of most colors. You can get lead crystals and AB crystals. They come in a large variety of sizes to from 3mm to very large beads used for pendants.
Czech Crystal Beads These are less expensive crystals then Swarovski. I found that the Czech crystals that are listed as highly polished bicones are just beautiful. Well worth the money and very pretty!
Crystal Beads Most people when picking crystal beads want the Swarovski crystals. On Ebay you can find them in almost any color, size. or quantity.
Here on Ebay there are turquoise in square beads, rectangles, rounds, stone shaped, coin shaped and many more. There is natural corals, and corals that are dyed and highly polished corals.
Square Beads These beads are harder to find then the round ones, but there are some out there. They have a lot of the square beads in the larger sizes but not so many in the smaller ones.
Be sure to check the Buy it Now's sometimes you can find some real deals there if you need them quickly. I like to buy this way. You don't have the long wait to find out you've been outbidded anyway.
There are plenty of books at Ebay for learning how to make jewelry and on beading. So if you aren't ready to trial and err try one of the books and learn how to make your own jewelry. It is a lot of fun and a useful hobby.
Have fun Beading!
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