The Bead Stylist: BeadWork Magazine My Beading Highlights

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Here’s some of what I like in the current issue August / September issue of BeadWork magazine:

On page six under the W.O.R.D section I was impressed by a bead artist named Beth Moser of Williamsport PA for her creativity after being inspired by a dress she saw during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week – after all beads and fashion that’s what it’s all about! I found a photo on her Etsy shop DesignsByBinah

 

Threading your beading needle won’t be such an issue anymore thanks to a great tip from Jacqueline Johnson of Dover, DE .  She has been beading for over 60 years and she has two great suggestions;

• the first is to thread your beading needle with the end of the thread that’s coming off of the thread spool / bobbin and not the end you cut. 
• the second part is something I never would have thought of which is to thread many beading needles at once, then when you need a new thread grab one needle, slide the other down and cut the length of the thread you need the other needles are there when you need them – what a great idea!

And of course there are so a few great beading projects in this issue of BeadWork magazine.

The color theme in this issue is what really caught my attention and I will be posting a summary of that information soon.

Hope you find this useful!

The Bead Stylist: Elle Magazine Fashion Trend Highlights ….

I just received my July 2010 issue of Elle magazine and Rihanna is on the cover modeling a Lanvin animal print trench coat (only $3990) – loving the trench even though it’s a tad out of my price range; but this is just one of the several animal print fashions she’s modeling in this issue.

So that’s one trend that’s still dominant probably for a few more seasons to come; here’s a link Accessory Trends: Leopard.

Of course beads are ALWAYS in fashion and bead embellishing is still in focus for the season - in all their variations.

A pair of black suede bell-bottom pants by fashion designer Emilio Pucci are embellished with beads, crystal rhinestones and feathers that are simply stunning – wish I had a picture to share (on page 43 in the July issue of Elle).

The additional photo’s above are a fringe beaded belt $1,410 and Swarovski Crystal embellished suede boot $1,295.

And the macrame dress, well this isn’t the ‘70 macrame people typically think of when the word is mentioned. Designers seem to be using macrame more and more in creating their designs; it’s only a matter of time before beads are added!

So why even bother highlighting such out-of-reach-priced fashions and accessories?

It’s always interesting to see how creative people gain inspiration from current fashion trends creating their own fashions and accessories while staying true to their artistic values – I’m envisioning a pair of hand-embellished suede boots that are ‘crazy’ and one-of-a-kind (OOAK) – can’t wait!

The Bead Stylist: Summer Time Beading Classes Starting Soon

Although I’m very excited and nervous about teaching these classes especially since I have absolutely no experience, so I put the word out to the experts bead artists that I follow on Facebook hoping for some direction on offering bead weaving classes to teenagers and was a bit surprised not to get any feedback or comments at all.

This made me really wonder what in the world am I getting myself into!

I did explain to the girls that teaching about beads and bead weaving is all new to me and that we’d be learning from each other and they seem ok with that.

Thank goodness they are a talented and exceptionally smart teenagers!

True to my nature in that I try not to let obstacles totally defeat me I decided that it would be a good idea to blog about the experience – who knows someone else may ask a question similar to mine and hopefully this will give them some frame of reference.

I may not be very experienced at teaching this stuff but my research skills and avid desire to learn as much about the beading world as possible I feel gives me a certain edge; for instance, one of the websites I will be using as a primer was one I happened on several years ago when I was looking around for an online tutorial to learn basic stitches.  Beads East was the only one that I could find out of all the tons of beading information on the internet that offered free animated lessons.

So I will stick with what worked then and is even better now because their website has improved and the tutorials are still free!

And too, recalling what my main challenges were starting out I figure that the first class or two will focus on how the variation in beads and bead types and bead color basics.

Understanding how to read patterns, especially if we are going to focus on bead weaving, is an extremely important skill to learn right from the start.

So I’m hoping to accomplish the following in the first two classes but in a very hands on way:

Introduce:

• bead size, type, color
• bead differences by making simple beaded projects like a peyote stitch ruler (I still have the one I made)
• reading a basic bead pattern

My main online source of reference for learning the bead weaving stitches will be Beads East.

I’m still open for suggestions and comments, but at least I feel like I’m off to a good start! Here’s a picture of two of the girls that will be attending

The Bead Stylist: ColorSuckr Online Color Wheel

I discovered this tool which works like a color wheel, but for me it’s much easier, yet for others it may well be a nice compliment to the color wheel.

One of the most time consuming creative aspects of any bead art jewelry designing  is selecting complimentary colors.

And admittedly knowing the ‘technical’ bead colors can also be a challenge when first starting out.

I laugh now, but looking back when I first started out with beads and knowing absolutely nothin’ at the time and before my wonderful customers started educating me, I purchased the largest box of crayons available and if a bead color was close to the crayon color, well I would name the bead had a new name.

From a1 Bead Art Jewelry Supplies Bead Mix Collections I selected a Delica Bead Mix in Caribbean Blue which is a pretty basic extraction, but it will extract the most complex color combinations too.

 

 

It’s really quite simple you just need the url of the photo you would like to extract colors from.

Bead mixes are terrific to work with and one great thing I realized is that when you click on the link to show the color schemes (shown in above picture) you can actually use the schemes to create your own bead mixes.

The ColorSuckr tool will direct you to various websites that will let you use urls of their photo’s but remember you can use any photo url. You can easily create a url of an item by scanning or taking a photo and uploading it to Flickr or Picasa.

If you know of any other tool like this that you would like to share please leave a comment.

2010 Spring Summer Colors from Pantone

I’ve been ignoring my blog posts for way to long and realized that the 2010 Fall / Winter colors are already out and I haven’t even posted Spring / Summer 2010. 

Trending fashion colors are so important in designing your bead art jewelry designs; especially if you want to go a bit more commercial.  Typically, the colors forecast by Pantone are the most prominent for the fashion Season – like where haven’t we seen Turquoise?

But it’s a really good idea to check the Pantone website often as they often have a color of the day or color of the month or some other color pallets which I’m sure will inspire you creatively!

 

Turquoise 15-5519
Fusion Coral 15-1543
Eucalyptus 15-0513	Dried Herb 17-0627
Violet 16-3320
Pink Champagne 12-1107
Tuscany 16-1219
Aurora 12-0652
Tomato Puree 18-1661

The Bead Stylist: Spring Cleaning Tips & Free E-Book Secrets of Savvy Etsy Sellers

I came across some links as I constantly scour blogs and other articles and realized these links could be very useful as many bead artists, designers, and Etsy sellers may be taking on some Spring cleaning as they either get ready to take the Summer off or get prepared to start selling again in September.

Free E-Book she just asks that you share the link  Secrets of Savvy Etsy Sellers

Spring Cleaning Get Ready for Selling

Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

Tutorial Sell Jewelry on Etsy

If I locate more I think I will update this post.

Bead Color Styling: Beads & Bead Mixes Fashion Color Royal Lilac

Bead Terminology: Amethyst is the primary color in the beading world for purple.

Varying shades of amethyst come from adding different finishes like AB (aurora borealis), MAB (matte aka frosted with aurora borealis), linings like silver lining (round or square/rocaille), color lining can give this base color another tremendous amount of color variations.

Technically there is not a true purple in traditional glass bead making, but again new technology offers an amazing array of color shades along with some of the standards applications like dying.

 

Certain shades of beads are produced by a dying process or color lining and depending on bead manufacturer, country of origin and bead quality these finishes can fade quickly; so be sure to know your bead source and type BEFORE starting your project to ensure a long life for your bead art project! Semi-precious, and other gemstones are a different story.

 

Fashion colors are determined by color experts like Pantone and deemed the colors for the season such as Royal Lilac which you see in all areas of fashion & home decore.

Couture fashion designers and home decore fashion designers - often one in the same, use these color palettes in their designs. Designer typically offer information about the importance of the color in their designing, and or which colors they have chosen to accent their designs.

Take for example this seasons hottest color trend Purple which is one of Pantone's color picks for Fall / Winter 2008.

Zack Posen's color philosophy he shared on Pantone's color Royal Lilac combination of moody hues with vibrant street color. Prominent color combinations include:

• Navy / Black
• Ivory / Navy
• Pinks / Greys / Shades of Lilac

Why Bead Styling

Bead Styling came to me when I started making beaded jewelry.


I got into the designing part quite by accident after being in the bead business for several years.  I am a researcher - probably should have made it a career choice - by nature and gobble up every bit of information - much of it useless; but when I started selling beads I knew that my fanaticism about researching every aspect of my latest interest would serve me well.


From the beginning I consumed all of the information I could. My New York suppliers were extremely willing to educate me and were quite patient - you do notice these these once you require multiple supply sources.


After a time my other natural ability - detecting patterns - came in quite handy too; as I noticed some very interesting patterns starting to develop - some were obvious as to being in a new business and literally learning from the ground up.


Yet other patterns where not so obvious, probably even to a seasoned bead artist, as with all artist and creative types we want to focus on your art and if your supplier is sufficient that's one less thing to worry about.


It didn't take me long to understand the obsession with beads - a story, perhaps, I will share at another time - when I started selling and making tons of money on eBay despite the tens of thousands of beads listed on the site - I knew I was onto something that could satisfy my curious nature and desire to start an online business.


The more my customers asked for particular beads, which, admittedly I had no idea what they were talking about; so I asked my suppliers and learned not only about bead colors, types, finished and more; but most important, that people took an enormous amount of time trying to locate the right bead color, correct bead type, the right bead stringing material to use with certain beads; and often had to settle because they just could not find what they really wanted.


Despite the incredible amount of beading books, bead magazines the pattern I was detecting was that people still needed some of the basic - and not so basic - questions answered.


Then when I started designing I understood completely.


Although my creative issues where quite in the reverse - I now know more about beads and this business that I thought I ever would, although, I still have a lot to learn; however, because of my bead resources I was able to pull together and match bead types, colors, finished from different bead manufactures and pull together a pair of beaded earrings rather quickly.


But I since I had on hand so many beads I ran into the problem of - deciding; you can have to much of a good thing.


But once I got better at coordinating everything I really started to empathize and appreciate, especially my first customers patience in me locating just the right items for their bead art projects.


Pretty much the way I laid out the Bead Stylist pages is how I would put together beads during my creative process but it takes up a lot more room and time to do it for each color every time I want to change up a color palette; so this really is a good tool, and time saver for me.


Please read the posts based on color palettes for a visual of how this works.