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The Bead Shop

31/05/2012

Im on a learning curve for selling jewellery

Last Friday I launched my new jewellery range locally. For two years I have sold my jewellery at events and fayres, but I never really took it seriously, it was my hobby and I did it purely for the love of it. Now of course things are a little different, and although I still do it for the love of it, the sale of my jewellery makes up a percentage of my income and I need to be a little more serious to ensure sales. I hadn’t raised my hopes... Read More

29/05/2012

The key to jewellery making is to be true to yourself

One of my self-inflicted rules in jewellery making is to create pieces that I would wear myself. I’ve never really been one to follow fashion and if I like something, I tend to like it forever!  But I do watch current trends and will adapt them to suit my style. Seasons are of course a major influence. I know I am unlikely to sell a heavily beaded black number in the summer; and I won’t go too wrong producing a range in corals and turquoise whatever the year! Of course,... Read More

24/05/2012

Resin rose flat back ring

The resin rose flat backs look great as rings. To create the cameo base we used a cameo pendant and snipped off the loop. Also we have added a couple of leaf charms to give this ring a little extra special touch.  

23/05/2012

Daisy chain earrings and rose pendant set

We thought these daisy chain earrings and rose pendant looked lovely together as a set. The earrings were made using the flat cameo mounts and flat resin flowers, glued on using epoxy glue and attached with Swarovski crystals. The necklace has simply a flat back rose glued into a square mount using epoxy glue and attached to steel chain.  

18/05/2012

Embrace neon colours with our Swarovski Neon Pearls

  We are excited to tell you that our Swarovski Neon Pearls have just arrived, and they are a great bead to work with when creating your jewellery designs.  The colours in fashion this summer have come through in bright bold prints with neon colours being very popular. The catwalks have been bursting with colourful stripes, florals, geometrics and every print imaginable.  There are many neon jewellery items hitting the high street shops this summer and like we discussed at the beginning of the year in our ‘What are the... Read More

16/05/2012

Adding glamour with Czech faceted round glass beads

These pretty beads will add glamour to any outfit. The Czech faceted round glass beads are available in a wide variety of colours and come in either 4mm or 6mm sizes. For the necklace and bracelet pictured, we have used patterned spacer beads, metal charms and bead caps to create an eye catching, unique piece of jewellery. You can of course add your own charms and choose different coloured glass beads. We just wanted to give you an idea of how to use the beads and show you how great... Read More

14/05/2012

Creative cameo & flower charm necklace

We have used a mixture of the cameo mounts to create this bright and colourful vintage style charm necklace. The pictured pendants are just pictures cut from magazines and on the centre pendant we have used clear glass cabochons glued over the top; hypo cement is best for this. We glued jump rings onto the flat backed roses using 5 minute epoxy glue, so these hang nicely of the chain. The large cameo mount in the middle has fimo and resin flowers and Swarovski glued into it also with epoxy... Read More

09/05/2012

Hand painted glass oval & disc beads are great for the festival season

The festival season is on its way and what better way to celebrate it than embracing lots of bohemian style jewellery. We have already seen many celebrities at the Coachella Festival in California wear beautiful beaded jewellery. The popular jewellery items at the festival seemed to be long necklaces with charms or small beads and lots of individuals wore hooped earrings with three or four brightly coloured beads. This inspired us to have a look at our ever expanding bead collection and we thought the bohemian looking hand painted glass... Read More

08/05/2012

Add a touch of bling with glass Rhondell beads

These glass Rhondells are great for adding a touch bling to any piece of jewellery and are complimented well with Swarovski crystal.  In addition to the glass rhondells we have used Swarovski crystal and pearls, rhondell diamante beads, Czech faceted round glass beads and  metal charms along with black and antique brass steel plated chain.

02/05/2012

Pressed Czech glass bead mixes will brighten up your jewellery box

We have a stunning range of new glass beads that will certainly brighten up your jewellery box! The pressed Czech glass bead mixes come in a range of different colours and they are very simple to use when making jewellery. The mix includes beads in various shapes and sizes starting from 4mm. The beads come in shapes live ovals, rounds, twists, nuggets, drops and cubes. Colours include sunburst, teal, blue, grey, pink and brown, and each bead is a slightly different shade to the next. The bridal glass bead mix... Read More

26/04/2012

The Bead Shop gets nominated for an award!

We are very excited to announce that we have been nominated for a Blogger of the Month Award! Make Jewellery magazine has contacted us to let us know they are very impressed with the blogs we have written. We invest a lot of time in ensuring we keep all of our customers up-to-date with what we are doing whether it is in our shop or at the academy and we wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all that have been involved. Especially to our customers who... Read More

23/04/2012

Glass Pearl Necklace Set

Glass pearls are a great alternative to the more expensive Swarovski pearls, they come in many different vibrant colours. The glass pearls are perfect fillers and can be mixed in with Swarovski crystals.  

18/04/2012

Vintaj beads create a vintage feel to a piece of jewellery

We have a huge selection of Vintaj products, the beautiful vintage inspired natural brass metals. The process of making the beads & pendants is eco-friendly, they are not antique plated or chemically treated. Every single Vintaj bead undergoes a seven stage hand embellishing process, which makes every product have its own unique colour. These Vintaj beads & pendants are great if you want to create a vintage style piece of jewellery and you can mix old pieces of jewellery with the Vintaj beads. The best places to find vintage pieces... Read More

14/04/2012

Glass pearl beads are a girl’s best friend

Every girl likes a set a beautiful pearls thanks to movie stars like Audrey Hepburn and we have found the perfect glass pearl beads to make a timeless piece of jewellery. The glass pearl beads have just arrived in stock and are available both on the website and in our shop. The great thing about these stunning beads is that they come in a wide range of colours. There is the original white and cream glass pearls if you want to recreate a classic pearl necklace or bracelet. These beads... Read More

22/03/2012

Spring flowers inspire us to make some jewellery bursting with colour

We love taking our dog Ruby out for long walks and in our local park recently we came across these beautiful yellow and purple flowers. Spring is such a lovely time of year for bright yellows, purples and greens, and we couldn’t resist making some jewellery with these colours. We have designed an intricate bracelet, a ring and a pair of earrings by mixing bright colours with softer green and lavender colours. Each jewellery item uses purple flower fimo beads which have little green leaves underneath them. The bracelet has... Read More

10/03/2012

Blue Peter films in our studio with jewellery designer Fatz Kassim

The Blue Peter crew came to our academy in February to film a special Mother’s Day feature with our friend Fatz Kassim. She is an independent fashion and jewellery designer in Manchester who has some amazing ideas when it comes to making jewellery. Fatz likes the idea of reusing broken jewellery and transforming it into something you can wear. It is a great way to reuse an item of jewellery that has something on it that you love such as a certain style of bead or charm. The Blue Peter... Read More

05/03/2012

London Fashion Week reveals some exciting new AW12 jewellery trends

We are always excited to see what the jewellery trends are going to be for the next season and London Fashion Week this month has revealed some scene-stealing jewellery. LFW has shown support for the jewellery industry this month by launching a brand new initiative called BFC Rock Vault to support, showcase and promote the work of Britain’s most innovative, upcoming jewellery designers. It is great news for the industry as it highlights just how important jewellery is to the fashion world and how the right piece can take a... Read More

28/02/2012

Pinterest: a new social media network that is perfect for jewellery makers

We have come across a new social media network that we think is great for ideas and inspiration for new jewellery making designs. For those of you who have never heard of Pinterest, it is a social network that allows people to create online displays of their likes and interests. Users can create their own virtual moodboard by “pinning” images or videos they like and share it with their friends. Pinterest has become hugely popular with women and has been dubbed “Tumblr for mums”. It is almost like an online... Read More

28/02/2012

Vintage Style Earrings by Lesley

What have you made and why do you like it?Using these lovely fancy copper bead cones from The Bead Shop, alongwith some red candy jade, I made these vintage style earrings. What inspired you?The tibetan style cones have very pretty intricate detailing and Ithink they make fabulous earrings. Which type of beads you have used and why?Red candy jade faceted stones, which tone well with the copper cones,and swarovski crystal bicones to add a touch of sparkle! Websitewww.phoebedreams.etsy.com Facebook pagewww.facebook.com/Phoebedreamsjewellery Twitter pagehttps://twitter.com/#!/Phoebedreams