Jewellery Making Tips and Advice

New Jewellery Plier Sets Sometimes it is hard to plan for all eventualities, especially when you are new to a any craft, so it is nice that someone has created a starter pack that takes away the thinking for you and helps you along the way with some helpful tools you may not have thought of. Thats why I love these new jewellery plier sets and am so happy to see them available at The Bead Shop. They are the perfect starter sets for beginners, with all different price ranges... Read More

This week in our bail series, we focus on the last of our Swarovski categories, the often troublesome graphic and baroque pendants. These skilfully crafted beads are a little different than the normal Swarovski bead, but they are just as beautiful (and versatile!) They come in a range of crystal colours, unique shapes and differing sizes so you can create something truly special. Simply pick your favourite bead from the table and use this handy guide to find the perfect pendant bail in no time at all! Match Your Swarovski... Read More

Part three of our handy bail guide sees us looking at the beautiful range of Swarovski drops. It can seem a little daunting, as these lovely beads come in such a range of sizes and styles. But they are perfect for adding a touch of classical glamour to your bracelet, necklace or earring designs. All you need to do is choose your favourite drop from the left column and you can find your perfect pendant bails, jump rings or split rings that will allow you to create perfect jewellery piece with... Read More

When making a beaded necklace or bracelet, the colour of the jewellery thread or wire may not really be a consideration for you, as it is going to be covered with beads. The colour, however, can really make a huge difference, especially if you are using glass beads or seed beads. Glass beads, by nature are transparent. Light can shine through them, and be reflected by it. Even coloured glass beads are see-through. This means that your jewellery thread or wire will be visible through beads. Don’t see this as a... Read More

You’ll have probably come across us mentioning crimp pliers, round nosed pliers, flat pliers, and straight pliers. But if you haven’t used these jewellery making pliers before, you probably won’t really understand the reasons for having separate jewellery making pliers. Jewellery making pliers are used for:  

An alternative to fairs is being able to sell on-line where the potential is limited only by your imagination. The internet has become a huge global market place, ideally suited to sales of items which can be easily packed up and posted anywhere in the world. Therefore there are lots of website to help you, but it can get confusing who to choose. Etsy is an American-owned site offering hand-made items for sale, and which states that their mission is “to enable people to make a living making things.” Etsy... Read More

Ok, so you have picked your favourite Swarovski Pendant and are just DYING to make it into something beautiful. But wait… which bail will work?! Don’t panic! We have created this handy easy-to-use guide to help you pick the perfect finding and, over the next few weeks, we shall showcase our Swarovski pendants and their perfect jewellery making partners. This week we look at the most popular Swarovski creation, the heart bead. Whether it is classic, wild or designer, these Swarovski pendant hearts are the perfect way to bring that world renowned... Read More

The benefits of pearl knotting. Antique pearls can be costly and knotting prevents the bead and the hole from getting damaged. Once knotted, Pearls hang and move more elegantly than they would  strung onto traditional beading wire. If your pearls were to brake you wouldn’t lose them. Knotting the string keeps each bead securely attached. Knotting pearls is an age old classic method that adds elegance and class to any traditional style jewellery.  This method can be used to string any number of beads from glass to semi-precious stone. Silk... Read More

Choosing the right Jewellery Glue Glues, adhesives and glazes are essential for many jewellery making projects you’ll come across on your journey. We have a wide range of high quality adhesives for numerous tasks all at affordable prices – Read the pro’s and con’s of our most popular glues below.    E6000 Glue A silicone based industrial strength one part epoxy adhesive. E6000 jewellery glue can be used on; wood, metal, glass fiberglass, ceramics, mosaics as well as, leather, rubber, vinyl, most plastics, masonry and concrete.   Pros. Perfect for gluing... Read More

Wire guardians give your designs an extended lifespan. General wear and tear eventually gets the better of all our favourite jewellery. Bracelets and Necklaces are particularly prone to this and will, over time fray and snap. The breaking point almost always occurs at points of high stress, somewhere near the end, were the thread meets the clasp. So when making jewellery at home or producing items to sell, it’s worth considering ‘extra measures’ of security. Wire Guardians & French Wire give your designs that extended lifespan. The most commonly used... Read More

Tip 3 Wearing neon jewellery with black will take you from Gothic to glamorous in one easy step. Tip 4 There is no better place to experiment with fluorescent than on holiday. Neon looks amazing on dark skin. Wear bracelets with your beach wear or a brightly coloured anklet. Paint your toenails to match. Tip 5 The truth is, wearing Neon correctly doesn’t have to be complicated as long as you follow one simple rule: KEEP IT SIMPLE! Helpful Links Swarovski Neon Pearl Beads 0.6mm Shamballa/Chinese Knotting Nylon Cord –... Read More

I’ve never used a beading loom before so I was interested to see how easy it would be to weave a beaded bracelet and more importantly to set up the beading loom! The device looks very daunting when you get it out of the box and I had to read through the instructions a couple of times but I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t too complicated to set up. When you take the beading loom out of the box, the wooden bobbins, screws and wing nuts were already in place and tightened. Loosen these... Read More

Here at The Bead Shop, we have recently expanded our range of Superlon colours so if you are looking for a bright, a neutral or and pastel colour, we’re bound to have it. Beadsmith Superlon bead cord is an incredibly versatile and durable cord that can be used for projects such as, Kumihimo, braiding, bead crochet, and micro macramé jewellery. The best thing about this cord is that it comes in so many colours! One technique that Superlon bead cord can be used for is Kumihimo. This technique is all the rage... Read More

Last month we introduced you to The Bead Shop’s new feature on how to achieve your jewellery-related goals for 2013. This week we look at how you can stick to these goals. It is easy for us to set ourselves goals such as “Create exciting new necklace designs” but when we are asked “How will you know when you’ve reached your goal?” most of us are unsure. To be honest most of us probably haven’t really thought about it! But that doesn’t matter as we all live very busy lives... Read More

Here at The Bead Shop we are always looking to find new ways to inspire you with your jewellery making, whether if it’s creating new jewellery ideas or keeping you up to date with the News & Trends. That’s why we would like to share with you some ideas for setting targets and keeping goals. If you ever find yourself setting goals and only managing to achieve some of them, don’t worry you are not alone! An example many of us are guilty of is spending the day making jewellery... Read More