Beadalon Blog

Organza Ribbon has long been a mainstay in jewelry design. It's made of polyester and nylon and is a great alternative stringing material. Designers use Organza Ribbon for bridal jewelry all the time, and it is a simple way to display a unique pendant or focal bead. Have you considered making an illusion necklace with Organza? It's easy to do – just slip the end of the ribbon inside a Collapsible Eye or Big Eye Needle and string beads onto single or multiple strands of ribbon. You don't have to glue the beads in place because the ribbon naturally expands to prevent them from sliding. Fold the end and tuck it into Heavy or Light Tube Cord Ends , make adjustments, then secure with BeadFix adhesive . Use Fold-Over Cord Ends for a more flat design or tie it onto findings, then glue the knot with BeadFix adhesive for a secure closure. For stringing on beads, use the Collapsible Eye Needle for quick and easy stringing. Leave a comment on this post to be entered in a...

Our customers are so important to us, and we try our best to provide resources to help educate both experienced and novice beaders about our products. The Beadalon website is chock full of project ideas, tips & tricks, and explanations on how to use Beadalon stringing materials, findings and tools. For retailers and instructors, we also have available printed materials like posters and tri-fold brochures that explain beading wires and proper finishing techniques. And, we can provide stickers and posters to hang in your shop or give you image CDs for your website. Any thoughts on what might be even more helpful? Leave a comment or send an e-mail to sales@beadalon.com and let us know! -Meredith Roddy for Beadalon

Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed (F+W Pubs 2009) , co-authored by the Beadalon Design Team, shows you how to create stylish jewelry using the hottest trends as inspiration. “Velveteen” by Katie Hacker is a rich combination of velvet tubing woven between crystals to create waves - the effect is casual chic. This necklace can be paired with a black cocktail dress and be a staple for the holiday season. For a variation, you could replace the original colors with a combination of light smoked topaz and vintage rose crystals strung onto the new Beadalon champagne wire. The result will be incredible! Katie also designed “Night Sky”, a lovely necklace spotlighting jet star pendants, another trendy item in the current jewelry world. Margot Potter created “Moonstruck,” a layered necklace made with two different style of chains connected by spacer bars, which is a very trendy look for fall. This project is very flexible and you can replace any other pendants for an equally glamoro...

The Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) Summer Show was held in Orlando, Florida, a few weeks ago. With a traditional tradeshow and a new SuperShow consumer portion, this new venue was a great opportunity to meet with customers and introduce our new products and catalog supplement. Beadalon July 2009 Supplement Along with our new colors of Beadalon wire, such as SilverGold and Champagne , our biggest hits at the show were our new wire-wrapping products. Wire wrapping is hot! New round, half-round and square Stainless Steel wires drew a lot of interest from customers. This specially tempered wire work-hardens quicker than other types of wire and is a good alternative when extra durability is needed. Our workshop by Beadalon Design Team Member, Margot Potter, was a great success. Margot taught students how to make a design from Bead & Wire Jewelry Exposed (F+W Pubs 2009) that showed how fun and easy it is to make stylish jewelry. The next CHA show will be held in Anaheim in Janu...

Many, many people find color to be the most challenging part of design. I think it’s because they over think it. Color is intuitive. The less you approach it intellectually, the better the results. There are very specific rules about color one can follow slavishly and still make rather pedantic designs. It’s always good to know the rules. Get a color wheel, learn about the relationships between different colors and then I think you have to set that aside and start seeing color the way an artist does. Inspiration is everywhere. Fascinating and fabulous color combinations are on fabrics, in magazine ads, in your garden, in random snapshots and in paintings by master artists. Just for fun use an image you find appealing from a magazine advertisement. Pick three colors from the ad. Now create a design using those colors, approximating them as well as you can with materials you can access. See how it comes together, how it works? It’s amazing. I always tell people to start with ...

bbj-912 Multi-strand designs add a lot of style to any outfit and they're easy to make when you know the tricks. Start with a bead board to arrange the pattern and end with one of the following techniques to finish the necklace or bracelet. Choose the clasp/method that will work best for your design: Multiple-strand clasp: 1. Use a crimp or Scrimp® finding to attach each strand to a loop on the clasp. Decorative connecto r : 1. Use a crimp to attach each strand to a loop on the decorative connector. 2. Use a jump ring, split ring or wire-wrapped bead link to attach the connector to a clasp. Beading cone : 1. Cut a 3" piece of wire. 2. Make a small wrapped loop on one end. 3. Knot or crimp the strands to the wrapped loop. 4. Pass the wire through the wide end of a beading cone. 5. Make a wrapped loop to at attach the clasp outside the narrow end of the beading cone. Double or Triple EZ-Crimp™ clasp : 1. Pass one beading wire through a hole on...

Add some fizz to your jewelry designs with sparkling champagne color Beadalon wire. It's one of the newest additions to the "Metallic Colors" Wire Series family and the Beadalon Design Team is wild about it! It's a perfect complement to antique brass findings and steampunk designs. Champagne Color Wire is available in 49 strand , 19 strand and 7 strand constructions. Made in the USA by Beadalon.

Wire wrapping is hot! Use new German Style Copper Wire to create this fabulous rosary-style necklace. German Style Copper Wire has an anti-tarnish coating and it's the perfect temper and finish for most jewelry wire wrapping uses. Coppered Star Necklace by Fernando Dasilva • Materials & Tools • • Four 6mm Montana round Crystallized beads * • Four 6mm Crystal golden shadow round Crystallized Beads * • Six 11 x 8mm Crystal bronze pear shape Crystallized Pearls * • Six round luna gold black Venetian glass beads • One blue/topaz(bicolor) Venetian Moretti glass star pendant* • 1 copper flower bead * • 27 copper 6mm jump rings – 314P-005 • 6 ft copper German style wire – 180CU-022 • 1 set of copper toggle – 323P-006 • Beadstrom™ chain nose pliers – 201P-011 • Beadstrom™ round nose pliers – 201P-014 • Beadstrom™ flush cutter – 202P-01512 This necklace is assembled on rosary style chain. Make all links separately first and then start assembling all part...

Bead Fest Philadelphia, August 21-23, 2009 has become one of the largest consumer bead shows on the East Coast. At this show, we will be showcasing new products, giving creative inspiration, and holding demonstrations of our new and most popular products. It's a great place to learn about proper beading techniques and to get answers in person for all of your Beadalon questions. We're happy to be a long time sponsor of this show, especially since it's right in our backyard! Find us at booths #233 and #235. Bead Fest Philadelphia hosts over 150 workshops from renowned instructors on techniques like metalworking, stringing, glass making and design. Join us at the Meet the Teachers Reception on August 21st from 8:30-10:30pm. It's a fun, social event that gives the instructors the opportunity to showcase their designs and meet fellow beading enthusiasts. See you there! -Yvette Rodriguez for Beadalon