Beadalon Blog

So, our babysitter comes over the other day and announces that she and her girlfriends are going shopping for bracelets to wear in a wedding this weekend. Hold the phone! I sweep her into my studio and we whip up these quick, wire-wrapped bracelet bangles using SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS in the wedding colors...peridot, fuchsia and Montana blue.
I love this technique because it's so simple and it can go so many different ways. The wire-wrapped bracelets can be a colorful and funky, like these, or classic with a monochromatic metallic palette. She and I agreed that the silver Artistic Wire makes the crystals pop on the hematite-color bangles.
Maybe it's because I have wire and crystals on the brain (I'm proofreading my forthcoming book: Live Wire Jewelry) but we made all five of these in less than half an hour! I love custom wedding jewelry because it makes such a nice memento, too.
Katie Hacker Beadalon Design Team Member www.KatieHacker.com

http://www.beadalon.com/aw-chainmaillerings.asp
Did you know that there are two main wire gauge measurements that we use in the United States?The first wire gauge measurement is the “Standard Wire Gauge” or SWG.The SWG is primarily used for industrial metals such as aluminum, steel, etc.The second, and the measurement used for making the Artistic Wire® Chain Maille Jump Rings is the “American Wire Gauge” or AWG, also referred to “Brown & Sharpe”.
The AWG is the primary gauge system for nonferrous metals or precious metals.And to confuse you further the larger the gauge number the smaller the wire diameter! Why is this important you ask?The SWG wire measurements tend to run smaller than the AWG wire measurement.Say the instructions call for your jump rings to be 18 AWG and you purchase 18 SWG rings.You will find more likely than not that the SWG rings will actually be a smaller wire diameter than the AWG even though they are both 18 gauge rings.This means that the SWG rings may be too…

I am very excited to announce that a video of me demonstrating the European 4-in-1 weave has been posted at JTV's Jewel School. To watch the video click here. On the website click the "watch now" and click again on the on the big screen.  If it starts buffering and you can't see the picture than you can click on the << on the bottom left of the big screen. 
Be sure to tune into JTV's Jewel School on Sunday, September 18! I'll have more great new kits and ideas for Artistic Wire chainmaille rings!
Lauren Andersen Beadalon Design Team Member www.thechainmaillelady.com

I tell my students, play with your beads. Play with your materials. And then I get hold of this really cool new product -- Artistic Wire Mesh--from Beadalon, and I don't follow my own advice--at first.
Check out my progression from dainty dabbling to dynamic play:
First I cut small 6" pieces of Artistic wire mesh from a one-yard piece. I think I was trying to be frugal. So I pulled my little pieces tentatively into ginko leaf shapes, which I wire to Beadalon rubber tubing. YAWN! Okay, maybe aspects of these are okay and I will apply some of the design to other works. But these are certainly do not showcase Artistic Wire Mesh. What was I afraid of? I fold again into little controlled crinkles: Next, I wire them up with pearls. Not pushed far enough. I needed to loosen up my grip!

I'm so thrilled to share a sneak peek at my new book here on the blog! This is a fun project you can try. It's called Friendship Blooms and it combines two of my favorite things: paper and Artistic Wire!


Instructions Rose: 
1. To cut the flower die cut shapes use the Grand Calibur and S5-050 Rose Creations die templates from Spellbinders.
2. Cut 5” of the rose wire for each petal on all the flower shapes for a total of 15, 5” pieces of wire.
3. Take a piece of rose wire and place one end of the wire in center hole of the flower.  Using the Round Nose Pliers shape the wire to match the shape of the petal, then wrap wire around the bottom of the petal and insert in the center hole, tape wires to hold in place. 
4. Repeat step 3 on all three flower die cuts until all of the petals are wire wrapped.
5. Use a bone folder to curl the paper petals on each flower.
6. Use a hot glue gun to adhere the rose together, be sure to offset the petals.

Instructions Leaves: 
1. To cut the leaf die cut s…

I'm heading back to Knoxville for JTV's Jewel School on Thursday, September 8th! I'll be sharing a new Katiedids™ Creative Components kit along with fun ideas for memory wire, antique-look findings and more.
Be sure to enter JTV's Jewel School Design Contest!  There are some absolutely amazing prizes. The contest ends on September 25, so enter now for your chance to win!
Katie Hacker Beadalon Design Team Member www.KatieHacker.com

Twisted Coils Jewelry Set by Katie Hacker Make your own gorgeous coils using fancy round German Style Wire in this nature-inspired jewelry set. When I created it, I was thinking about fall leaves and fall fashions. Get your BIG beads on with this multi-technique project!
Materials Necklace – 21" long Bright .018" diameter Beadalon 19 22-gauge silver fancy round German-Style Wire 2 silver #1 Beadalon crimp beads #JFC1S-2.0G 2 silver lines crimp covers silver toggle clasp 30 silver head pins 4 silver 8mm jump rings 19 jasper 8mm rounds 9 smoky AB 6mm glass v-cuts 6 jasper nuggets
Earrings – 2" long 22-gauge silver fancy round German-Style Wire 2 silver head pins 2 silver 8mm jump rings 2 silver kidney ear wires 19 jasper 8mm rounds 9 smoky AB 6mm glass v-cuts 6 jasper nuggets
Tools Round-nose pliers #201A-104 Chain-nose pliers #201A-101 Wire cutters #202A-105 Crimping tool Coiling Gizmo with small mandrel
Instructions Necklace 1. Use a coiling tool or a bamboo skewer to coil the entire 5M length…