Beadalon Blog

Spring is finally just around the corner, and these Netted Easter Eggs are the perfect project to get in the spirit! This technique was born (get it) from a similar project covering a holiday ornament that you can find instructions for here  and here . Starting with a simple 6 pointed star, I increased each netted row by one bead until I reached the largest part of the egg. I stayed with that count until the egg started to get smaller, then decreased as necessary. There was a little trial and error involved, but not as much as you might think! Play around with your counts if you find a different size egg to bead around. Find the printable instructions (and lots more!) for the original Goose Sized egg free here in the Beadalon Learning Center . I included two alternative row counts for a medium and small egg, too. You can also watch the class that I taught for the Michaels Community Classroom and follow along. Materials • Beadalon® WildFire™ Bead Weaving Thread, 008” • Wood Goose Egg b

Hi Beady Friends! Danielle Wickes from John Bead was my guest on this week's Facebook Live, and she demonstrated this gorgeous bracelet woven with SuperDuos, size 11 and size 8 seed beads. She is an amazing teacher and designer, and you can find out more about her on her website.   She was so gracious to put together an instruction booklet for this project. You can find the materials and full instructions here and follow along with the Facebook Live tutorial here .  This project works up so quickly and easily once you get the thread path down! I can't wait to play around with different color combinations, and even try out some different sizes of beads. Thanks so much to Danielle for sharing her beading knowledge with us! Feel free to post your creations made from Danielle's tutorial on both the Jewelry Making with Beadalon Facebook Group , and the Bead Projects and PDFs from John Bead Facebook pages. Happy Beading! Meredith

Hello beady friends! I love cup chain. It's sparkly, dainty, beautiful and just makes me so happy. However, one of my biggest challenges has always been finishing it off cleanly and easily. Cup chain ends are hard to come by, and I'm not always the biggest fan of how they look. Another popular technique is to wire wrap around the last cup in the chain, but there's always a loose cup at the join. I've spent years amassing all kinds of cup chain, and just as long searching for the best way to finish them off.......until now! My beady friend Sarah at Jesse James Beads sent me their new Love Yourself collection and in the  Follow Your Heart Mix , there is the smallest Daisy Spacer I've ever seen! That tiny spacer got me thinking....one thing led to another led to me digging through my beading supplies like a madwoman, and then, there was the "eureka" moment! Cup Chain + Daisy Spacer + Headpin +7mm Crimp Cover = perfect finishing technique! Materials: Flat Head