Making A Beaded Necklace Or Bracelet For Beginners

I make all my beaded jewelry by hand, on my website I give many genuine gemstone beads to choose from so people can customize their necklaces (also bracelets & earrings). Whatever beads you might use the technique is the same, I personally use only sterling silver parts & genuine beads such as black onyx, turquoise, red coral, aventurine, amazonite (very popular), rhondonite, mother-of-pearls, freshwater pearls, etc...

I personally use only Beadalon wire which is extremely solid, it comes in many colors & variety some ticker & more solid... Much more expensive then most other wires but this is worth it if you want to make a necklace or bracelet that will truely last. Beadalon can be found in most jewelry findings online stores, Ebay, etc...

Also, you need crimps (can be found in sterling silver, plated silver & other metals) and crimps covers (to hide the crimps & give it a nice professional look). There are special pliers sold to use with crimps & crimps covers which makes the job easier but I have done it before with regular pliers well.

Start by measuring the correct height of wire you want cut it with about 2-3 inches extra to what you need. The extra will be cut at the end but will make it easier to work with & do the tips. Always have a ruler with you, it will be helpful many times. So if you want a 16" necklace cut about 18-19" long of wire.

I always start in the middle, so if you have a pendant or a centerpiece for the necklace put it on now. Make sure the bail or loop is solid. Usually I put a sterling silver ball on each side of the pendant large enough to stop the pendant from moving. Look at the bail or loop, make sure the beads you add on each side are larger. Now is time to add all the beads you want, using the ruler make sure you stop at the desired height. Also don't forget that there will be a clasp at the end which will add some height.

For the clasps, there are many on the market. I usually use sterling silver lobster clasp or spring clasp. Also you need a jump ring soldered to fit with your clasps.

So once you are done adding all those beads start ending the tip on one side. insert a crimp, then the clasp loop, then fold your wire back into the crimp. Tighten the wire so there is no loose wire between the crimp & clasp. Then squeeze the crimp shut with some pliers. Once that is done it should be solid. I always pull a little on it to double check.

Ok now you cut the extra wire on that side leaving about 4-5mm. Using the pliers you fold it over the crimp. Now grab a crimp cover open it wide enough using your finger & set it on top of the folded 4-5mm wire, covering it & the crimp. Close the crimp cover using your pliers delicately. Once that is all done one side is totally finished. Do the same on the other side using once again a crimp but of course a jumpring instead of a second clasp! Then a crimp cover again. Don't forget it must be tight at the end. You shouldn't see any of the wire. Then again don't make it too tight or the necklace will be stiff.

I hope this is easy to understand. It is quite easy to do but the first pieces you make might need a little work redone later when you get better at it.

Shop around before you buy any findings, some places are making way to much profit on people. Search for "jewelry findings" in search engines, and take a look on Ebay also, compare before you buy!

I usually use sterling silver beads of size 2mm, 3mm & 4mm. And for my stone beads I use 4mm & 6mm.

Thank you, It you think this is too much trouble visit my website! My prices are very reasonable. www.sterlingsilverart.com

Blue Crockatt silversmith artist showcases her art at http://www.sterlingsilverart.com

Everything You Need to Know in Choosing White Pearl Necklaces

White pearl necklaces are always a beautiful, classic gift and will fit right in with any occasion, whether it?s a wedding, a birthday, anniversary or just about any day that calls for giving. White pearls have an elegance and quiet beauty that is appreciated by any woman of any age. When cared for properly, they can last for years and years, which is no wonder that in any heirloom, pearls are one of those which stand out.

Traditionally, white pearls were given during weddings. It was believed that a gift of pearls ensured the happiness of married couples. Nowadays, white pearls are worn anywhere ? in board rooms, parties, family get-togethers, bars ? in just about any special occasion that calls for dressing up without dressing too much.

Natural vs. Cultured

Natural pearls, as their name implies, are produced naturally by oysters or mollusks. They start off as irritants (a grain of sand, piece of food or a parasite) that enter the shell of a living oyster. As a reaction to this invasion, the oyster produces nacre to contain the irritant. This coating is put over it in multiple layers until the irritant is completely covered and a shining pearl is born.

Since natural pearls are made ?accidentally? and therefore quite difficult to come by, cultured pearls were developed to meet the growing demand for pearls and to protect pearl oysters from over-harvest and extinction. Cultured pearls are also real pearls, except that instead of waiting for an irritant to invade an oyster, pearl farmers introduce a ?nucleus? to stimulate the production of a pearl.

Choosing the right length

White pearl necklaces come in varying lengths for different styles and occasions. When buying one, it?s worth remembering that a white pearl necklace is an accessory and can enhance or affect the entire look of the wearer.

Longer strands are used to make short necks appear longer, while shorter strands flatter longer necks. The most common lengths that white pearl necklaces come in are: the collar, choker, princess, matinee, opera and rope.

Collar pearls are the shortest at 14 to 16 inches long and may be worn with formal or semi-formal evening wear or semi-formal day wear. Chokers are 16 to 18 inches long and are the common choice for dances and balls. Princess necklaces are the most popular length at 18 to 20 inches long and look great on any outfit.

Matinee pearl necklaces are 20 to 24 inches long and can be worn for work because it goes well with work and business suits. Opera pearls are 28 to 34 inches long are often worn during formal parties.

Rope pearls are the longest, starting at 37 inches, although they don?t necessarily need to be worn just hanging from the neck. Like opera pearls, rope pearls may be knotted or doubled and may even be worn as a wide pearl bracelet.

Choosing the right style

Pearls are quite adaptable and will work well with almost any kind of gemstone. Alone or in combination with another gem, white pearls look stunning. White pearl necklaces come in several major styles: the bib, dog collar, graduated and uniform.

The bib is made of several strands, usually three or more, that varies in length and fall over the chest like, well, a bib. The pearls on the strands may either be graduated or uniformly-sized.

The dog collar, like its name, is made of several strands and is worn to fit above the base of the neck, right in the middle of the throat. The pearls that make up the strands are uniform in size and may either be small or medium-sized.

The graduated necklace is made up of either a single strand or several, with pearls of graduated sizes. Usually, the middle pearl is the largest in the strand. The uniform necklace uses the same size pearls in its strands and is probably the most common.

Choosing the right size

White pearls come in different sizes, with the most commonly used and sold ranging from 6.5mm to 7.5mm, while really small pearls measure 1mm or less. Some of the bigger pearls are in the 14 to 18mm range.

Generally, smaller pearls are best for younger women and children while medium to bigger pearls are flattering for older women. One of the reasons for this is tradition. In the past, the size of the pearl reflected the woman?s maturity and social status and so she wore the kind of pearls that were deemed appropriate for her.

The other reason is aesthetics. Younger women tend to have younger necks and the best way to show this off is to wear smaller pearls. Pearls of this size also do not look borrowed and women don?t seem to be playing ?dress up? with their mother?s jewelry. Older women are better off with medium to bigger-sized pearls, which also imply that she has reached a certain status in life.

For more information go to: http://www.unlimitedpearls.com, http://www.bestpearlnecklaces.com, or http://www.bestpearlearrings.com

Can Necklaces Mean a Pain in the Neck?

The wearing of jewellery has been with us across the ages with both men and women seeking to adorn their persons with these ornamental devices. The word jewellery is anglicised from an old French word "joule" (jewel), but the origin can be further traced back to the Latin word "jocale" which means plaything.

Although we typically think of jewellery as being made from precious metals and gemstones, over the centuries it has been made from a variety of materials such as cloth, wood, shells, rocks and stone. In fact man has been very ingenious and artistic in creating jewellery from just about anything and in many different styles from the plain and simple to the highly elaborate.

Items of jewellery have also been adopted as potent symbols and even worn to ward off evil spirits or to help overcome enemies in battle.

Examples of jewellery being worn other than for adornment, are necklaces such as the cross or crucifixes worn by Christians as potent religious symbols. Other religious types of necklaces are pendants known as amulets, which are figures or symbols of varying shapes and sizes, which are hung on a chain round the neck.

Necklaces called lockets, which are usually heart shaped are worn as a symbol of love and open up to reveal a picture or lock of hair from a cherished one.

Necklaces and pendants are both worn around the neck but a pendant usually means a hanging object although it can be hanging from a neck chain or an earring. A choker is also a form of necklace but is worn high around the neck and can also have a pendant hanging from it.

Perhaps the most bizarre form of necklaces are those worn by the Pa Dong Long Neck people who are part of the Karen tribal group that live along the border between Thailand and Burma. From the age of 6 years old, brass rings are snapped around the necks of young girls, a few every year, up to a limit of 20 rings although there is a woman on record as having 28 around her neck. As they progress from childhood to womanhood, their necks appear to elongate although apparently what really happens is that the weight of the rings crushes the women's collarbones giving the illusion of a very long neck.

It is said that these women only remove the brass rings on their wedding night with a long drawn out process involved, which involves much neck washing. As brass often tends to discolour the skin one can imagine that there may be a rather nasty green mess under those rings. After the wedding night, the rings are replaced and must remain in place for life, as the women's neck muscles are now no longer strong enough to support the length of the neck and the weight of the head on their own.

This wearing of neck rings was also a practice adopted by women in South Africa and in particular those from the Ndebele tribe and these women have often been referred to as giraffe women because of their long necks. The Ndebele women traditionally wore copper and brass rings around their necks arms and legs as a symbol of their status in society and after marriage as a symbol of her bond and faithfulness to her husband. Husbands would provide their wives with these rings and the richer her spouse the more rings she would wear and they would only be removed after his death as they were believed to have strong ritual powers.

Thankfully, in both the Pa Dong and the Ndebele tribes, this traditional practice is no longer popular and is now dying out in favour of the more usual types of necklaces.

Written by John Lewis of Love2Have. Love2have specialises in quality handcrafted designer necklaces made here in the UK by small independent designers.

How to Buy Pearls - Pearl Matching in Pearl Necklaces

You look at a white pearl necklace. The light makes it sparkle with subtle hints of pink. Every pearl matches perfectly from the smaller pearls near the clasp to the largest pearl in the middle. The pearl necklace is beautiful! How did it get that way? It starts at the Pearl Farm, continues at the Pearl Dealer. If you buy a Pearl Necklace, the work has been done for you. If you are a Jewelry Designer who makes pearl necklaces, you need to know how to do this. What we buy from Pearl Dealers is not well matched!

There are seven Pearl Value Factors to be considered when making a pearl jewelry purchase. Pearl Matching is one of these. Pearl Matching refers to how well all the pearls in the strand of pearls match, one to another. A well-matched pearl necklace takes into consideration all the other Pearl Value Factors. The Match refers to the remaining Value Factors: Size, Color, Luster, Surface, Shape and Nacre. As simple as a traditional white pearl necklace appears, the process of matching pearls is quite complex. And this process has not varied from the time it first began.

When visiting a Pearl Jewelry Factory, there is always a room with a wall of windows looking northward. Northern exposures provide the best light for viewing pearls. This provides bright, indirect light. Often the windows will be covered with shades or frosted glass. Diffuse bright light is best for examining pearls in order to get an accurate body color and overtone for each pearl. Pearls are examined by trained technicians. Computers cannot do this work. Every pearl necklace is been assembled by hand.

For the purposes of this article, assume that some of the pearl processing has already occurred. We are not starting at the oyster harvest. Pearls have already been sorted by their relative size. This means that they have been quickly sorted into like-sized groups. We can also assume that the Pearl Jewely Factory purchased pearls of similar quality from the pearl farm. But, just like buying a bushel of peaches from a Farmers' Market, the pearls must still be evaluated. They will not all be exactly the same size. Nor will they be exactly the same quality. They will not even be the same shape - some will be closer to perfectly round than others.

In our particular matching case, we are working with several strands of white pearls that are close to round. There are many decisions to be made about what pearls to include in our pearl necklace.

1. The pearls are laid out under a bright light against a neutral background. Use a daylight-accurate lightbulb if you don't have a natural light source. Spread pearls on a white or pale grey cloth or bead tray.

    

2. Throw out any pearls with cracked nacre that exposes the bead nucleus.

    

3. Look first for common body color and start grouping these together. Move the rejected pearls to another area.

    

4. From your common body color, identify a common overtone. This will be the haloed color in the center of the pearl. In white pearls, this is usually rosè, green or silver. Group the pearls by common overtone.

    

5. Start organizing the groups by size, especially if this will be a graduated pearl necklace.

    

6. As the pearl necklace begins to take shape, identify the pearls with the highest luster. Place these pearls near the center of the pearl necklace. These will catch the most light when worn -- don't hide them near the clasp!

    

7. Once you have a full pearl necklace length, look at the nacre, surface and shape of the pearls in your necklace. Identify any pearls that are too off-round or are too blemished. Do this by rotating each pearl and examining it in the light. Look for flaws but also for beauty. Swap pearls in and out of the final group and also swap positions within the pearl necklace. Sometimes the position of a single pearl within the necklace can improve the overall matching of a necklace. It often takes longer to lay out the pearls in a pearl necklace than it will to add knots to the necklace after matching.

I have watched skilled technicians match pearls; they make it look effortless. They are fast! Matching pearls takes practice, but it is a good skill to have.

Beth Schmitz, CEO Avant Pearl, GIA Pearls Graduate

A jewelry designer, businesswoman and self-proclaimed diva, Ms. Schmitz spent more than 20 years in business. Her creative side took control in 2001 when she chose to dedicate her life to the jewelry industry and the smart women like her who appreciate gorgeous baubles and have the means to pay for them.

Beth's online pearl jewelry boutique, AvantPearl.com, features high-end pearl jewelry from leading designers, limited-edition manufacturers and skilled craftsmen throughout the world. She holds a degree from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Necklaces of the Middle Ages

The European era of necklaces this article covers is from 1300's to 1600's. During the middle ages it was customary for men, women, and children to all wear jewelry. This era had two main themes for jewelry: religion and romantic love.

Very popular were busts and portraits of saints, altars, or ornaments worn on necklaces. Mythical creatures such as mermaids and dragons were very popular along with animals, such as dolphins and lions. European towns each developed their own unique design style, such as Venice which was influenced by the imports of precious gems and other items from the orient bringing forth oriental approaches to the designs. Engraving ranged from having ones initials to lengths of scriptures or poetry. A popular religious pendant was the Tau Cross, which was worn by itself or with many on the chain, sometimes just one tiny bell was worn with it. It was also popular to wear a necklace with just a tiny bell attached only.

The leading workshops were in, Paris, Limoges, Meuse, Belgian-Lorraine, Siena, Florence, and Venice. The main precious metals used in jewelry making were gold and silver with the main gemstones being sapphires, rubies, and pearls. During the early part of this era (14th century) gemstones were finished with the en cabochon method which is highly polishing smooth the stone and not cutting it into faceted angular cuts until later when cutting was more perfected. Other types of neck jewelry were glass beads of various colors combined with precious gems mounted in silver or gold. Covering certain areas of the piece with enamel was also a common practice. Niello was also used which was a mixture of silver, sulphur, and lead. Fashioning jewelry necklaces was often done with molten metal poured into molds. Germany was well known for using milled wire instead of pouring to make them.

The en cabochon method gave way to a new method during the 15th century which was the forerunner of the diamond facet cutting we know today. The Dutchman Louis de Berken, was the first to discover in Brussels that a diamond could be polished with pulverized diamond moistened with oil. In 1476 he was able to perform facet cutting to diamonds, which had previously been used for rock crystal. Charles the Bold employed Louis de Berken at his court for his newly discovered amazing ability.

Cloisonne' enameling was where the enamel was applied and fired in raised cells which would sometimes be done with soldered wire. Champleve' took over in popularity which is the carving out of areas and filing these areas with enamel and then leveling down (usually sanding) the surrounding metal with the level of the enamel. The copper champleve' work was a technique which allowed colorful jewelry to be produced from inexpensive material and was opaque with clearly outlined areas of color. Paris goldsmiths have been credited with inventing translucent silver enameling, with this technique the goldsmith pours the opaque enamel into a bas-relief carved into the silver. The silver backing produces a delicate and diffused shimmer when the light hits it due to the light colored enamel. The gold enameling technique en ronde bosse also developed by Paris goldsmiths in the late 14th century . This technique utilized various colors of glass flux which were melted over a gold core, and combined with beads and precious stones, including red rubies and blue sapphires being the most popular. In Hungary, which from the 13th to the 15th century was the European country richest in gold, wire enameling was taken over from Italy. This method consisted of twisted gold wire forming the contours of the design and the hollows were filled with an opaque enamel.

Gothic style came about during this era which were religious scenes portrayed similar to Gothic church cathedral art. The effect was a straight forward type of approach which started to change into a more elaborate free flowing style later on.

Short chokers were worn and light to heavy chains were worn on the neck. Necklace chains were of all manner of thicknesses and lengths, some had large round links with others having tightly woven type of braiding. Long thin chain necklaces were often weighed down with heavy pendants. Italian women were known for wearing a crown like brooch attached to a hair ribbon.

The middle ages may be one of the most famed in history for adventures and artifacts of this fantastic period including the unique jewelry. This era lives on in many of todays artist's designs as they have studied this amazing period in history.

To see some amazing jewelry visit: www.amazing-adventure.com/Jewelry/AlleJewelry.htm

Glenn Heitkoetter is a part time writer and runs the following websites: http://www.incredible-items.com and http://www.amazing-adventure.com