And the winner is......

Alice! Congratulations Alice. I'm emailing you as soon as I've finished posting this.

Thank you to everyone who entered. Don't forget that you can still use the discount code on this post to get your own kumihimo set with 10% off!

Thanks also to The Bead Shop Manchester for running this giveaway with me.

Gemxxx

Kumihimo Giveaway from The Bead Shop Manchester

Hello lovely readers. Those of you who have been reading my blog recently will know that I have been working with The Bead Shop Manchester. I have given you a discount code for them, done a product review and two free tutorials from a mix of theirs (earrings and hairclip). Well now I'm hosting a giveaway from them! Very exciting!

As I reviewed one of their kumihimo kits in a previous post, I thought it would be lovely to giveaway a kumihimo kit plus a few extras. Here is what you will get if you win the giveaway (clicking on the links or pictures will take you too the product on The Bead Shop's website for more details):

Kumihimo Seed Bead Bracelet Kit- Teal

A pack of extra bobbins (so you can do 16 strand braids)
5 extra Hook N Eye clasps

A coordinating Swarovski Crystal mix

What do you think? Would you like to win this kit with extras?
If you do, all you have to do is comment below by Friday 3rd May 2013. Make sure I have some way of getting in touch with you if you do win! I will use a random number generator to select the winner and then contact them over the weekend. I will then pass their details on to The Bead Shop, who will post their winnings directly to them. This giveaway is open worldwide. I will also edit this post to say who won. If I don't hear from back from you within a week, I will redraw the competition.


There are a couple of ways you can get an extra entry:

'Like' The Bead Shop Manchester on facebook (say that you have done, this with your liker number if possible, in your comment below. I will check!)

Share the link to this giveaway somewhere (eg, your own blog, facebook, twitter etc. Again, say that you have done this in your comment below and include the link to the post so I can see it.)

So in total you can get up to 3 entries to the giveaway if you comment, like and share. You will have to tell me if you have done them though. :o)


Get commenting if you want to win!
Gemxxx

P.S. And if you don't win or can't wait then you can get all these and more lovely beads at the Bead Shop Manchester.

Closing date: 23.59 GMT 3rd May 2013

Giveaway now closed. Thanks all for entering. The winner will be announced very soon.

Crystal hairclip tutorial

Here is the second tutorial made with the lovely Czech faceted round glass bead mix I received from  The Bead Shop Manchester. (See my product review post for more info or here for the first tutorial.) This is a very picture heavy post so sorry if it takes a while to load.

This make is for a crystal barrette hairclip. For those in the know, its simply a chunky version of flat spiral stitch, but don't worry if you've never heard of this stitch. I'll show you exactly what to do.

 From the mix I used:

8 x 10mm dark blue firepolish

14 x 8mm grey luster firepolish

84 x 4mm montana blue firepolish

I have also used the following additional supplies. You don't have to use exactly what I have used. I'll talk more about options as the tutorial progresses.

80mm barrette/hairclip blank

Strong beading thread or wire (I used 6lb fireline in smoke)

Beading needle if using thread rather than wire

Scissors

Strong glue suitable for gluing fabric onto metal (I used E6000). Not essential but very useful!

Ultrasuede or similar strong non-fraying but easy to stitch into fabric. Not essential.

To begin, cut at least a wingspan of thread. Thread on 2 of the 10mm, 3 of the 4mm, 1 of the 8mm and 3 of the 4mm. Hold these beads near the other end of your thread form your needle but leave a long tail of at least 20cm/8" Pass the needle back through the 2 10mm beads creating a loop, as shown.

Thread on 3 of the 4mm, one of the 8mm and 3 more of the 4mm and once again, pass the needle through the 2 10mm beads. It should look like this.

Add a 10mm bead, 3 of the 4mm, 1 of the 8mm and 3 more of the 4mm. Pass the needle back through large beads 2 and 3. Pull tightly to snug the large beads together. Add 3 of the 4mm, 1 of the 8mm and 3 more of the 4mm and pass the needle through large beads 2 and 3 for a second time. It should look like this.

Add a 10mm bead, 3 of the 4mm, 1 of the 8mm and 3 more of the 4mm. Pass the needle back through large beads 3 and 4. Pull tightly to snug the large beads together. Add 3 of the 4mm, 1 of the 8mm and 3 more of the 4mm and pass the needle through large beads 3 and 4 for a second time. It should now look like this.

Continue adding beads in the same way until your strip of beadwork is long enough for your clip. I ended up using 8 of the 10mm firepolish in total.

You do not need to weave in your ends. These are going to be used to attach the beadwork to the clip. (That is, if you are going to attach the beadwork in the same way as me! You may choose to glue your beadwork onto the hairclip. In which case you will need to weave in your ends. If you are going to glue your beadwork to the clip you will need a really strong glue, suitable for sticking glass to metal.)

There are many ways of attaching beadwork strips to barrette blanks. For this tutorial, I am going to use a fabric covering and stitching but I have in the past used simply glue (not my favourite) or just wrapped and stitched the beadwork directly to the clip. This isn't as tidy but does work. Below is a picture of the underside of a clip I wear quite regularly. The beadwork is a strip of square stitched 4mm glass beads done with cheap fishing line with the fishing line wrapped and stitched directly around the clip. Like I say, I wear it a lot and it is still going strong after a couple of years.

However, for this tutorial I would like to show you a covered clip where the stitching is hidden.

You will find it easier if you disassemble you hairclip. You might find it easier to use pliers for this but I didn't bother as I don't look after my fingernails! Next cut a piece of ultrasuede a little bigger all the way around than you clip, as shown.

Glue the strip of ultrasuede to your barrette blank. You may wish to do this before cutting it out to make your life easier.  Trim the corners and around the clip and hinge bit as shown.

Now you have to stitch the beadwork to the clip whilst simultaneously folding and stitching in the edges of the ultrasuede. Your stitches do not have to be neat on the back as these will be covered up later. I used the thread to stitch together the edges, passed my needle through the ultrasuede at the edge, looped the thread between 2 large beads and stitched back into the edge. Its kind of difficult to describe and photograph but hopefully you get the idea or can find a method that works well for you.

I ran out of thread before I got to the end but this is not a problem due to the long tail I'd left when I began the beadwork. I threaded the needle this side and just stitched it on from the other side. Even if your thread is long enough, I'd advise adding a few stitches from the other end to help secure anyway before fastening of. Here's what it should look like when all stitched together.

Next, cut a strip of ultrasuede to cover your stitches. You can glue this in place or very neatly stitch it. I glued!!

Reassemble your hairclip and you are done!

Flat spiral stitch is a very quick and effective stitch to learn and it can be done with a variety of different sized beads. Long time readers of my blog may remember seeing other hairclips I've made with the same stitch, daintier versions that have 2 or more rows stitched together and done with seed beads and firepolish instead of only firepolish.

I hope you like this second tutorial from the firepolish mix. I'd love to see what you make if you do use it. Drop by my facebook page and post them on my wall or write the link in the comments below so I can come see!

 With regards to the mix, I still have quite a bit left. I don't know if I'll be writing any more tutorials from it at present but I'll let you know if I do.

Gemxxx

As far as tutorial use goes, you are more than welcome to sell what you make using these instructions but please do not copy this tutorial to redistribute/teach without contacting me. If you wish to share my tutorial, then thanks muchly, but please link people to this post. You have my permission to use an image for the purposes of linking to this tutorial only. For any other use, please contact me.

March Crafting

Hello lovely readers. I hope you are all well. I am getting much better now I've hit trimester 2. Yay! More energy and MUCH less sicky.

So I actually got a little bit of crafting done this month. Not a huge amount but crafty bug is returning at last. The biggest projects I did in March were for the Mums for Mother's Day. I started off a scrapbook album for them both for baby. I got some lovely plain spiral bound albums from The Pink Pig, decorated the front and filled in 3 pages.

The frog picture was only on my Mum's album. It came about after because she sent me a frog in case I needed a second opinion. When I went up to visit, just after Christmas (and before I knew I was pregnant), I was telling her what I saw on Dara O'Briain's Science club. Apparently, frogs were used to see if a woman was pregnant. No, you didn't pee on them! The frog got injected with a woman's urine and if it layed eggs in the next 24 hours, she was pregnant.

I also made 2 pairs of earrings for my Aunt. She asked me if I could make a pair with a frosted sterling silver ball and an onyx pair to go with a necklace she had. I ended up frosting the sterling silver beads myself in my rock tumbler as I couldn't find frosted ones in the right size. For the onyx pair, I removed a couple of beads from the necklace so they would match perfectly.

If you read my last post, you will also have seen these earrings. I wrote a free tutorial following some beads I was sent from the lovely The Bead Shop Manchester.

That's everything that I finished in March, I think. I have started some crochet for baby and have finished something but that will have to wait for April's roundup post. Feel free to add me on Ravelry though if you want to see what I'm up to there. I'll also be completing another tutorial from the same bead mix I got from The Bead Shop in the next few days I hope, so keep an eye out if you're interested. I desperately need to catch up on the earring challenge too. I've only done 6 pairs so far and I think I should be in the mid teens. I have a few ideas in my head though. I want to get the silversmithing stuff out soon plus there are a few resin pairs half finished.

I still have various BB&B projects to finish off too. You may have read that I have taken a break from participating in those challenges for a while but do check out the Operation Tackle that Bead Stash blog if you want to keep up to date with that.

Have a fab April everyone.

Gemxxx

Cluster Earrings Tutorial

Remember my product review post about goodies I received from The Bead Shop Manchester? Well here's the first of at least 2 free tutorials using the yummy Czech faceted round glass bead mix.

Crystal Cluster earrings

In addition to some of the smaller beads from the mix, you will need some headpins, jump rings and a pair of earwires. You will also need some wire cutters, round nosed pliers and chain nosed pliers (or another pair of round nosed would work too).

There are quite a few ways you could adapt this tutorial to make them longer, more cluster-y or more decorative but if you are looking to make exactly what I have then I used:

2 of the 8mm pale luster grey

2 of the 8mm dark blue

4 of the 6mm gunmetal

8 of the 4mm montana blue

8 of the 4mm gunmetal

24 ball ended headpins

4 jumprings (mine are 5mm)

1 pair of earwires

 

You will need to thread each of the beads you are going to use onto a headpin. Use the round nosed pliers to create loops above the beads and trim the excess wire. A fab tutorial for creating even sized loops on your headpins can be found here by Celia of Jencel beads. Here are the beads I used for one of the earrings with their looped headpins.

Open one jumpring, hold it with one of the pairs of pliers and thread on one small blue, a larger gunmetal, the large grey, a large gunmetal and a small blue. Close the jumpring. It should look something like this.

Open a second jumpring and hold it with one of the pairs of pliers. Add a small gunmetal, a small blue, a small gunmetal and the large blue. Next thread on the ring you just made, between the two smaller blue beads. Then thread on a small gunmetal, a small blue and a small gunmetal.

Next comes the fiddly bit! You need to add the earwire and use the second pair of pliers to close the loop.

That's one earring done. Make a second and you have a pair.

If you like longer earrings, you could keep adding more jumprings with more beads on them. They are glass though so the weight could quickly add up if you add too many beads. Another way of adding length would be to add clusters of beads to chain instead.

I hope you like this tutorial and I'd love to see what you make if you do use it. Drop by my facebook page and post them on my wall or write the link in the comments below so I can come see!

As far as tutorial use goes, you are more than welcome to sell what you make using these instructions but please do not copy this tutorial to redistribute/teach without contacting me. If you wish to share my tutorial, then thanks muchly, but please link people to this post. You have my permission to use an image for the purposes of linking to this tutorial only. For any other use, please contact me. 

Product Review: The Bead Shop

I was fortunate enough recently to be sent some goodies from The Bead Shop Manchester to review. For those of you who don't know, The Bead Shop sells a variety of beads and jewellery making equipment for all ranges of abilities.

I was sent a pack of Czech faceted round glass bead mix in grey and a Kumihimo seed bead kit in red.

Firstly, the faceted beads. I think you get a gorgeous mix of colours and in a range of sizes. The smallest in my pack are 4mm and the largest are 12mm. Here a couple of pictures of the pile when I tipped them onto my bead mat and after I had sorted them out.

I particularly like the colour of the grey ones to the right of the second picture. They have a lovely lustre to them. The larger beads on the bottom left have a brownish hue to them and there are several with blue tones. I will shortly be making a hairclip and a pair of earrings (at least) from this mix and will be posting up the free tutorials here on this blog, hopefully within a couple of weeks (assuming bump/hormones behave themselves and don't make me too ill). I'm really looking forward to experimenting with them.

Kumihimo is a form of Japanese braiding. I've know about it for a while and even bought the traditional marudai and bobbins approximately 10 years ago to have a go. I have a couple of books on the subject by Jacqui Carey too. However, I have never used it! Bad Gemma! Shortly after I bought the traditional equipment, new foam boards appeared on the market. They are MUCH cheaper than the proper looms and were reported to be easier to use. I was a bit miffed and it put me off trying my loom but I couldn't justify buying the discs as I technically had suitable equipment. So when The Bead Shop offered to send me a kit I was thrilled.

Here's what I recieved.

 

 

You get instructions, the board, 8 bobbins, braiding cord, thread, beads (seed or crystal depending on which kit you choose), clasp and glue. I suspect my kit accidentally got the wrong instructions put in as it talked about crystals but it doesn't really make and difference to the technique, only the bead counts.

Its really easy!! Definately suitable for a total beginner and really quick too. I think it took me less than 2 hours in total from beginning to finished bracelet. I found the instructions very easy to follow. There are instructions for an 8 strand plain braid, a 16 strand braid (please note you will need to purchase 8 more bobbins if you want to do a 16 strand braid) and details as to how to add beads. You braid a little without beads, then start adding the beads. There is a helpful picture showing you where the bead has to sit. When you drop a bead down it doesn't automatically go in the right place, you have to tuck it in. The instructions suggest you weigh the knot with 25 pennies, which I didn't have lying around, so I just used a bag of some of the glass beads above and a safety pin! I must admit, at first I didn't think it was working. Nothing seemed to be happening but on closer inspection underneath the board a tiny braid was appearing.

  

 Because I had the wrong instructions I did have to add more beads to the strands as I ran out after about 13cm/5" of beaded braid. I divided the remaining tube into roughly equal piles and just threaded them all, though I didn't end up using them all. The final beaded length of my bracelet is 16cm/6.25". With the included clasp it gives a length of 20cm/7.75". I did think I was going to have to tell you that I couldn't get on with the glue as it didn't set practically instantly as suggested but in the time its taken to write this post it seems to have decided to stick. Excellent! I can now wear my bracelet on my trip to B&Q to buy mouse traps (long story).

My tension isn't brilliant but I'm extremely pleased with the results, especially for my very first go. The only thing I'd do differently, if I was starting this exact kit again, is to thread all the beads at the beginning. The kit recommends you thread the beads after you've done a bit of plain braid but this just means you have to unwind and rewind the bobbins repeatedly. With the aforementioned bead shortage, I ended up winding and unwinding 3 times.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with different beads, I think different sizes or shapes on the different strands could be fun. I'm also going to revisit my Jacqui Carey books to see if any of the braids in there can be done on the foam disc. Also, I may have to try with sterling silver wire. I've already got a plan for a pair of earrings or two with braided sterling.

So keep your eye out here! Soon there will be a tutorial or two using the yummy mix of Czech faceted beads and you may even see some new braiding creations in the near future (although knitting and crocheting for baby may have to take priority over making things for me!)

  

xxx

OTTBS: Bead, Book and Bounce- Japanese Beadwork

The fifth book in the OTTBS Bead Book & Bounce book review project is Japanese Beadwork by Sonoko Nozue.

I've had this book in my collection for about half a year I think. I added the book to my Amazon wish list after seeing the gorgeous free pattern for the Crystal Rose offered as a sampler on the Lark website (here). Despite now owning the book I still wanted to make the Crystal Rose for my BB&B project.

Unfortunately, even with the reveal delay, I still haven't finished it. Bump is leaving me feeling very uncreative and if I do feel slightly creative my brain seems to be stuck on browsing Ravelry's baby patterns! I wish I could say I've started something there but alas not so far. Anyway, I digress...

I decided I wanted to try and do as much as possible from stash. The only 15s I had at least 20g of were opaque black. So I settled on black and vitrail medium. I had the 3mm bicones but had to buy the big sparkly for the middle. I should have read the pattern more carefully though as I knew I wanted to make a hair ornament so wouldn't be needing the necklace rope so I didn't actually need 20g, more like 10g probably. I chose a crown stone from Crystals and Ice rather than using the button crystal used in the pattern as I didn't like the look of seeing the button hole through the crystal.

I found the pattern ok to follow but I'm not sure a beginner would find it easy. Sonoko includes several rows/steps in each diagram so it is quite easy to get a little confused unless you have a good idea where you're going anyway. I did think that my stone would not fit into the bezel as I was making it but it all came together nicely in the end. So the central part is done but I'm currently working on the crocheted tube for the flower petals. If you don't bead crochet, don't despair though. Looking closely at the picture on the hair comb little example picture it looks to me that the petals rope has been done in herringbone stitch. Obviously you would need to do a round of 6 or 8 beads instead of 7 as in the crochet though. It should still be flexible enough to knot as in the pattern. My rope is currently over half done I think.

I'd love to get this finished soon although its a bit boring now crocheting many tiny black beads and 15s grow soooooo much slower than 11s! Here it is so far.

One day/year/decade when I'm back to creating for me I would love to do a few more of the projects from this book. There are quite a few pretty, smallish ropes. Much more my style than enormous, heavily decorated ones. I especially like the Sonoko Spiral, Sonoko Wave, Aurora, Midnight and Powder Snow. Quite a few for my to-do list then! Quite a few projects in the book are adaptations of spiral rope and many are very sparkly, good for busting crystal stash, but bad for the bank balance if you don't have much of a crystal stash like me.

Hopefully soon I'll be able show you a beautiful sparkly new hair comb....having said that, how many of my unfinished BB&B projects have I actually gotten round to finishing?...Ummmm....maybe I should have a dedicated finish-off-BB&B-projects week/month!

 I do have the book that's next in the series for OTTBS BB&B but I am going to stop for a little bit. Not because I don't want to join in, I love doing this, but because I don't want to set myself too many deadlines as a combination of baby brain, exhaustion, sickness etc is completely sapping my creativity. Don't forget to check out the OTTBS blog though each month if you want to keep up with what others are doing for BB&B.

Oh and why not stop by the BB&B reveal for Japanese Beadwork to see what others have done from this lovely book.

Gemxxx