Cloisonne Bead Earrings (Part Two)

Cloisonne Bead Earrings

I guess this was just an earring sort of day. Earlier I rediscovered these 'cloisonne beads' in my jewelry stash. 

I wanted to try something different for the earring design.  I like how they ended up turning out; there is something vaguely avian about the final product.

Recycled Bead Earrings

This was just a short project for a lazy Sunday.  Taking the beads scavenged from an old floral bracelet, I made three different pairs of earrings.  

I like the vintage look of the beads themselves. The jewelry designs might need some tweaking. A project for another lazy Sunday perhaps... 

Guitar String Pendant by Shannon

I'm not much of a musician, but I do enjoy diddling on the guitar.  And being of member of the Silverlake community, there's plenty of guitars around.  One evening after getting a much needed lesson on how to change guitar strings, I successfully scooped up the old strings with the pretext that they were going in the trash and not my purse...

There's really not much to this project, just a bit of creativity.  All you need is a little craft wire, and the guitar strings.  I used 26 gauge copper wire, but there are many colors and thicknesses to choose from.  Just make sure you find something that is easily bendable.  As for the guitar strings, I of course had used ones, but you can pick up a pack of 6 for around $5 at any guitar or music store.  There are also many different metals, and thicknesses for the different types of guitars so take a look at them out of the box to see if they fit your crafting needs. From there just play around with the strings and let them bend how they want.  And after you're done fiddling with the strings, I would also highly recommend doing a little diddling on the guitar.

Glass Pendants

As you saw in my previous post on paper beads, my interests have moved beyond simple bead working and into bead making.  Previously, I've flirted with creating clay beads and beads made out of sculpey.

Now I've moved on to making glass pendants.

Basic components and finished product

The glass tiles are large decorative accents obtained from the floral section of Michaels (where else).  Cut out a slightly smaller piece of decorative paper and glue it to the base of the tile.  Then, apply a coat of varnish to the back of the pendant.  Finally, you can glue either a store bought bail or a hand crafted one to finish off the pendant.  I like to apply another coat of varnish at this point just to fix all the components in place.

Chandelier Earrings

As you might have figured out by now, I tend to change projects pretty often. Some might claim that this represents a lack of focus, a fear of commitment, restless hands syndrome, etc. 

Personally, I think it indicates an explorer's spirit, the thirst for uncharted territory. Boldly going where no Linda has gone before.

However, I do have certain craft staples, projects or art forms that I keep coming back to.  One of my most enduring craft interests is jewelry making, earrings being a personal favorite.

So this is going to be a series. Every post will center around a different earring style of my design (or a style that I attempt to recreate).

Chandelier Earrings:

*Warning:  I am just an amateur jewelry maker so some of the terminology/descriptions might not be accurate.  Please don't hesitate to correct me.  That's how we learn!

Raw materials

Things you will need:

Crimp Beads

Beads (small, medium, and large sizes)

Fishhooks/French hooks

Wire/headpins/eye pins

Jump rings

The basic framework for the earring

 The framework of the earring is pretty simple. You take a length of wire or a head pin with the base clipped off, feed 3 crimp beads onto the wire, and then fold the ends into loops.  Bend the wire into a "U" shape.  Flatten the crimp beads slightly with pliers then feed the jump rings into the crimp beads.  Flatten the crimp beads further.  Finally, feed a jump ring  through the loops at the top of the "U".

The s-m-s "charms"

 Place three beads on a wire either in the pattern of small-medium-small (you will need 6 of these) or medium-large-medium (you will need 2 of these).  Using pliers bend the both ends of the wire into loops.

Fasten the m-l-m "charm" onto the middle jump ring at the base of the "U". All of the other jump rings, including the one joining the top of the "U" receive a s-m-s "charm". Let me know how they turn out!

The finished product

Paper Beads

Since I tend to go slightly overboard when shopping at Michaels (as my boyfriend can attest to) over the last few months I have accumulated several 12 x 12 pads of designer paper. I just can't resist the all the pretty colors! A portion of this paper was alloted for paper flowers (post pending) but since I still have several hundred pieces of paper left I thought I would try my hand at making paper beads.

Step 1: Cut elongated triangular shaped pieces of paper

I prefer paper that contains at least 3 seperate colors. The piece shown to the right was obtained from Recollections's Fashionably Chic Collection. 

Now, this is my first official craft post.  Bear with me... 

The first step involves cutting a long triangular piece.  I tend to free hand a lot of my designs, so the dimensions aren't quite exact.  The base width will determine the length of your bead (mine are approximately a centimeter).  The length will determine how thick the final product is ( mine are about 7 inches long).

Step 2: After applying glue, roll paper around wire

After applying a thin layer of glue to the back surface of the paper strip with a glue stick, start to role the paper around a thin rod.  I originally tried bamboo skewers but I felt the resulting bead had too wide of a opening.  I found that 16 gauge floral wire worked much better.

Step 3: Keeping the paper centered, finish rolling the bead.

 Continue to roll the paper around the wire.  Make sure to keep the tip of the triangle centered in the middle of the bead.  Upon reaching the end of the paper apply a dot of glue (I've been using Elmer's Craft Bond Paper Craft Glue Gel) to prevent the bead from unraveling slightly.

Varnish the finished bead with your sealer of choice.  After one coat, let beads dry. Apply additional coats if necessary.

After the beads are dry, insert jewelry wire through the opening.  Using pliers, bend both ends into loops. 

Step 4: Varnish bead and finish
by bending jewelry wire into loops

And you're done.  The whole process should take about 1-2 minutes per bead.  Less if you practice. One thing, I can't really comment on their water resistance.  The varnish should provide some protection; however, I would probably not wear the finished earrings or bracelet to the waterpark. 

These beads are obviously a great way to utilize left over paper, junk mail, old magazines, etc. Recycled chic is very in these days...