People often ask me where and who I buy my stuff from. love to scrounge old jewelry at the flea markets. I have a favorite antique shop I go to where a dealer makes up custom jelly jars full of beads for me and charges me a flat price for the whole jar of pieces. I find the more I shop at a place, the better the deals get. I have my favorite dealers that I buy from all the time, and they know what I like, and save pieces for me. They always give me a good deal, and I just buy it from them, no haggling. That way they know I am a serious buyer, and I constantly get good prices from them. The dealers always ask me what I do with it all. Here is how I start.
If the beads have a greasy feel to them, I wash them first with diluted dish detergent. Let them soak in a container of it for a bit and then gently rub one of the beads with a finger, to insure the paint is not coming off. Then I rinse them and lay them on paper towels to dry. I take them apart and arrange them in little metal tins on a dollar store plastic tray lined with felt or a piece of a vellux blanket. If the paint is flaking and I want to preserve it, I coat them with clear nail polish. Often this will bring out the colors in the beads and make them more vibrant.
I choose a focal piece, or make one like the two pictured below. The
first one is a silver flower earring stacked on a Maltese cross, stacked
on a filigree oval. I like the layered look of a stacked focal. The
second one is am antiqued filigree piece with a cool vintage earring
with a fleur de lys motif. I love how the focal compliments the beads.
Sometimes, I just chain up the beads, pin to pin and hang long strand of bead chain on a hook in my studio to come back to and use later in something. Like these aqua ones I got from French General. They are plastic, but I fell in love with the color. They look so pretty chained up with the crystal AB beads and make a lovely statement necklace.
I like to use my tabletop mannequin to hang pieces off of when I design. I want to see the placement on the neckline and collarbone area. I like to see the drape and swag of the piece.
This is a piece I have been working on for a bit. Smashing bead caps and turning them into a necklace base that I drape small 3 and 4 mm beads off of. I am not quite finished with this one. I ran out of beads and need to get more in San Diego next time I am down south. I may have to redrape them in a different way so I can hang a focal from the middle of it. I think it would give it more visual interest.
I would love to hear what your favorite jewelry making tips are... Please post here, or add a link to your blog if you feel inclined to share.
Thanks for popping in!
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